Q. I saw your article last week which advised sellers how to sell a property at auction. I am actually interested in purchasing a property at auction and should be grateful if you could please advise me about the basic procedure from a buyer's viewpoint?
A. Firstly, prior to the auction you should:
- inspect the property, and
- consider surveying the property, and
- obtain a copy of the auction "pack" well in advance of the actual auction and you should ask your solicitor to review the pack for you to check that the deeds, searches and sale conditions are all acceptable, and
- ensure your mortgage or other financial arrangements are in place as otherwise if you cannot obtain the finance afterwards then will be unable to complete and will lose your deposit.
At the auction, the auctioneer will open the bidding for each lot. The seller can set a minimum price that the auctioneer must achieve to sell the property (the "reserve price") which is normally kept confidential. If the bidding reaches the reserve price and the lot is sold, the hammer will be brought down. An auction a contract will be binding even if it is only made orally. The successful bidder will then be required to sign the memorandum of sale, pay the deposit to the auctioneers and to provide their Solicitor's details.
The completion date will be stated in the sale contract and is often expressed to be a number of days after the date of the auction. The timescales are usually very tight and therefore it is imperative that you appoint a good solicitor.
Buying at auction is more complicated than a normal purchase and expert legal help is essential. However, we have a wealth of experience of auction purchases and should you require any assistance please contact Keith by email at ks@pgslaw.co.uk or by telephone on 0808 231 7043. Patterson, Glenton & Stracey Solicitors have provided legal advice to the people of South Tyneside for over 125 years. For details of their full range of services and to view previous Gazette articles please log on to www.pgslaw.co.uk.
