290 thoughts on “Dealing with property auction issues”
I purchased a property on the auction 31-7-24, we later realised that the property was an annex of a main house which was marketed as a 3 bedroom house with land and garage at the rear. We decided to go ahead with the purchase and put in a planning application to separate the house into 2 dwellings but the application was refused, we also tried putting lawful development certificate application that got refused as well.
We are stuck now so we need to sue the auction house.
Buying property at auction is always risky and you will be bound by the auction house’s terms and conditions which are not negotiable and are presented in the legal pack which would also have contained a full description of the property. These terms and conditions will have contained what are known as limitation or exclusion of liability clauses which seek to limit or exclude liability for anything said about the property which might not be factually accurate.
It is, therefore a case of “caveat emptor” or “buyer beware” and if you did not seek legal advice on the auction legal pack it is unlikely that you will have any sort of claim against either the auction house or the seller. If you did seek legal advice, however, and that advice was wrong it may be that you will have a claim for professional negligence against the solicitors you instructed.
You’ve found your dream home. The survey’s done. Your solicitor has the searches back. Everyone’s ready to exchange contracts. And then someone in the chain pulls out. In our earlier article on delayed completion, we looked at what happens when things go wrong after contracts are exchanged. But what about when the chain breaks before […]
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.
I purchased a property on the auction 31-7-24, we later realised that the property was an annex of a main house which was marketed as a 3 bedroom house with land and garage at the rear. We decided to go ahead with the purchase and put in a planning application to separate the house into 2 dwellings but the application was refused, we also tried putting lawful development certificate application that got refused as well.
We are stuck now so we need to sue the auction house.
Buying property at auction is always risky and you will be bound by the auction house’s terms and conditions which are not negotiable and are presented in the legal pack which would also have contained a full description of the property. These terms and conditions will have contained what are known as limitation or exclusion of liability clauses which seek to limit or exclude liability for anything said about the property which might not be factually accurate.
It is, therefore a case of “caveat emptor” or “buyer beware” and if you did not seek legal advice on the auction legal pack it is unlikely that you will have any sort of claim against either the auction house or the seller. If you did seek legal advice, however, and that advice was wrong it may be that you will have a claim for professional negligence against the solicitors you instructed.