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France · Live Rate
Send Money to France from the UK
A specialist broker guide to converting Pounds to Euros and paying a French account — for property deposits and notaire completion funds, second-home running costs, family support, tuition and business payments. Stronger GBP to EUR pricing than a UK high-street bank, with no transfer fees.
For amounts above £3,000, the best way to send money to France from the UK is through a specialist currency broker rather than a high-street bank. Brokers typically work on a GBP to EUR margin of 0.2% to 1%, against 3% to 4% at most UK banks, and charge no transfer fee. Euros normally reach a French account within one working day, and often the same day. Cambridge Currencies processes payments through FCA-authorised partners Currencycloud (FRN 900199) and ScioPay (FRN 927951), with client funds held in safeguarded accounts.
GBP
EUR
Mid-market rate shown for reference. Your transfer rate includes a small broker margin.
GBP to EUR Exchange Rate History
Cambridge Currencies handles UK to France payments for buyers and owners across the Dordogne, Charente, Brittany, Normandy, the Languedoc, Provence and the Alps, as well as Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Nice. Transfers typically run from £10,000 to £1 million, and the largest volumes are tied to property: the deposit held by the notaire, staged payments on a renovation or new build, and the completion balance that must be cleared before the acte de vente is signed. Every transaction is confirmed by phone with a dedicated specialist, so the rate, the total cost and the arrival date are known before any money leaves your UK account.
Who sends money from the UK to France?
France is the most established second-home market for British buyers in Europe, and the corridor is dominated by property and property-adjacent payments rather than small remittances. The situation almost always dictates the right tool — a spot transfer for a bill, a forward contract for a purchase with a dated acte de vente.
Property buyers
The largest group by value. A French purchase is paid in two main tranches: a deposit of commonly around 10% held in the notaire's escrow account at compromis stage, then the balance before the acte de vente. The gap between the two is typically two to three months.
Second-home owners
British owners of French holiday homes send recurring Euro amounts for taxe foncière and taxe d'habitation where it applies, utilities, insurance, syndic charges and maintenance. The cost of a poor rate is small each time and large across a year.
Renovation and building projects
Barn conversions and maison de maître restorations run on artisan payment schedules over 12 to 24 months. Each stage payment sits at a different GBP/EUR rate unless the schedule is treated as one exposure.
Relocation, family and business
UK residents moving to France send rental deposits and setup funds; parents pay French school and university costs; and UK businesses settle invoices with French suppliers, agents and property managers.
What is the cheapest way to send money to France from the UK?
For amounts above £3,000, the cheapest way to send money to France from the UK is a specialist currency broker. UK high-street banks typically apply a GBP to EUR margin of 3% to 4% on retail international payments and add a transfer fee of £10 to £30. Transfer apps price far better than banks, but their percentage cost usually rises with size and several cap transfers well below a French property deposit. Below roughly £1,000 an app is generally simplest; above that the economics move decisively toward a broker.
| Feature | UK high-street bank | Transfer app | Specialist broker |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBP to EUR margin | Poor (3–4%) | Fair (0.4–0.8%) | Strong (0.2–1%) |
| Transfer fee | £10–£30 per payment | Variable, rises with size | No transfer fees |
| Large payments | Online caps common | Caps often below €100,000 | No practical upper limit |
| Paying a notaire | Possible, no guidance | Often blocked or capped | Routine, with reference handling |
| Rate protection | Rarely offered | Not available | Forward contracts up to 24 months |
| Renovation schedules | Handled one by one | Handled one by one | Hedged as a single plan |
| Typical arrival | 1–3 working days | Same day for small sums | Same or next working day |
| Best suited to | Small ad-hoc payments | Under £1,000 | Above £3,000 |
The difference compounds with size. On a €450,000 completion payment to a notaire, the gap between a 3.5% bank margin and a 0.4% broker margin is roughly 3.1% of the total — around £12,400. Nothing about the house, the survey or the completion date changes; it is purely the price of how the Pounds were converted.
French purchases are unusually easy to hedge and unusually often left unhedged. The compromis fixes the Euro price and the notaire sets a target date for the acte — a known amount on a known date, which is the textbook case for a forward contract. Most buyers still leave it until the notaire emails asking for cleared funds, at which point the rate is whatever it happens to be that morning.
How to send money to France from the UK
Opening an account is free and takes around 10 minutes. Once verified, every UK to France payment follows the same four steps, with a named specialist handling the pricing and timing by phone so the rate is confirmed before anything moves.
- Open a free accountRegister online or by phone and complete identity verification. UK residents are usually verified within one working day. There is no obligation to trade.
- Confirm your GBP to EUR rate by phoneYour specialist quotes a live rate on the call and confirms the exact Euro amount that will arrive. Nothing is booked until you agree it.
- Send Pounds from your UK bankTransfer GBP by Faster Payments or CHAPS to the safeguarded client account provided. CHAPS is normally used for completion-sized amounts where a same-day guarantee matters.
- Euros arrive in the French accountOnce your Pounds are received and converted, Euros are sent by SEPA to the French IBAN you nominate — your own account, the notaire's escrow account, an artisan or a supplier.
What details do you need to send money to a French bank account?
A French payment needs the beneficiary's full name exactly as their bank holds it, the French IBAN, and a payment reference. French IBANs are 27 characters and begin with FR. French banks issue these details on a relevé d'identité bancaire (RIB), which is the document a notaire, landlord or artisan will normally send you. A BIC/SWIFT code is not required for a standard SEPA payment in Euros, though the RIB shows one.
For a UK buyer this matters most on the completion payment. A notaire's escrow account is held in the name of the étude or of the Caisse des Dépôts, not in the buyer's or seller's name, so the beneficiary name on your instruction must match the RIB exactly. Copying a name from an email signature rather than the RIB is the most common cause of a delayed completion payment.
Key transfer types explained
Worked example: buying a €500,000 house in the Dordogne
The figures below use an illustrative GBP/EUR rate of 1.17 so the arithmetic is easy to follow. The live rate above will differ, and the Pounds required scale proportionally.
Scenario
A UK couple buys a house near Bergerac for €500,000. They pay €50,000 into the notaire's escrow account at compromis stage, then €450,000 before the acte de vente around three months later.
| Route | Rate applied | GBP cost of €500,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Interbank reference | 1.1700 | £427,350 |
| UK bank (≈3.5% margin) | 1.1291 | £442,831 |
| Transfer app (≈0.6% margin) | 1.1630 | £429,923 |
| Specialist broker (≈0.4% margin) | 1.1653 | £429,074 |
Result
Buying the Euros through a specialist rather than a high-street bank reduces the Pound cost of the same house by approximately £13,750, with no change to the price, the notaire or the completion date. With three months between compromis and acte, a forward contract would also fix the Pound cost of the €450,000 balance on the day the deposit is paid.
Note that frais de notaire — the registration duties, taxes and fees collected by the notaire — are payable on top of the price, and are materially higher on an existing property than on a new build. The Euro requirement is therefore larger than the agreed price, and the difference should be built into the amount you fix rather than converted in a hurry at the end.
Timing a French property purchase
The French process gives a buyer an unusually clear planning window, and two dates matter for currency. The first is the compromis de vente, which fixes the Euro price. The second is the acte de vente at the notaire, typically two to three months later, by which point the balance must be cleared in the notaire's account — notaires will not complete against funds still in transit.
That cooling-off period is the practical reason many buyers convert the deposit only once it has expired, and then treat the balance separately. It also explains why the deposit and the completion balance are usually two different currency decisions rather than one: the deposit is near-term and certain, while the balance is dated but conditional on the conditions suspensives — most often a mortgage offer — being satisfied. Track the pair on the GBP to EUR page, and see the currency forecasts for the current outlook and the weekly currency forecast for near-term commentary.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Waiting for the notaire's demand for funds. The Euro amount was fixed at compromis. Converting on the morning the notaire asks turns a planned payment into whatever the rate happens to be.
- Judging cost by the fee rather than the margin. A £20 fee is visible; a 3.5% margin on €450,000 is roughly £12,400 and appears nowhere as a charge.
- Copying beneficiary details from an email rather than the RIB. Payee verification now checks the name against the IBAN across the euro area, and a notaire's escrow account is not in the seller's name.
- Forgetting the frais de notaire. Registration duties and fees are payable on top of the price and are higher on an older property. Fix a rate on the full Euro requirement, not the headline figure.
- Converting a renovation budget in instalments. A two-year artisan schedule is a series of dated Euro liabilities that can be covered as one plan instead of re-priced a dozen times.
- Ignoring the French calendar. French public holidays and the August closure affect notaires, banks and artisans. A completion set for early September is planned around, not discovered late.
What moves the GBP to EUR rate?
GBP/EUR is driven principally by the interest rate differential between the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, and by the growth and inflation data that shape those decisions. When UK rates are expected to stay above euro-area rates for longer, Sterling tends to be supported; when that gap is expected to close, the Euro tends to gain. UK inflation and labour market releases from the Office for National Statistics are the data most likely to move the pair on the day.
For a buyer the useful framing is a range rather than a forecast. A 2% move in GBP/EUR changes the Pound cost of a €500,000 house by roughly £8,700 — more than most buyers negotiate off the asking price. That is why the tool matters more than the timing.
Why use Cambridge Currencies for a UK to France transfer?
Built around notaire timelines
Our client book is weighted toward property purchases, renovation schedules and relocation payments — the profile of most UK to France transfers, and the reason completion dates and cleared-funds deadlines drive how we plan.
FCA-authorised payment partners
Cambridge Currencies is not itself FCA-authorised. Payment services are provided by Currencycloud (FRN 900199) and ScioPay (FRN 927951), both authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with client funds held in segregated safeguarded accounts.
One specialist, start to finish
Every client has a named specialist who handles the quote, the booking, the beneficiary details and the settlement. All transactions are completed by phone — no call centre queues and no handovers mid-purchase.
Transparent pricing
You see the exact GBP to EUR rate and the Euro amount that will arrive before you commit. No transfer fees, and no rate that changes between the quote and the booking.
Buying or paying in France?
Speak to a Cambridge Currencies specialist about your French purchase, your notaire deadline or your renovation schedule. Every transaction is completed by phone with a dedicated specialist, so the rate and the arrival date are confirmed before anything moves.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to send money to France from the UK?
For amounts above £3,000, a specialist currency broker is normally the cheapest route. Brokers work on a GBP to EUR margin of roughly 0.2% to 1% with no transfer fee, against 3% to 4% plus a £10 to £30 fee at most UK high-street banks. On a £100,000 transfer that difference is typically £2,000 to £3,500. Below about £1,000, a transfer app is usually simpler and the cost difference is small.
How long does a transfer from the UK to France take?
Euros normally reach a French bank account within one working day, and frequently the same day. The timeline has two parts: your Pounds reaching the broker (Faster Payments is usually within hours, CHAPS same-day within cut-off), then the SEPA payment to the French IBAN. First payments and larger amounts may take one extra day while source-of-funds checks are completed.
What details do I need to send money to a French bank account?
You need the beneficiary's full name exactly as their bank holds it, the French IBAN — 27 characters, beginning FR — and a payment reference. French banks supply these on a relevé d'identité bancaire (RIB). A BIC/SWIFT code is not required for a standard SEPA Euro payment. Because payee verification now checks the name against the IBAN, take the details from the RIB rather than from an email.
Can I pay a French notaire directly from the UK?
Yes. Completion funds are routinely sent to the notaire's escrow account, and this is how most UK buyers complete. The notaire will normally want the funds cleared in their account before the acte de vente is signed, and will ask about the source of the money as part of French anti-money-laundering checks, so allow working days rather than hours.
Can I fix an exchange rate for a French property completion?
Yes. A forward contract fixes the GBP to EUR rate for a payment settling up to 24 months ahead, usually against a deposit of a percentage of the contract value. It is the standard approach where the Euro price is agreed at compromis but the acte de vente is two or three months later, and for renovation schedules with several dated instalments.
How much deposit do I pay when buying in France, and who holds it?
The deposit on a compromis de vente is commonly around 10% of the price, and a minimum of 5% applies on a unilateral promise running beyond 18 months. It is held in the notaire's escrow account rather than paid to the seller, returned in full if a condition suspensive fails, and deducted from the price at completion. Official guidance is published at service-public.gouv.fr.
Do I pay tax on money I send from the UK to France?
Sending your own money abroad is not itself a taxable event in the UK. Tax may arise from the underlying transaction — for example a UK capital gain realised to fund the purchase, or French registration duties and local property taxes. UK guidance on foreign income is published at GOV.UK. Confirm your position with a qualified tax specialist before a material transfer.
Is Cambridge Currencies regulated?
Cambridge Currencies works exclusively with FCA-authorised payment partners. Payment services are provided by Currencycloud (FRN 900199) and ScioPay (FRN 927951), both authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Client funds are held in segregated safeguarded accounts, as explained on our safeguarding page.
