Selling up

There are 17 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 5,684 times. The latest Post () was by serafina.

1st Official Post

    Dear Everyone,


    We're thinking of selling our apartment and have found that it's not as easy as we thought...


    Liz and I live between the U.K. and Buenos Aires. She has dual nationality and I'm a UK citizen. The apartment is in her name. Yesterday we met our escribana who told us that it is not possible for an Argentine to repatriate U.S. dollars to her bank account in the UK and that means that we can't sell the flat except in the unlikely event that someone wants to buy it with money already outside of Argentina.


    So we wondered what the situation would be if she gifted the apartment to me as a foreigner... could I then send the sale proceeds to my UK bank account?


    Or are we most likely stuck in limbo being unable to repatriate the US$ at all? I appreciate that the result of the election could change everything but I'd like to start to understand what is and what's not possible for now.


    Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.


    Peter

  • Caribboat

    Changed the title of the thread from “Sellin up” to “Selling up”.
    • Official Post

    I have never heard about Argentinians not being able to transfer their money abroad.

    What maybe the escribana meant, is that she cannot have the funds transferred directly to her UK account, i.e. she will need a local bank account and from that she will be able to transfer the money abroad (completing a ton of paperwork and paying hefty fees).


    What most people do here is to get cash and then find an intermediary, such as Banco Piano, that will transfer the money to your account abroad. Their fee is about 3-5%.


    I personally would be very afraid of large cash transaction, but this is how it is done here.

    I think if the apartment was financed from funds proceeding from Argentina , the cash has to stay here.


    Still there are ways ...


    Banco Piano probably the most serious ....


    If you have a share account in the UK , there may be another way as well.

    We know a few Argentines who have properties in Spain and the US so it can be done. No idea how they get the money transferred to buy them.......I have visions of them flying out of Ezeiza with pockets and hand baggage stuffed with US Dollars however I'm sure they aren't that daft.


    Good thread topic I'm sure a few of us here will be taking notes.

    • Official Post

    This is what my accountant advised me:


    Si el proprietario del inmueble es argentino y residente no hay ningún impedimento para que transfiera los fondos de la venta a otra cuenta de su misma titularidad radicada en el exterior (por lo menos hasta hoy, después de las elecciones no lo sé....).
    La escritura de venta debe hacerse en dólares.
    Los dólares deben ser depositados o transferidos a una cuenta bancaria en Argentina a nombre del vendedor del inmueble.
    Luego, el vendedor, debe solicitar a su banco en Argentina que haga la transferencia a su cuenta bancaria en el exterior. Como la transferencia va a ser mayor a USD 10.000.- se debe solicitar conformidad al Banco Central. Esto lo hace el mismo banco del vendedor.
    Algunos bancos están evitando hacer estas operaciones pero en realidad no hay ninguna prohibición.
    Le sugiero que consulte en su banco. Si la cuenta está radicada en una sucursal debería pedir una reunión directamente en casa central con el Departamento de Exterior y Cambios del banco para agilizar el trámite (las sucursales son más lentas y generalmente deben consultar con casa central).


    Las restricciones cambiarias comenzaron el 01/09/19 con la Comunicación "A" 6770 del B.C.R.A.
    Adjunto la comunicación. Ver el punto 6. Va resaltado en amarillo.
    El código de concepto para este tipo de transferencias es el A07.


    Obviamente siempre existe la opción de hacerlo por "otra via bancaria" pero consulté y el costo es de alrededor del 5%. El costo subió mucho por las restricciones cambiarias y por las normas de Prevención de lavado de dinero.


    I'll try and translate it if necessary.

    PDF of the resolution also attached.

    COM.A6770 BCRA.pdf

    Our U.K. friend who sold his place 7 years ago advises Caribboat to get a good lawyer here, and to pursue the option he raised, of having his wife make a gift of the property to him, in case the capital controls aren’t as stringent on non-citiz


    Fallback position: keep the apartment as rental property until capital controls are lifted or foreign buyers return.

    Quote from Rice

    If your wife’s friend has rental property in Marbella or Torremolinos, she has a gold mine, UK Man . Brits flock there. I’m not sure there’s anyone left there who speaks Spanish!

    Her daughter lives happily in Leeds and is married to an Argentine who was transferred by the company he works for,...they just had a baby. Mercedes plan is to evetually sell up here and move to Spain to be closer to them hence why she bought the apartment. Her mum sadly passed away last week aged 92 so there's nothing stopping her now.

    • Official Post

    La crisi! El hambre! La inflación!


    When we informed my MIL, who lives in Italy, that we were moving with Argentina, she gave me the full account of every misfortune happened to her and her friends in Argentina. She described life here as doomed by poverty, struggle and fear. She kept highlighting that 'us Europeans' were a better race, and about the many comfort I had growing up and that she didn't.


    She forgot to mention that she grew up in the wealthy part of Acassuso, attended private school, and had maids (plural) around the house. But this I found out later.


    Upon leaving Italy, I was feeling like Meryl Streep in Out of Africa: I was expecting to have maids, a big house, workers, and spending my time entertaining guests from abroad and the finest of Argentina's society.

    Boy, I was wrong! I never had a maid, I have always lived in an apartment, and lived for two years in a tiny 45 sq. mt. ones because of unfavorable exchange rate and high inflation.


    The finest of Argentina's society turned out to be of entitled rich, of poor manner and low culture, whose only entitlement is given by their big fat wallet, often the result of inherited fortune.


    And even looking a little below, I see many people taking a yearly vacation in Europe, all family along, and I suspect these are at least 10k USD vacations for a family of 4.

    But comparing the news in the newspaper and their life, it looks like they live better than Americans from up north.