290 thoughts on “Dealing with property auction issues”
Hello there, My company registered with an auction. As the director I received a call requesting a deposit, however, I never bid on any properties. I then received a call from the auctioneers demanding and pushing for payment. During that time, I had just transferred funds into the business account and they were taken by the auctioneers. I immediately notified the auctioneers to cancel the purchase and issue a refund as no one was coming forward in regards to bidding on the property. A substantial amount has been taken from the businesses account by the auctioneers yet they have gone ahead to sell the property in another auction for £30000 more than what it had originally gone for. This is a predicament as no one is coming forward. Please could you advise what I should do. I promptly notified the bank but they’ve refused to issue the funds back. What would you advise is the way forward to get the funds back? Is it the responsibility of the auctioneers to issue this refund or the bank as they were both notified of the issue promptly? Would appreciate your advice
Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately we are unable to provide any specific advice on our website. However, by way of general guidance, who is liable for what will depend on the terms of any contract between you and the auctioneers and/or sellers.
We appreciate that you state that you did not bid on any properties, however it would appear that you did remit funds to the auctioneers for some reason. The reason and basis for that transfer would need to be considered. Clearly no one can take money off of another person unless this is pursuant to some sort of agreement. However, a contract or agreement can come into existence by conduct, there does not necessarily have to be an express written and signed contract. We would need to spend time going through the precise events and considering all of the written correspondence and documentation before we would be able to provide any advice.
Should you wish to progress the matter, please do feel free to get in touch.
hi my partner recently purchased a piece of land with planning permission at auction after some research it has come to light there’s rebel with drainage which means they will not consent to works to be done they have told my partner that the previous owner had done all same searches and water company refused to give them agreement for such works also hence them putting it back into auction none of this was in legal pack we are due to complete any day now – what are our rights? Can we back out of sale on those grounds and get our deposit back?
Thank you for your comment. I am afraid I am not sure what you mean by “rebel with drainage” – can you clarify?
If the seller specifically can be shown to have made a false statement then there may be a claim here. Generally speaking pulling out of a sale for misrepresentation after exchange is risky and puts you at risk for not only loss of deposit but also a legal claim by the seller for consequential losses arising out of your failure to complete or even for an order requiring you to complete the transaction atop that. If you did this any defence would likely have to be to show that there was a misrepresentation of such gravity that it would have justified rescission of the sale had you found out about it after completion, or that they themselves are for some reason in breach of contract by their failure to do this.
However this is something that I think you may want to contact our Litigation team at our Braintree office to discuss in more depth as unfortunately I am not entirely clear what exactly has happened and so I am not sure I can advise properly here.
I bought a property at an online auction on 16 December 2020. I did not read the auction pack or view the property and kept telling this to the agent throughout the process but he persistently encouraged me to buy. He said that it was in a good rental area and was valued more than they were asking. I now understand that I have no recourse for this as it was my responsibility to carry out the necessary checks. I also specifically enquired whether there was a combi boiler and central heating system and was told yes. I found out afterwards that this was not so.
I am now faced with a dilemma: Section 25 of the contract states that “At the time of AUCTION the SELLER is not the registered PROPRIETOR of the PROPERTY. The BUYER will raise no requisition and will have no right to delay or cancel COMPLETION in this regard. Production of the Transfer Deed proving Transfer of ownership to the SELLER will be sufficient to enable COMPLETION.”
Completion was to take place within 28 days of the contract date. On 13 Jan 2021, the contract date for completion, the seller’s solicitor advised that he was not ready to complete. My solicitor thought it was better not to serve a notice to complete while the issue of the Title was being dealt with. I thereafter, tried to have the contract rescinded on 17 Feb and again on 15 March and 22 March for breach of contract as it did not appear that any effort was being made by the seller to deal with the Title registration matter. The seller’s solicitors have refused. On 18 May 2021, they served a notice to complete within 10 working days.
The Seller purchased the property on 16 Feb 2018 with full title guarantee and is still not the registered Proprietor on 21 May 2021. On Zoopla, the property is listed as sold in September 2020 but a Land Registry check on 21 May 2021 shows that title is still with the previous owner. The last sale date on Rightmove is October 2017, the same date that the previous owner is stated as the Proprietor. There is an obvious danger here and the possibility of fraud being committed.
Should I complete on the purchase, I am faced with the possibility of never gaining Title to the property. If the seller has already sold this property to an unwitting buyer(s) who would be in the same situation as myself and then proceeds to fraudulently sell to another party, that party can claim the property if it is registered for that sale. If I refuse to complete the purchase, I stand to lose £7,500 comprising £1,500 reservation fee and £6,000 buyer fee; both of which are stated as non-refundable. They will then obviously put the property on the market again and another unwitting bidder(s) will face the same scenario, I am dealing with.
Please could you advise if there is any redress available to me. If so, is it something your learned selves can deal with on my behalf?
Thank you for your comment. This seems to be a rather complicated situation, but at heart, the general rule is that to force the other party to a property transaction to complete the sale, that party must themselves be ready, willing, and able to complete. The contract states that as at the date of it the seller does not have title because completion on his purchase of the property is still outstanding, but he must be sure that he will have title to the property to be able to force completion. If he is not ready, willing, and able to complete there may be a defence to any claim for an order requiring you to complete on the purchase on that basis. It would also depend very much on exactly what was stated in the contracts and terms and conditions of auction in full.
This is something where we would have to see the documentation you refer to before we can properly advise. Please feel free to ring our Litigation team at the Braintree office for a confidential discussion and we may be able to direct you as to what can be done about this, what its prospects of success are, and what the likely costs of litigating this may be.
Delayed completion: what are your options when someone in your chain of property transactions is late? With a group of strangers all working toward completing on the same date, it's a wonder it ever works out on time.
This collection of cases of property misrepresentation claims should remind all of us how important it is to tell the truth on a Property Information Form
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Hello there,
My company registered with an auction. As the director I received a call requesting a deposit, however, I never bid on any properties. I then received a call from the auctioneers demanding and pushing for payment. During that time, I had just transferred funds into the business account and they were taken by the auctioneers. I immediately notified the auctioneers to cancel the purchase and issue a refund as no one was coming forward in regards to bidding on the property. A substantial amount has been taken from the businesses account by the auctioneers yet they have gone ahead to sell the property in another auction for £30000 more than what it had originally gone for. This is a predicament as no one is coming forward. Please could you advise what I should do. I promptly notified the bank but they’ve refused to issue the funds back. What would you advise is the way forward to get the funds back?
Is it the responsibility of the auctioneers to issue this refund or the bank as they were both notified of the issue promptly?
Would appreciate your advice
Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately we are unable to provide any specific advice on our website. However, by way of general guidance, who is liable for what will depend on the terms of any contract between you and the auctioneers and/or sellers.
We appreciate that you state that you did not bid on any properties, however it would appear that you did remit funds to the auctioneers for some reason. The reason and basis for that transfer would need to be considered. Clearly no one can take money off of another person unless this is pursuant to some sort of agreement. However, a contract or agreement can come into existence by conduct, there does not necessarily have to be an express written and signed contract. We would need to spend time going through the precise events and considering all of the written correspondence and documentation before we would be able to provide any advice.
Should you wish to progress the matter, please do feel free to get in touch.
hi my partner recently purchased a piece of land with planning permission at auction after some research it has come to light there’s rebel with drainage which means they will not consent to works to be done they have told my partner that the previous owner had done all same searches and water company refused to give them agreement for such works also hence them putting it back into auction none of this was in legal pack we are due to complete any day now – what are our rights? Can we back out of sale on those grounds and get our deposit back?
Thank you for your comment. I am afraid I am not sure what you mean by “rebel with drainage” – can you clarify?
If the seller specifically can be shown to have made a false statement then there may be a claim here. Generally speaking pulling out of a sale for misrepresentation after exchange is risky and puts you at risk for not only loss of deposit but also a legal claim by the seller for consequential losses arising out of your failure to complete or even for an order requiring you to complete the transaction atop that. If you did this any defence would likely have to be to show that there was a misrepresentation of such gravity that it would have justified rescission of the sale had you found out about it after completion, or that they themselves are for some reason in breach of contract by their failure to do this.
However this is something that I think you may want to contact our Litigation team at our Braintree office to discuss in more depth as unfortunately I am not entirely clear what exactly has happened and so I am not sure I can advise properly here.
Hi there,
I bought a property at an online auction on 16 December 2020. I did not read the auction pack or view the property and kept telling this to the agent throughout the process but he persistently encouraged me to buy. He said that it was in a good rental area and was valued more than they were asking. I now understand that I have no recourse for this as it was my responsibility to carry out the necessary checks. I also specifically enquired whether there was a combi boiler and central heating system and was told yes. I found out afterwards that this was not so.
I am now faced with a dilemma: Section 25 of the contract states that “At the time of AUCTION the SELLER is not the registered PROPRIETOR of the PROPERTY. The BUYER will raise no requisition and will have no right to delay or cancel COMPLETION in this regard. Production of the Transfer Deed proving Transfer of ownership to the SELLER will be sufficient to enable COMPLETION.”
Completion was to take place within 28 days of the contract date. On 13 Jan 2021, the contract date for completion, the seller’s solicitor advised that he was not ready to complete. My solicitor thought it was better not to serve a notice to complete while the issue of the Title was being dealt with. I thereafter, tried to have the contract rescinded on 17 Feb and again on 15 March and 22 March for breach of contract as it did not appear that any effort was being made by the seller to deal with the Title registration matter. The seller’s solicitors have refused. On 18 May 2021, they served a notice to complete within 10 working days.
The Seller purchased the property on 16 Feb 2018 with full title guarantee and is still not the registered Proprietor on 21 May 2021. On Zoopla, the property is listed as sold in September 2020 but a Land Registry check on 21 May 2021 shows that title is still with the previous owner. The last sale date on Rightmove is October 2017, the same date that the previous owner is stated as the Proprietor. There is an obvious danger here and the possibility of fraud being committed.
Should I complete on the purchase, I am faced with the possibility of never gaining Title to the property. If the seller has already sold this property to an unwitting buyer(s) who would be in the same situation as myself and then proceeds to fraudulently sell to another party, that party can claim the property if it is registered for that sale. If I refuse to complete the purchase, I stand to lose £7,500 comprising £1,500 reservation fee and £6,000 buyer fee; both of which are stated as non-refundable. They will then obviously put the property on the market again and another unwitting bidder(s) will face the same scenario, I am dealing with.
Please could you advise if there is any redress available to me. If so, is it something your learned selves can deal with on my behalf?
Many thanks for your advice on the matter.
Kind regards
Rita
Thank you for your comment. This seems to be a rather complicated situation, but at heart, the general rule is that to force the other party to a property transaction to complete the sale, that party must themselves be ready, willing, and able to complete. The contract states that as at the date of it the seller does not have title because completion on his purchase of the property is still outstanding, but he must be sure that he will have title to the property to be able to force completion. If he is not ready, willing, and able to complete there may be a defence to any claim for an order requiring you to complete on the purchase on that basis. It would also depend very much on exactly what was stated in the contracts and terms and conditions of auction in full.
This is something where we would have to see the documentation you refer to before we can properly advise. Please feel free to ring our Litigation team at the Braintree office for a confidential discussion and we may be able to direct you as to what can be done about this, what its prospects of success are, and what the likely costs of litigating this may be.