We’ve sold our house, here in the Tarn! We’re finalising Saturday…the Notaire already has the money. Who will pay the bank transfer charges to a UK bank?
I would be far more worried about how the money was sent to a UK bank. If it is sent directly from the Notaire’s French bank account to your UK account it is very unlikely to get a good rate of exchange. It would be much better to have it paid into a French bank account and transfer it yourself. It’s also a pretty good time to be buying pounds as the pound is so low.
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Yes, entirely agree. The cost of the bank transfer is trifling in comparison to how much you could gain or loose with small differences in exchange rate.
And it’s you who have chosen to move money to UK, so unless you specified that at the outset I don’t see that you could ask the buyer to pay it.
Not now, anyway. But you could have negotiated the price in sterling in the first place if it was your plan to repatriate the funds and then only keep back a smaller amount in Euro to pay off bills etc using an Fx company (if you don’t have sufficient in your French bank account already).
You’ll pay the charges but as others have said DON’T use the bank, you’ll loose a lot of money. Presuming you have a French account as you owned a house so do it to there and then you move it. Use a FX company, it is very easy. We used HiFx but they have been bought by someone else now.
It can only be you who pays the transfer fees. The buyer has entered into a contract to buy a house in France in euros, the notaire has been involved in that sale. It’s you who wants to transfer the euros you receive into pounds. Why should anyone else pay?
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Sorry I didn’t want to give the impression that the buyer should pay! I wondered as the Notaire is sending it to UK from His Bank he would have to pay??
But I now see that it a silly question!
Thank you all for your responses
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Don’t worry, if the notaire incurs any charges he will bill you. 
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