I would have thought “None of Your Busineas” was a perfectly adequate response to Credit Agricile’s question about how I planned to use my money after I transferred it to the UK
Source of funds I can think is reasonable for then to query under AML. But once legitimate origin of funds is proven, how you choose to transfer it and what you will do with it once tranaferred is none of their business.
With CA’s liking for grabbing and keeping all sorts of fees, incorrectly and not correcting those mistakes, IME, I cannot help but think their interest in trying to limit who else you use to move your own money abroad, is not just for compliance purposes.
Correct, my daughter who will be a US citizen will have to pay 60% inheritance tax when she and her french citizen brother are left my property. Appologies to JohnBoy for leaving main topic.
10 years is my understanding before a closure is forced, but my notaire said that might be changing. However she has stopped communicating to me so who knows?
That’s good to know, thanks. I suppose I would just provide the UK insurer with a copy and translation of the relevé d’information,
On a different subject, following on from what said about her house sale, does anyone know if there is a point beyond which a buyer cannot pull out on the grounds that their bank has refused a mortgage (or any other grounds for that matter)?
Ideally, we would like to buy a little house in the UK before we market our French place.
But if that doesn’t work out, I was thinking of finding a buyer for the French place , signing the compromis de vente and then trying to secure a rental in the UK between signing the compromis and signing the acte de vente. The concern being that we could end up locked into a rental agreement in the UK and then the French sale falls through.
@JohnBoy Do please let us know if you have good experiences with a specialist currency broker when it comes to sending the proceeds of your sale to the UK.
I have just had a rather bizarre experience with TorFx. First time I’ve ever used them.
so far as I’m aware, the buyer can pull out right up to signing the acte de vente, in front of the notaire if circumstances change. We were buying a small business in town when we arrived - a hairdressers with a flat above which had good long term tenants. We were hoping the tenants would stay.
The owner of the business was terrified we’d pull out of the deal on the day of signing as she had to confess the tenants had left.
In that case, I wouldn’t want to risk signing up to a rental in the UK before the acte de vente is signed. So we’d have to get the removal firm to take our stuff and put it in storage in the UK, sign the acte de vente and then move to an Airbnb in the UK. And start looking for a rental from there.
Yes I think that’s right - they would lose their deposit though. Same in UK - a house sale is not final until completion, although the buyer is legally bound to purchase it at “exchange of contracts”, you can’t get blood out of a stone if they haven’t got the money.
The thought of the losing the deposit is surely a big deterrrent, though. For people buying France.
I’m wondering if legally, there is a point beyond which the bank’s refusal of a mortgage is no longer accepted as a ground for withdrawal, meaning that - while the buyer can technically still pull out - it is unlikely in practice as they would lose their deposit.
Yes, my notaire went to extremely great lengths to ensure I understood that after signing the promesse de vente I had a 10 day cooling off period but then the only way I wouldn’t incur a significant (approx 10%) penalty is if I failed to secure a mortgage.
I’m seeing suggestions on the internet that you can include a clause in the compromis de vente to the effect that the buy has 1 month within which to secure a mortgage.
Here’s something a bit more authoritative. From the service.public site.
Seemingly it’s all about the compromis de vente. You can stipulate there how long your buyers have to get a mortgage. On the understanding that you have to give them at least one month.
Yes, we have that clause included in our contract. After a month, if my mortgage isn’t arranged, the seller is free to walk away and sell the house to someone else.
We also have a clause about the contract completing within 3 months, after which I would be entitled to walk away if I wanted.
