It's not one of your 'certainties' to claim that my lawyer doesn't know Italian law because I wrongly presumed that estate agents do not have professional indemnity insurance. This is nothing to do with my lawyer. It was my mistake, not his. Nor is it 'tough' or 'straightforward' to make claims you know nothing about. We both made incorrect presumptions, so let's leave it at that.
It's good to know that estate agents in Italy have to have professional insurance. I've never discussed this with my lawyer as it has never been relevant, so it's entirely unjustified to say my lawyer doesn't have the necessary knowledge of Italian law, and quite rude. I don't pretend to have the necessary knowledge of Italian law myself, I qualified in England. I never claimed I did. I didn't mean to offend you by saying that I consider a lawyer to be better qualified to deal with the legal aspects of a conveyance than an estate agent. You're obviously free to hold a different opinion, so let's agree to disagree.
Hi UgoThank you for your reply. The lawyer is qualified and works in Italy, as well as previously being qualified to practise in the UK. Thankfully, there is no estate agent in the transaction. As a former lawyer myself, it is quite clear to me that the work our lawyer is doing on our behalf goes beyond the role of the notary, who is supposed to be impartial between buyer and seller. The lawyer acts in our interests only and, should they make a mistake which had financial or other repercussions, we have the backing of their professional indemnity insurance (presumably, unlike an estate agent).
HiI did a lot of research into whether to instruct a lawyer in Italy for our purchase as we made an offer on a house at the very top of our budget. In the end I decided to, even though the flat fee works out to about an extra 1.5%. I'm really glad I did. There is absolutely no way an estate agent would be qualified to deal with the legal issues involved in this particular purchase, which has turned out to be slightly (but perhaps only slightly) more complicated than many. Also, 5% to an estate agent sounds like downright robbery. If you aren't absolutely in love with this property, I would be tempted to find another one, especially if you have a substantial budget to spend (entailing a huge agent's fee). There are lots of ways to find properties without contacting estate agents directly. I saved over €20k by avoiding estate agents - enough to pay for my lawyer, my detailed UK-style property survey report, my geometra (to check everything is as their geometra says) and the notaio - all of whom add far more value, in my experience so far. Also, my seller saved over €20k, which allowed him to be more flexible in accepting my offer.
I just realised that I didn't answer your question about being able to deposit your bankers draft with a currency exchange company. The truth is, I don't know. I know that online you can opt to pay by online transfer, or using a debit card, but I'm not sure they would accept a bankers draft from you. Well worth contacting them to check, though. If it is a sufficiently large amount, they may be flexible enough to find a way to accommodate you. Several of these forex companies have told me that they have commercial accounts with Barclays (in Milan, I think) so perhaps that's something you could ask about.
Hi again. It's not a dumb question at all. The banks I mentioned are UK banks who no longer appear to have retail branches in Italy, so I wondered whether you might be able to get to the UK to deposit your bankers draft. Alternatively, you may like to look into opening an account with a more international bank like HSBC or Citibank, who may have retail branches in Italy and in the UAE.
Hi. If you are able to deposit the bankers draft at a UK bank branch, you could perhaps apply online to open a Euro denominated account with Lloyds International (although you may have to apply for a sterling-denominated account first in order to become eligible). Then deposit your bankers draft and, once it has cleared, transfer the money to your account in the UAE. Barclays also offer a Euro account, but I'm not sure whether you can apply online.If you need to convert the proceeds from Euros to Dirhams, then you can simply instruct an online currency exchange company (who offer much better exchange rates than banks) to convert your Euros to Dirhams and deposit them in your UAE account. I've converted GBP to Euros recently (to buy a house in Italy), and have been watching the rates offered by companies like Smart Currency Exchange, Currencies Direct, TorFX, Transferwise and Virgin Money. I've found that Virgin are offering the best conversion rate recently on GBP-EUR (Transferwise appear to offer the best rate but also charge a percentage fee). Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious.
Comments posted
It's not one of your 'certainties' to claim that my lawyer doesn't know Italian law because I wrongly presumed that estate agents do not have professional indemnity insurance. This is nothing to do with my lawyer. It was my mistake, not his. Nor is it 'tough' or 'straightforward' to make claims you know nothing about. We both made incorrect presumptions, so let's leave it at that.
It's good to know that estate agents in Italy have to have professional insurance. I've never discussed this with my lawyer as it has never been relevant, so it's entirely unjustified to say my lawyer doesn't have the necessary knowledge of Italian law, and quite rude. I don't pretend to have the necessary knowledge of Italian law myself, I qualified in England. I never claimed I did. I didn't mean to offend you by saying that I consider a lawyer to be better qualified to deal with the legal aspects of a conveyance than an estate agent. You're obviously free to hold a different opinion, so let's agree to disagree.
Hi UgoThank you for your reply. The lawyer is qualified and works in Italy, as well as previously being qualified to practise in the UK. Thankfully, there is no estate agent in the transaction. As a former lawyer myself, it is quite clear to me that the work our lawyer is doing on our behalf goes beyond the role of the notary, who is supposed to be impartial between buyer and seller. The lawyer acts in our interests only and, should they make a mistake which had financial or other repercussions, we have the backing of their professional indemnity insurance (presumably, unlike an estate agent).
HiI did a lot of research into whether to instruct a lawyer in Italy for our purchase as we made an offer on a house at the very top of our budget. In the end I decided to, even though the flat fee works out to about an extra 1.5%. I'm really glad I did. There is absolutely no way an estate agent would be qualified to deal with the legal issues involved in this particular purchase, which has turned out to be slightly (but perhaps only slightly) more complicated than many. Also, 5% to an estate agent sounds like downright robbery. If you aren't absolutely in love with this property, I would be tempted to find another one, especially if you have a substantial budget to spend (entailing a huge agent's fee). There are lots of ways to find properties without contacting estate agents directly. I saved over €20k by avoiding estate agents - enough to pay for my lawyer, my detailed UK-style property survey report, my geometra (to check everything is as their geometra says) and the notaio - all of whom add far more value, in my experience so far. Also, my seller saved over €20k, which allowed him to be more flexible in accepting my offer.
I just realised that I didn't answer your question about being able to deposit your bankers draft with a currency exchange company. The truth is, I don't know. I know that online you can opt to pay by online transfer, or using a debit card, but I'm not sure they would accept a bankers draft from you. Well worth contacting them to check, though. If it is a sufficiently large amount, they may be flexible enough to find a way to accommodate you. Several of these forex companies have told me that they have commercial accounts with Barclays (in Milan, I think) so perhaps that's something you could ask about.
Hi again. It's not a dumb question at all. The banks I mentioned are UK banks who no longer appear to have retail branches in Italy, so I wondered whether you might be able to get to the UK to deposit your bankers draft. Alternatively, you may like to look into opening an account with a more international bank like HSBC or Citibank, who may have retail branches in Italy and in the UAE.
Hi. If you are able to deposit the bankers draft at a UK bank branch, you could perhaps apply online to open a Euro denominated account with Lloyds International (although you may have to apply for a sterling-denominated account first in order to become eligible). Then deposit your bankers draft and, once it has cleared, transfer the money to your account in the UAE. Barclays also offer a Euro account, but I'm not sure whether you can apply online.If you need to convert the proceeds from Euros to Dirhams, then you can simply instruct an online currency exchange company (who offer much better exchange rates than banks) to convert your Euros to Dirhams and deposit them in your UAE account. I've converted GBP to Euros recently (to buy a house in Italy), and have been watching the rates offered by companies like Smart Currency Exchange, Currencies Direct, TorFX, Transferwise and Virgin Money. I've found that Virgin are offering the best conversion rate recently on GBP-EUR (Transferwise appear to offer the best rate but also charge a percentage fee). Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious.