Buying and selling in sterling

Talking with someone today who is emigrating to UK and therefore selling his house. He has found a buyer from the UK and they want to do the transaction in sterling as it suits them both. This eliminates any loss on exchange rates, converting pounds to euros and back to pounds again.

I said that I didn't think it was possible; that the sale must be in euros, the currency of the country.

Am I correct or not?

If it works, it's a really great idea as it will save a lot of money in conversion charges, assuming your friend wants to keep his money in sterling rather than euro.

Does your friend have a mortgage? If he does, it will have to be discharged, so he will need euro to do that.

Brendan

Thanks for the reply, Brendan.

So you seem to agree that the sale may be transacted in sterling. Now that I come to think about it, oil is usually bought on the international market in US dollars (I think, but certainly quoted in dollars) and international companies in Ireland may quote prices and sell in sterling or any other currency they wish. So why not in the sale of a property?

I don't know if the vendor has a mortgage but I will mention this to my friend.