Casa Neroli

As soon as I was back, we had two main things to start working on. First was to plan our holidays for the year and secondly was what sort of house can we built. We would need to consider both as the house and actions required may drive when we needed to be in Portugal.

Maria & Paulo had already said that they would be more than happy to help us through the process of finding architects and builders and anything else that we might need. This is much more than any Estate agent would do in the UK, but this is Portugal and things are very different. It was lovely to experience the partnership / friendly approach and the fact that although they had done their bit, they really wanted to help us through the next stages. We were to experience this many times over the coming months, so if you are going to do something similar, do develop a partnership, it makes the whole process a lot more enjoyable.

Scheduling was going to be key. We knew we would have to drive things a bit, so let’s plan for a spring and a Summer Break; we can leave any others till later in the year. After a review of the academic year, remember Teresa is in education. We decided we would try for a week at Easter and just over two weeks in the summer, August time. We had really enjoyed the drive down and back in the previous year and wanted to do it again, but felt for a week it was too much. We also wanted to maximize our time in Portugal. So the decision was to fly for Easter and drive again in August as we were planning 16 days overall.

My flight home was in the evening, so I still had a full day available. Considerations for the day were as mentioned in an earlier blog I had made the decision to drive back across the N roads, not the Motorway due to the Toll issues. Paulo and Maria had asked me to call by the office in Castel Branco on the way, plus I had to call into the Correios (Post Office) to settle my motorway toll charge for on the way down on Monday.

So the plan was to get up early, drive up to “Our Property” have a wander around take a few pictures, then head into Castelo Branco for lunch time, pay the tolls, visit the Remax office, get some lunch and head off about 1:00pm to get back to  Airport for 6:00pm for the flight at about 7:30pm ish.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh5.ggpht.com/-PWNLGBcL_Ao/UQ7HmjqAT1I/AAAAAAAAAII/vpS0O1VS9_E/s144-c/DSC03884.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840825231966490450″ caption=”DSC03884.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03884.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w250″ pe2_title=”false” ]It was very cold when I left the hotel around 8:00am the temperature on the car was showing -2 but it was still very clear and the sun was out. It took about 45 minutes to get to the property, it was fascinating to watch the temperature change on the car, it dropped as low as -4 but as I got nearer to the property it started to rise. 0, 1, 2 ,3 as I got closer 8 and as I pulled on to the land a amazing 14 degrees.

We have been told that we were in our own micro climate, but this was impressive.

I spent about an hour just wandering around, everything seemed so familiar and so right, but it was still hard to comprehend that this was now ours! With great delight I removed the Venda , For Sale board and put it round the back of the hut. Whilst obviously it was fine to do this, I still actually felt guilty about doing it. I took a lot of photos some of which you can see on this blog. These photos I am sure will prove a great source of comparison as the project progresses.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh5.ggpht.com/-PWNLGBcL_Ao/UQ7HmjqAT1I/AAAAAAAAAII/vpS0O1VS9_E/s144-c/DSC03884.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840825231966490450″ caption=”DSC03884.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03884.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w300″ pe2_link=”thickbox_integrated” pe2_title=”false” ] [pe2-image src=”http://lh4.ggpht.com/-SIZcWDLSvKY/UQ7IJ_HuezI/AAAAAAAAAIo/1Hdv_Rqwb1s/s144-c/DSC03888.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840825840634329906″ caption=”DSC03888.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03888.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w300″ pe2_link=”thickbox_integrated” pe2_title=”false” ] [pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-lMvKO8C9dDE/UQ7IZmM9nZI/AAAAAAAAAI8/OMaLP8Wkxek/s144-c/DSC03890.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840826108823313810″ caption=”DSC03890.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03890.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w300″ pe2_link=”thickbox_integrated” pe2_title=”false” ] [pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-7dGyfGtq008/UQ7IrSNTbvI/AAAAAAAAAJU/8M8_BK1t98Y/s144-c/DSC03892.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840826412693679858″ caption=”DSC03892.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03892.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w300″ pe2_link=”thickbox_integrated” pe2_title=”false” ] [pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-20tCjDCX_cU/UQ7Jzr49f-I/AAAAAAAAAKU/MVHF-5IMZ9I/s144-c/DSC03900.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840827656538259426″ caption=”DSC03900.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03900.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w300″ pe2_link=”thickbox_integrated” pe2_title=”false” ] [pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Rq6VURAlZiU/UQ7KX1XopqI/AAAAAAAAAK0/XbLIhm9No84/s144-c/DSC03904.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840828277558126242″ caption=”DSC03904.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03904.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w300″ pe2_link=”thickbox_integrated” pe2_title=”false” ]

Around 11:00am, I packed up got in the car, set off for Castelo Branco and pretty much followed my plan, everything worked out well and I was back home in the UK around midnight.

As soon as I arrived, the young lady on reception informed that the lawyer had already been in and she had to attend court first thing, but she had taken some paperwork and would try and start the process without me, she would be back about 11:00am. So what to do for an hour and a half?

I wandered around the few shops and had another coffee in a different café and the time soon passed.  I got back to Remax around 11:00am. I knew things were done very different in Portugal and it is a lot slower, but I was beginning to wonder if this was all going wrong and I was never going to see anyone or our money again.[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-o8PVhy0V5wQ/UQ7FbelWWWI/AAAAAAAAAGA/0xh1sZUhg7w/s144-c/DSC03867.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840822842602969442″ caption=”DSC03867.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03867.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w250″ pe2_title=”false” ]It wasn’t too long before the lawyer arrived, she explained that she was unable to do anything without our passports, the department she was dealing with would only accept originals, and she had been trying to use a photo copy that the estate agent was holding. So we set off at a rapid speed across town, by the heck this lady can walk fast. On route we discussed that we wanted it to be in joint names, this was OK as I had the fore thought to bring Teresa’s Passport as well.

Stage 1 – We need a fiscal number, a bit like our National Insurance number, without this we can’t do anything. We arrived at the Office of finanças. The lawyer was brilliant she was able to organize everything in the office, she even made all the payments on her Credit Card; remember we had already sent the money for her and the purchase to her before I arrived. All I had to do was check the details on the applications, one for me and one for Teresa and after a couple of corrections, just sign. First bit done.

Stage 2 – Go out of the office on to the street walk 5 paces to the next doorway and back into the Office of finanças, another department. Take a ticket, you know like the deli counter in the supermarket and wait to be called. I took this time to quiz the lawyer a bit more about her and the way things happen and what the day held for us. After a short while we were called to the counter and the lawyer presented the lady behind the desk all the details of the purchase and our newly obtained fiscal numbers. What was happening was this department was working out the taxes that we had to pay, It took an age, the computer system they were using is so antiquated, and it took several attempts to actually get the paperwork to tell us how much to pay. OK paperwork received, now to pay! Guess what? Need to go back to the office we went to for the first stage to pay.

Stage 3 – Go out the office on to the street walk back to the next doorway to the office we were at earlier and it was locked! Its lunchtime! The process had taken so long it was time for the Portuguese 2 hour lunch break. This is where the lawyer came into her own, whilst I am sure the Estate agent could have done the same, the lawyer was obviously very well known here and she banged on the door until they noticed and after an exchange of words we were given entry. It didn’t take long all we had to do was pay the taxes, again the lawyer took care of the payment ad detail all I had to do was sign.

Stage 4 – Lunch. Yes it is lunchtime. Everything stops for lunch. The lawyer announced she was off for lunch and would meet me outside the Bank at 2:00pm. She pointed me to the dog pooh waste bin on the lamp post and said 2:00pm I meet you there. I returned to what was rapidly becoming my regular café.

The Panic – I returned to the pre arranged meeting place and guess what?  No Lawyer. After a further 20 minutes still no lawyer. Yes I was starting to get a bit concerned. I tried calling her but it was engaged, I tried several times sometimes getting the engaged sometimes not. So yes really starting to worry. Then about 2:40, so 40 minutes late she appeared, on the phone as she walked, apologies accepted and panic over, we entered the bank.

Stage 5 – The Bank. We were shown to a desk and a gentleman greeted us, he spoke excellent English and we had a short discussion on what we were doing and then he handed over the cash to the lawyer. Yes Cash, Euro notes nothing bigger than a €500, some a lot smaller.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-p_XPBjf3kNk/UQ7FTfSiUxI/AAAAAAAAAF4/a_7lTSqgW_k/s144-c/DSC03866.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840822705353544466″ caption=”DSC03866.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03866.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w250″ pe2_title=”false” ]For the next stage we had to make our way across the square to the Notary, on route I think the lawyer bumped into half the population of Castelo Branco, she seemed to know everyone. Now I understand why she was late, this was at least positive in that she was well known so should things go wrong (ever the optimist!!) I could find her. You have to remember that whilst I have now met her and so she is real and I have checked her out on the website mentioned in an earlier blog, I still haven’t seen an office, so she could be working from home or a broom cupboard for all I know. On the way the lawyer phoned and confirmed we were all ok time wise, and was advised the sellers were on route but may be a little late, surprise, surprise. By now I had this licked, it just takes time and it will happen when it will happen, but it will happen, so let’s just go with the flow.

Stage 6 – The Notary. The Notary entrance was small, not at all what I expected, we walked up a narrow staircase to the 1^st floor, Again the hairs started to twitched a little, it kind of reminded me of the back street market dealers in Hong Kong and Bangkok. However there was a office, with a couple of rooms. We were greeted and we handed over our details, passports, ids and paperwork, they started to process our side whilst we waited for the sellers.

A little later the sellers arrived along with Maria and Paulo from Remax, there was an army of them, 8 including Paulo and Maria, I felt a little intimidated but, we are here all of us. They too handed over a similar quantity of paperwork and the office continued processing, there did seem to be a bit of an issue, but in my Portuguese innocence, I was blissfully unaware of the detail. I later found out that one of the wives had forgotten her ID, but it seemed they managed to sort something to satisfy the officials.

The Last Stage – The exchange. Once we were all assembled and the paperwork completed, we were all, yes all eleven of us ushered into the second small office, which was set as a meeting room, it had a large old table in the middle and we all sat around the outside. Had there been another person I think we could have been in real trouble.

The eleven people were: Me, Liliana – The Lawyer, The seller, the seller’s first son and his wife, the seller’s second son and his wife and son, Maria and Paulo and lastly the official from the Notary.

The lawyer sat next to me, as the whole process had to, by law, be conducted in Portuguese and the lawyer translated in my ear as we progressed. Basically it is quite simple, the official first reads out a document on behalf of the seller and the sellers family , stated they are all OK with the sale, the second is on behalf of the buyers, Teresa and myself saying that we agree to the purchase. At the end of each being read we all had to sign the relative document.

That’s where we had a problem! The whole process should only take about 15 minutes; ours took over an hour and a half. The old man that was selling was 90 years old, a typical Portuguese local, could hardly read or write and as was proved could not easily sign his name. It took several attempts for him to sign and a couple of re-prints of the documents. To start his family tried to help, but the official said that wasn’t allowed, so the family tried putting the letters on a separate piece of paper for him to copy, that was allowable, but he still got it wrong, the official rejected it a couple of time and as I say the documents had to be reprinted, but eventually the official was satisfied and the documents could be stamped and approved.

The very last bit was the cash! At this point the lawyer retrieved the large wad of cash from her handbag, slapped it down on the table, this was the total balance of the deal, I won’t say how much, but I have not seen that amount of cash in one go before. The old boy, with a great big smile presented me with the keys and the lawyer indicated that it was time for us to leave.

We had an interesting final meeting on the stairs of the notary, where she did the last sums and calculated I owed her about 80€ which sounded about right. She also explained that once we had left the room the family would be sharing out the cash, I smiled as I had this picture in my head of them dealing the notes out like a pack of cards, one for you, two for me, one for you and another two for me etc. The lawyer passed me the final papers, copies of the deed documents, the originals are retained at the notary.

Once outside we did the traditional thing in Europe of shaking of the hands followed by the kissing on both cheeks and went on our separate ways. A quick phone call back to the UK to Teresa to let her know and…..

That’s it. Job done! We now own our own little bit of Portugal.

I woke up about 7:00am and looked out on a cold frosty morning, this was the first time I had been able to see the hotel as it was very dark when I arrived last night. After the usual morning activities I headed down to breakfast.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JIObNU57f7s/UQ7FLkxDt9I/AAAAAAAAAFw/tTECrtrRLPc/s144-c/DSC03865.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840822569384785874″ caption=”DSC03865.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03865.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w250″ pe2_title=”false” pe2_link=”thickbox” pe2_relate_images=”1″ ]It was very quiet, but I guess it was early! Nope it was just very quiet, after finding my way to the dining room, which was in complete darkness, I located the one table that looked like it had been laid up for breakfast and sat down. Shortly afterwards the lights went on, two people appeared from nowhere, one turning on the toaster, the other inviting me to partake in coffee.

Yes if you hadn’t realised, I was the only guest in the hotel.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-8RMZPIiFfPU/UQ7FDD47GDI/AAAAAAAAAFo/0AI8pBYlO5Q/s144-c/DSC03864.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108611253674238626366/PortugalJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCIruipaM-9T8twE#5840822423120451634″ caption=”DSC03864.JPG” type=”image” alt=”DSC03864.JPG” pe2_single_image_size=”w250″ pe2_img_align=”right” ]After being suitably feed I headed out, it was cold about -2C on the car temperature gauge but a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Knowing it was going to take me about an hour to get to the Remax office in Castelo Branco, I headed off. I was due to get to the office about 9:30am to meet the lawyer, who although I had spoken to by email, I hadn’t spoken to directly or seen.

I made it in plenty of time and in fact had time for a coffee in a café opposite the office before arriving just before 9:30am

You may remember from an earlier blog, when I was discussing about the New Motorway toll system, I said that the Portuguese government had delayed switching it on due to the elections. Well we had seen on the good old Internet that mid December 2011 they had switched it on.

The internet was full of very negative comments about how it was working, or more importantly how it wasn’t working and it was driving everyone back to the N roads. I won’t go into all the detail here, if you are really interested I am sure you can research using the Internet, but I will just note here the issues that faced us.

As addition to this I will say that by the middle of 2012 they have pretty much sorted all the problems and whilst there still is a lot of criticism on the prices I reckon they have sorted most of the operational issues.

For me however it was a taxing time, whilst I was happy “to go with the flow” on many of things, I was a bit concerned as I really didn’t want to get fined for none payment. I did try to phone the Via Verde as they advertised they had a English speaking hot line, and discussed the options available, none that really seemed to work for someone like me who was arriving on a flight and making use of a hire car. They did say I could call into the first service station on the A23 at Abrantes and there buy/rent a transponder device, or I could make use of the motorway and then visit the Corrieos (Post Office) and pay. Armed with this information I felt I could manage and ultimately if I got fined I could probably appeal. There seemed to be a lot of discussion on the Internet about this as well.

When I arrived at the airport and tracking down the car hire desks, no mean feat I can tell you, I found the Europcar / Easy Jet Car desk and did the business as they say to get the car. I did ask about the motorway tolls and a small leaflet was thrust into my hand with a shrugging of shoulders from the car hire agent. The leaflet was the best part of useless, it basically just said, there are tolls and you the hirer are expected to deal and pay, the hire company holds no responsibility, you know the usual helpful stuff.

It’s now about 8:30ish in the evening it took a further 15 minutes or so to check the car for damage and sign all the usual disclaimers. It was relatively easy to get out of Lisbon airport on to the A1 motorway and head north, couldn’t get that wrong as the motorway only really goes north, if you went south you would probably end up in the water.

Heading up the A1 was easy, the first section is toll free and when it does get to where it is chargeable there are manned toll booths. So I picked up a ticket and continued on towards Torres Novas where I knew I would have to turn on to the A23 and the new electronic toll system.

It took about an hour to get to the turning, which was clearly marked, just after the turn off there was a toll booth, where I could settle the account for the A1. Almost immediately, well just round a corner the motorway proudly announces that you are now on the new electronic toll system road. Ok so armed with the information gained before I left I headed to the Service station at Abrantes passing under a couple of the overhead gantry’s that were busily taking my picture, Smile for the camera 🙂 . It wasn’t long before I started to realize that I seemed to be the only motorist on the motorway, there was not a car or lorry in sight either way. Hum, maybe this was a mistake.

I continued on until I located the Abrantes service station, I pulled into the service area, everything seemed to be in half darkness, and there was just one other solitary car parked under the canopies. I parked up near the “amenities”; you know what I am talking about as by now I needed them, after making myself more comfortable I surveyed the place, there was a self-service type building, closed! There was a fuel shop, the shutters slowly closing. Quick I thought dashing around to the other side and gaining entry. Again surveying around the shop, Via Verde? Motorway taxes? Tolls? Nope nuffin. As I have pushed my way in I felt I had to buy something and I was short on water as of course, I couldn’t bring any with me and I shouldn’t be drinking tap water, I think. I brought a large bottle of water and some crisps and whilst paying tried to ask about the Tolls! In English to a Portuguese person, who works in a fuel station! Your get the picture, was never going to happen was it?

Oh well! never mind back in car an press on to the hotel, more about that is another blog, but just to finish the motorway toll debacle the next day I drove into Castelo Branco, found the Corrieos (Post Office), worked out the queuing system, which wasn’t working and eventually got to the counter. Lucky for me the person behind the counter did understand a bit of English and with my hand gestures and very poor Portuguese plus the assistance of a passing local, I managed to work out that it took at least 2 days for the motorway tolls incurred to get from the motorway system to get across to the billing system.

A couple of days later I revisited the Corrieos and was able to pay the toll I had accrued on the way down. If I remember it was about €14 which is quiet expensive but cheaper than a €100+ fine.

The issue was now how to get back on Wednesday, if I use the motorway to get back to the airport in Lisbon to catch a flight the same day and it takes 2 days for the fee to get onto the system, how do I cover that?  A dilemma I am sure that faced a lot of travelers.

I took the ultimate decision as I did not want to incur a fine, to take the N roads back, even though it was likely to take at least 2 extra hours and even after reading that there were thousands of people with the same issue and fines were just not being paid, after all what else did I have to do? I have to say at the end of it I actually really enjoyed the drive back, it was far more interesting than the motorway.

So that’s it until the next trip. I hope they sort something soon.

Time for the off. Off to the airport, on my own, seems a little weird!!  I have over my working life made many trips on my own for work, but this didn’t seem right although it did as well. Don’t ask me to explain, but it was just right. After checking through passport and security, it was time for the compulsory coffee and a sandwich. I also decided that as I had no idea how long it would take me to get to the hotel from Lisbon Airport, perhaps an extra sandwich for the journey was an idea. This was later to prove to be one of my better ideas.

The flight was good and on time, and by 7:30pm I was in Lisbon, time to find the car hire desk, I had already pre booked a car via EasyJet when I booked the flight. So OK where’s the car hire place, hello! I said where’s the car hire place, Um, very little signage, lovely airport but, after a short time I managed to find someone who looked reasonably official and asked. I was pointed down a corridor and sure enough down a short passage there was a small hall with all the car hire companies represented. OK, there we are, Europcar.

I had been reading before I had left the UK about how the Portuguese had now introduced auto tolls on some of the motorways and yes of course, the A23, which I had to take, was one of these. These Auto tolls are completely electronic, not tolls booths, no people, so totally unclear how to pay.

With Christmas and the New Year out the way, it was time to get back on with Project Portugal. After checking that we had everything in place, we realised I hadn’t yet arranged to park the car at the airport. We consider ourselves very lucky to be living on the south cost of England, with easy access to airports and seaports. Lucky EasyJet fly’s from Gatwick to Lisbon and Gatwick is just 45mins by car from home. There is brilliant car parking around the airport, so time to get booking.

Car Parking – Gatwick Booked – BCP Parking

The estate agents will be very keen to get the deal concluded so as they can recognise the commission for themselves and ours however nice and helpful they are were the same. If you are happy to go with the flow then that’s fine, but don’t let them push you into doing anything before you are ready.

We also started to understand a little more about what will happen on the day, basically everyone, buyers, sellers, estate agents, lawyers and anyone else that might be involved all turn up at the Notary, a official legal office, sign various papers and hand over the cash, simple!

There was no doubt in our minds that we were going to go through with the deal, but as I said in an earlier blog, the airfares before and around the Christmas period were ridiculous. Whilst we weren’t going to do everything on the cheap, we weren’t going to throw away our hard earnt money and after investigating we concluded that the best time was actually the first week back at school for Teresa, so I would go alone, we could still do everything in joint names but a single return flight at this time was far more reasonable.

Most evenings during December we were emailing one party or another just getting everything in line. Everyone was very helpful and willing to fall in line, with the exception of the sellers, not the old man who actually was selling but with one of his sons. Let me explain, in Portugal when a property is owned by partners (e.g. a man and his wife) if they have children, when one of then die the 50% passes to the children not the spouse, unless superseded by a will. Mr. Antonio and his wife had owned the property we were buying, but the wife had died some years earlier and they had 2 sons, both of the sons were married and one has a son of his own, so whilst the old man was selling, both the sons and their wives and the grandson had to agree and in fact would share the proceeds from the sale. They were all in agreement but one son was being a bit awkward about the date. In reality I was later to find out that whilst he didn’t want the land, he didn’t want his father to sell either, so whilst not blocking the sale, he was being deliberately awkward.

After a number of emails with the estate agent and our lawyer and the estate agent working with the family and the notary, the date was set for Tuesday 10^th January 2012. I will fly out on the Monday 9^th January, do the deed on the Tuesday and fly back on the Wednesday.

5^th December – Flights booked – Easyjet.

7^th December – Hotel Booked – Booking.com – Hotel Idanha Natura.

9^th December – My birthday – Just thought I would throw that in, presents always welcome. :- ) .

15^th December – Euros ordered.

16^th December – Euros with Lawyer.

So that’s it for 2011, time to get on with the Christmas present buying.

Once the deposit and reserva are all done, the sale is agreed and in place the agent will normally start to make arrangements to get a date for the actual sale/transfer of title. I am not sure how this works if you are getting a mortgage, we were paying cash, but I am sure the process is the same. They will of course try to get it done as soon as possible as they want their commission on the sale. In Portugal it is the same as in the UK the seller pays the agents fees, so there is no worry there, but don’t let them bully you, remember at least one of you will have to be there for the day of transfer, but you need to consider the cost.

For us it was getting very near to Christmas, and as you know the airlines tend to inflate the price of the flights at that time of year, we looked at the options and decided that we didn’t want to complete until the early part of January, flights then were much more reasonable. We are talking up to a 5^th cheaper than before Christmas.

It did give us a slight problem in that Teresa running her own business, a Montessori Nursery School, she really have to be there, especially at the start of term, so we took the decision that just I would go. This had the additional benefit of halving the cost.

The final part in preparation was to get the balance paid into the, in our case lawyers bank account, but it could be the agent ready for the transfer day. We follow exactly the same process as previously with the deposit to get the money across, this time it was there in just under 24 Hours.

There are a number of ways of getting Euros, it’s not quite as simple as when you go on holiday and get cash from the local exchange bureau, but its not complicated.

One way is to discuss with your UK bank, they will be more than happy to work with you and arrange to take money from your account convert it to Euros and deposit it to an nominated Euro account (e.g. the Agent or Lawyer) but the bank will charge you a fairly hefty commission and their conversion rates are not brilliant.

Another way is to open a UK Euro bank account and transfer from your Sterling to Euro Account, but again your bank will charge, I don’t know the amount, as I didn’t go down that route.

I had heard, I can’t remember from where, it may have been a colleague at work it maybe from the Internet, about currency exchange companies. I think one place I had read these was both on Gekkoportugal and PPProperties websites. I am sure the companies they promote are fine but I focused on two that I found, Worldfirst and Moneycorp, they both offered online service and their exchange rates where much better than the bank or Post Office, they both charged a small fixed rate charge, but at the time Worldfirst offered your first transaction free, e.g. no admin charges and if you transacted over £5000 its was free anyway. Moneycorp charged whatever, it was only a very small charge, but a charge the same, but they did offer a privilege card that you could use at the airports to get commission free currency at preferential rates. It was all on line and quite easy to open an account so I did both.

For our first transaction to pay the deposit we went with Worldfirst, just because it was cheaper. The first transaction did take a few days, just because I didn’t have the money in the bank, it was in various savings accounts and so we needed to get into our main bank account, but once organized the transfer was done in a couple of days (later transactions have been processed in a matter of hours) The first thing is to tell the currency exchange company how much you want in either £ or € and they will quote you a price (exchange rate) as long as you are happy they will then fix the purchase for a period, send you an email with all the details of the transaction and give you their account details to transfer the money into. You can do this with your bank and they usually don’t charge, if you have Internet access to manage you account you can do this yourself. Then you have to give details to exchange company of the account you want to transfer the money to e.g. the lawyer or the agent, they will be able to give you the details of their account. You will need their IBAN account number, Bank Swift Code, Bank Name, and the Name on the account. Once that’s all in place, its done. Just get the agent or lawyer to let you know when the money is in their account.