# How to sell UK shares



## JTT (May 30, 2011)

We are Dubai residents and my wife has some UK shares in her name.

How can we sell them whilst living in Dubai?

All brokers seem to want us to open an account, and we need to be a UK resident to open an account (and be able to prove it)


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## woodlands (Jan 13, 2010)

A broker is needed to execute the sell order on the stock exchange so yes you do need an account with them. In what format do u have the shares...materialized or dematerialized ..Depends on how much u have to sell as well.... International brokers like interactive brokers will let u open account for 10k usd but they u need to dematerialize physical share certificates and I think these guys may even do it for you. You don't need to be a uk resident ....that's just BS...when did someone ask you where u live to take your money....just an issue of size.


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## Elphaba (Jan 24, 2008)

JTT said:


> We are Dubai residents and my wife has some UK shares in her name.
> 
> How can we sell them whilst living in Dubai?
> 
> All brokers seem to want us to open an account, and we need to be a UK resident to open an account (and be able to prove it)


If you don't already have an account somewhere, how did you buy the shares?

I trust you still have a UK bank account as many of them will handle small share trades and non-residents can set up a share trading account either with certain brokerages, or with their offshore bank account. A google search will give you the names of various companies who will deal with non-residents, although you need to watch the charges, especially if the holdings are small.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

Elphaba said:


> If you don't already have an account somewhere, how did you buy the shares?
> 
> I trust you still have a UK bank account as many of them will handle small share trades and non-residents can set up a share trading account either with certain brokerages, or with their offshore bank account. A google search will give you the names of various companies who will deal with non-residents, although you need to watch the charges, especially if the holdings are small.


although i have a share account, i have lots of small share bundles that have come through sell off's etc. BT, Centrica, Standard Life etc.
These didn't come via an account.

Would cost almost more than they're worth to sell!


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## woodlands (Jan 13, 2010)

Elphaba said:


> If you don't already have an account somewhere, how did you buy the shares?
> 
> I trust you still have a UK bank account as many of them will handle small share trades and non-residents can set up a share trading account either with certain brokerages, or with their offshore bank account. A google search will give you the names of various companies who will deal with non-residents, although you need to watch the charges, especially if the holdings are small.


Shares can be provided via employee stock options, warrants etc. In the old days all share certificates were on paper and u could get them in many ways and the bearer shares you could even sell without going to the exchange. Now its a different world but still, people do get shares without having an account.


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## JTT (May 30, 2011)

I got the shares through work, they are paper shares of a uk company. Worth about £30k

Every account I tried to open in uk asks for proof of address as we are no longer on the electoral role in uk.

Can someone please clarify how I can sell these shares? I want to sell them and then put the cash into savings.

Thanks,


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## R_Smithy (Jun 13, 2010)

Try and open an account with www.interactivebrokers.co.uk. You can trade over 100 markets worldwide in a single Interactve Brokers Account so I think they would be your best bet. Good Luck.


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## R_Smithy (Jun 13, 2010)

I forgot to add they may let you open an account in Dubai and trade UK Shares.


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## woodlands (Jan 13, 2010)

R_Smithy said:


> Try and open an account with www.interactivebrokers.co.uk. You can trade over 100 markets worldwide in a single Interactve Brokers Account so I think they would be your best bet. Good Luck.


Solid recommendation. Second that. I switched to them from Schwab when I came here so it does work for Dubai residents. Whether they will dematerialize your physical shares is the first question to ask though.


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## Guest (Dec 5, 2012)

I haven't worked with Interactive Brokers, but in my office I see their commercial on Bloomberg TV everyday 5454 times. So they must be a solid company.


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## steveago (Aug 26, 2014)

JTT said:


> We are Dubai residents and my wife has some UK shares in her name.
> 
> How can we sell them whilst living in Dubai?
> 
> All brokers seem to want us to open an account, and we need to be a UK resident to open an account (and be able to prove it)


Hello,

I have the same problem, just wondering whether you've been able to solve it.

Many thanks for your help

Steve


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## chestnut (Apr 1, 2013)

When I got my Standard Life shares, an account was opened for me with a share trading/management company. I think it's Capita.

In the UK I would consider talking to the Share Centre (in Aylesbury - www.share.com). I think of them little like the UK's E*Trade. Disclosure: my wife works for a foundation set-up by the owner/founder of the Share Company. I have no other association with The Share Centre.


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## RSBH (Apr 24, 2015)

*Selling UK shares from OS*



JTT said:


> We are Dubai residents and my wife has some UK shares in her name.
> 
> How can we sell them whilst living in Dubai?
> 
> All brokers seem to want us to open an account, and we need to be a UK resident to open an account (and be able to prove it)




I used Beaufort Securities to sell some UK Shares while I was non resident (and Non UK Citizen). Still needed to set up an account but did it remotely from Thailand. Matthew Giles was very helpful in facilitating the set up and sale and also got good FX rates.


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