Currency and international payments

Buying UK property from abroad usually means converting a large sum into sterling and sending it across borders, often in several payments. The price is fixed in pounds; what it costs you in your own currency is not fixed until you convert. And the payments themselves are a target for fraud. This guide covers when money needs to arrive, exchange rate risk, the difference between banks and regulated payment providers, how to confirm payee details, and the records that answer source of funds questions. It names no providers.

What you send, and when

Your solicitor needs the money before exchange and before completion, and may need to finish source of funds checks before accepting it. Agree with them how far ahead each payment should arrive, and build in time for checks by your own bank or provider. Our guide to buying UK property remotely explains each stage, and stamp duty for non-residents shows how the tax is worked out.

Exchange rate risk

The risk runs from the day you agree a sterling price to the day you convert. On a resale that may be weeks. On an off-plan purchase, with staged deposits and a balance at completion, it can be years.

A hypothetical illustration, for a sterling balance of £200,000 in a currency where £1 costs 10 units:

A 5% move in the rate changes the cost by 5%. The sterling figures do not move at all, so the risk sits entirely on your side.

Ways buyers manage the timing

Which suits you depends on your circumstances; this guide does not recommend one. Compare the rate you are offered and every fee, not a headline rate alone. Currency matters after completion too: the rent and any mortgage payments are in sterling, so your return measured in your own currency moves with the rate. Our expat mortgages guide covers how lenders view income in other currencies.

Banks and regulated payment providers

In the UK, money can be sent through a bank or building society, or through a payment provider such as an e-money institution or an authorised payment institution, a category that includes money remitters. The FCA says payment and e-money services must be authorised, though some small firms only need to be registered. The protection on your money is different in each case.

• FSCS. Deposits with a UK-authorised bank or building society are protected up to £120,000 per eligible person, per authorised firm, since 1 December 2025. Brands that share a banking licence count as one bank.
• Safeguarding. E-money and authorised payment institutions must keep your money in a separate safeguarding account with a bank, or protect it with insurance or a similar guarantee. If the firm fails you should get most of it back, but possibly not all, as an administrator's costs can be taken.
• Small payment institutions do not have to safeguard. The FCA suggests asking what protection is in place.
• Complaints about all four can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Checking a provider

The FCA advises checking the Financial Services Register to confirm a firm is authorised and has permission for the service it offers. Some providers trade under brand names that are not on the register, so look for the company name in the terms and conditions or at the foot of the website. Make sure the contact details you were given match the register, because fraudsters clone genuine firms. If you deal with an agent of a payment firm, check with the principal firm what the agent is allowed to do.

Confirming payee details

Joint guidance from the National Crime Agency, the Law Society, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Stop! Think Fraud warns that criminals target property purchases, posing as a solicitor or a bank to divert the money. The guidance is direct: check by calling before you transfer, test the account with a small sum, and never transfer until you are satisfied the details are correct.

1. Get your solicitor's bank details in person or by phone at the start of the conveyancing process.
2. Treat any email or call announcing new bank details with suspicion. Law firms rarely change them.
3. Check with the firm on its published number, not one in the email asking for payment, and with someone senior if in doubt. You can ask the firm to confirm them by post.
4. Send a small test payment and confirm it has arrived before sending the full amount.
5. Do not be pressured into paying before you have spoken to the firm.
6. Avoid public or unprotected wi-fi for email during the purchase, and avoid posting about it on social media.

Why this matters more from abroad

Confirmation of Payee, the account name check, covers UK domestic payments. The Payment Systems Regulator's reimbursement protections for authorised push payment fraud apply to UK bank transfers by Faster Payments or CHAPS from one UK account to another, up to £85,000 per claim. A payment sent from an account abroad falls outside both, so the call-back check and test payment carry more weight.

If you think you have been targeted

Contact your bank immediately and ask it to contact the receiving bank to freeze the funds. Report it to Report Fraud, which replaced Action Fraud in December 2025, at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. Tell your solicitor, as other clients may be at risk.

Once you own the property, HM Land Registry says you are more at risk of property fraud if you live overseas, rent the property out or it is not mortgaged. Its free Property Alert service emails you if someone applies to change the register for up to 10 properties, and owners who do not live at a property can request a restriction at no fee.

Records for source of funds

Under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, firms must verify your identity, monitor the relationship, including the source of funds where necessary, and in higher-risk cases obtain information on your source of funds and source of wealth. A clear paper trail makes those questions quick to answer.

How PROXERA Wealth helps

We help you put the practical set-up in place, such as a UK bank account and moving funds into sterling, and where appropriate we can introduce a specialist foreign-exchange provider. Each provider runs its own identity and eligibility checks. PROXERA keeps documents with the property they belong to, so the purchase record is in one place long after completion. See how we work with buyers abroad on our overseas investors page, and how tax on rent works in our Non-Resident Landlord Scheme guide.

Country guides set out the tax treaty, currency and time difference for where you live: Hong Kong, the UAE, Singapore, Nigeria, the USA, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia, China, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Canada and Australia.