Aug 07,2020
Aug 07,2020
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I have just concluded my first foray, and probably my last, at buying a property in an auction. Being a beginner, I purchased my first property this June at CE auction. The vendor was a self-employed estate agent in the Chigwell area with usual “accreditations” and their solicitor somewhere around Peterborough.
I thought I had I done most of my due diligence and things were progressing smoothly until I received the completion statement from the vendor/solicitor. On the completion statement the reimbursement of vendors legal fees and auctioneers’ fees came to over £5k+ more than I had budgeted.
On making enquiries with vendor/solicitor I was referred to the following paragraph in the special conditions - “The buyer will reimburse sellers legal fees, disbursements and auctioneers fees incurred in sale of property and such reimbursement …... payable on completion. The seller’s solicitors will not be obliged to produce evidence or invoices in respect of the expenditure”. The vendor/solicitor gave curt response and “firmly” indicated no desire to come to fair compromise.
I promptly called the auctioneers to enquire what fees they had charged the vendor and a kind person who was managing the property sale advised that it was x% plus VAT of sale price and stated a figure of £xk. To this figure I added a generous amount for vendors legal fees (i.e. twice my legal fees for purchase). After adding the two numbers together I advised the auctioneer person managing sale how much I had been charged by vendor/solicitor. The auctioneer person expressed “some surprise” (if you get my drift) and suggested “I ‘may’ want to ask for a cost breakdown from the vendor/solicitor”, which of course wasn’t forthcoming under the guise of the special condition protection. Of course, when I contacted vendor to check he came back after a while and said the after discussing with auctioneers they had said no such thing!! Perhaps they should listen to the replay of the call recording.
My solicitor alluded to “sharp practice” between groups in the wording of the special condition. As far as I can tell, if the vendor/solicitor had added £10k, £20k or whatever figure that popped into their head, I would have been obliged to pay.
Anyway, I am not happy about the way events have transpired but have had to cough up and move on.
I am sharing my experience so that other lesser experienced entrepreneurs, like myself, are not caught out by the “sleight of hand” which some so-called professional “old hands” in the trade may try on.
I thought I had I done most of my due diligence and things were progressing smoothly until I received the completion statement from the vendor/solicitor. On the completion statement the reimbursement of vendors legal fees and auctioneers’ fees came to over £5k+ more than I had budgeted.
On making enquiries with vendor/solicitor I was referred to the following paragraph in the special conditions - “The buyer will reimburse sellers legal fees, disbursements and auctioneers fees incurred in sale of property and such reimbursement …... payable on completion. The seller’s solicitors will not be obliged to produce evidence or invoices in respect of the expenditure”. The vendor/solicitor gave curt response and “firmly” indicated no desire to come to fair compromise.
I promptly called the auctioneers to enquire what fees they had charged the vendor and a kind person who was managing the property sale advised that it was x% plus VAT of sale price and stated a figure of £xk. To this figure I added a generous amount for vendors legal fees (i.e. twice my legal fees for purchase). After adding the two numbers together I advised the auctioneer person managing sale how much I had been charged by vendor/solicitor. The auctioneer person expressed “some surprise” (if you get my drift) and suggested “I ‘may’ want to ask for a cost breakdown from the vendor/solicitor”, which of course wasn’t forthcoming under the guise of the special condition protection. Of course, when I contacted vendor to check he came back after a while and said the after discussing with auctioneers they had said no such thing!! Perhaps they should listen to the replay of the call recording.
My solicitor alluded to “sharp practice” between groups in the wording of the special condition. As far as I can tell, if the vendor/solicitor had added £10k, £20k or whatever figure that popped into their head, I would have been obliged to pay.
Anyway, I am not happy about the way events have transpired but have had to cough up and move on.
I am sharing my experience so that other lesser experienced entrepreneurs, like myself, are not caught out by the “sleight of hand” which some so-called professional “old hands” in the trade may try on.
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7th Aug 2020
reviewed by 'KULBINDER'
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Aug 07,2020
Aug 07,2020
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I have just concluded my first foray, and probably my last, at buying a property in an auction. Being a beginner, I purchased my first property this June at CE auction. The vendor was a self-employed estate agent in the Chigwell area with usual “accreditations” ...
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Sep 01, 2020
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Thank you for posting your review and we are sorry to hear about your experience.
Auctioneers across the country are finding that some (not all) Special Conditions of Sale which are provided by the sellers solicitors, not the Auctioneers, contain additional fees which unfortunately the Auctioneers have no control over. This is one of the reasons that under each lots guide price and in all our marketing material, including e-catalogue, web site, adverts, property details etc we add the words * ...
No fees information available
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.
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Auctioneers across the country are finding that some (not all) Special Conditions of Sale which are provided by the sellers solicitors, not the Auctioneers, contain additional fees which unfortunately the Auctioneers have no control over. This is one of the reasons that under each lots guide price and in all our marketing material, including e-catalogue, web site, adverts, property details etc we add the words *Plus Fees. This draws all prospective bidders attention to the Special Conditions of Sale of each individual lot which may include the repayment of search and other fees and or costs payable by the buyer.
We catalogue over a thousand lots each year for a wide variety of clients with many different solicitors. Each lot will have their own bespoke Special Conditions of Sale, hence why we recommend all interested parties to read the legal pack including the Special Conditions of Sale and take independent legal advice on the lot they are interested in before bidding.
We would urge you not to be put off from buying at an auction and if you, or indeed anyone reading this reply, has a question about the auction process in general, a specific question relating to a lot or clarification of something please give us a call or drop us an email. We’d be pleased to help, if we can.