Sending proceeds of property sale to UK from Italy with Transferwise?

bulolo

I am selling a property in Italy and requested from the buyer and the notary that they make the payment on completion via transferwise for the obvious reason that the charges would be less than via a bank transfer (I am in the UK so there would be the issue of the different currencies. I have no account in Italy and no euro account here).

My understanding from the little research I have done is that it is possible to use transferwise even for property sales  (the sum falls well within transferwise upper limit) however the buyer has said that her notary has said that the only acceptable forms of payment for a property deed (atto) are cheque and bank transfer (bonifico). Her bank also said this (they of course would say that as they have a vested interest).

Can someone who has specific knowledge of Italian rules please confirm if this is the case and if possible provide an objective reference that I can send to the buyer and their notary? If this makes any difference, bear in mind that she would be buying with a mortgage.

What I don’t understand is that with Transferwise (now wise), you can choose bank transfer (bonifico) as your mode of payment so it seems to me that although the platform is wise.com, the actual transaction is effectively a bank transfer so I don’t know why they object. I tend to think it might be because of a lack of familiarity with these new modes of payment. I have also written to wise CS but haven’t had a reply yet.

Many thanks

eddddy

You might find some practical problems with this approach... for example:

• The notary says they will only transfer the money with their reference number (and they might have a rule that they will only transfer the money to an account in your name)

• Wise says that the money must be transferred with a Wise reference number (and they might have a rule that it must come from an account in your name)

So neither will agree to use the others reference number.


Wise say that if the money arrives without a Wise reference number, you have to send them a bank statement showing the payment and showing you as the account holder - to prove the money's from you.

See:
https://wise.com/help/articles/2932690/i-forgot-the-reference
https://wise.com/help/articles/2932689/what-is-a-proof-of-payment


You can ask Wise and/or the Notary if they'll be flexible on this. But there's still a risk that if somebody makes a mistake and/or the money goes missing - you could be stuck. The notary says they sent it, Wise says they haven't received it.

If you were the sender or recipient you could ask your bank to investigate - but as you're neither, you can't.

  

bulolo

Following feedback from Wise and agent, it's easily done with a transferwise multi currency account, you're given an IBAN so it functions exactly as a normal bank transfer from the sender's point of view.

michael1234

I use Wise and have once transferred a 6 figure sum in three 5 figure payments. I had no problem.

However, I would still be careful and definitely not keep cash lying around in Wise's accounts for any longer than necessary as they are not protected by the FSCS (government backed guarantee scheme that all UK banks are in).

There are also reports of them holding up cash due to money laundering concerns. (e.g. https://www.facebook.com/groups/transferwisevictims/ and also on Trustpilot). I did my transfers between 2 bank accounts both in my name so maybe that helped. Make sure just in case you have documentation to show the house sale in case you get asked.

bulolo

Indeed Michael, it would just be used as a euro stopover before transerring to normal UK bank account. And you're right, they want house sale documentation.