selling Uk hares when no UK bank?

notascoobie

Hi there - i can see that a similar question was asked before but the answer was not clear/didn't apply to me. I would be very grateful for any advice.  I worked all my life in the UK and bought some shares - worth approx £20k today, in two different companies, via my old closed bank account.  I only ever had paper copies. When the dividend cheques came they weren't worth the bank fees so i left them. Ive been retired living in France 20 years and closed all UK accounts. I am told by the UK bank that i cannot sell them as outside UK. 

I understand that i can convert the accounts to on line, but is it correct I cannot sell them? isn't it my money?

Can i transfer them to  relation who is UK resident and he can hand me the money? I don't want to spend money on French brokers if i can deal myself. I feels as if it should be straightforward but  isn't. Has anyone managed this? 

Thank you so much. 

notascoobie

apols - should of course say 'shares' not Hares!

Brie

Frankly I found the idea of having a question about UK hares intriguing!!!

It's possible that the shares are only on UK stock exchanges so that would be the reason they can only be sold in the UK.  And obviously when selling the money then needs to go somewhere and as you don't have a UK account that causes a small problem.  

Is there any reason that you can't sell them on line and send the money to your account in France?  You'll likely lose a bit on the exchange and a fee for sending the money via an IBAN but that would only be a small portion of value of the shares.  

You could of course give a relatives/friend's bank account details in the UK and have the money paid there but you then have the issue of transferring the money to you in France.  And your relative/friend might be asked about the CGT on the sale.  

So to my mind it's not the bank you need to talk to (what do they know??) but someone who deals with stock and shares.  It may be that it's a portion of the bank that deals with investments rather than personal banking but at least that bit of the business will know more about how to sell the shares with the money moving out of the country given that's your ultimate aim.

eskbanker

If you have paper share certificates and wish to sell up then you need to do so via any broker who'll accept them - most will, but if you're not UK-resident then it's unlikely that you'd be able to open a UK brokerage account and so will probably need to deal with a French one.  If you've been living in France for 20 years and have cut all financial ties with the UK, why is it an issue to deal with a French stockbroker?

masonic

Your objective can be broken down into three separate parts:

1) Opening a trading account

2) Trading within your account

3) Adding to/withdrawing from your account

Your main problem will be (1) opening a trading account as a non-UK resident. If you hold such an account then it is generally permissible to trade within it, add (including transfer in investments), and withdraw cash if the provider permits it, and at least some do. The exception is ISA accounts, where money cannot be added if you are not resident.

wmb194

notascoobie said:

Hi there - i can see that a similar question was asked before but the answer was not clear/didn't apply to me. I would be very grateful for any advice.  I worked all my life in the UK and bought some shares - worth approx £20k today, in two different companies, via my old closed bank account.  I only ever had paper copies. When the dividend cheques came they weren't worth the bank fees so i left them. Ive been retired living in France 20 years and closed all UK accounts. I am told by the UK bank that i cannot sell them as outside UK. 

I understand that i can convert the accounts to on line, but is it correct I cannot sell them? isn't it my money?

Can i transfer them to  relation who is UK resident and he can hand me the money? I don't want to spend money on French brokers if i can deal myself. I feels as if it should be straightforward but  isn't. Has anyone managed this? 

Thank you so much. 

You're saying you own these in certificated form and that the share registrar e.g., Equiniti won't sell them for you if you don't have a UK bank account to transfer the proceeds to? You could try opening a Wise account? Not a bank but bank-like and will give you a UK sort code and account number.

Hoenir

notascoobie said:

Can i transfer them to  relation who is UK resident and he can hand me the money? I don't want to spend money on French brokers if i can deal myself. I feels as if it should be straightforward but  isn't. Has anyone managed this? 

Completing a stock transfer form

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/stamp-duty-on-shares