To maximise the chances of you being able to sell your property at auctions, there are two key elements to make it a success.

First of all as the seller you need to be motivated, committed and realistic about the auction of your house, and secondly you need great marketing exposure. AuctionMyHouse is partnered with the very best auctions agents who are dedicated to providing the very best marketing for your property. The team at AuctionMyHouse is happy to discuss with you the most effective pricing strategy for your property, complete the form below and you will be contacted soon.

Yes the buyer has to pay a fee at auction, but this does not come off the sale price at auction of your house. You lose nothing, the fee paid by the buyer means you do not have to pay a sales fee.

You will have control over this in the main, but as a ballpark you are looking at 4-8 weeks. If you after looking to sell your house quickly, auction is good choice. Complete our contact form and the AuctionMyHouse team will be in touch. A member of the team will usually be able to see your house quite quickly and there may well be an auction coming up very soon for you. If you agree to the advised sale price (which will be keen and attractive), a quick sale ought to happen for you.

The short answer is no. As the seller your house will be sold with an undisclosed minimum reserve price.  This price is agreed with you as the seller and any change to this price has to be agreed with you. The only price that the public will see will be the starting bid and then the actual bids; the reserve price remains confidential. The beauty of selling your house at auction is that it can NEVER undersold!

Auction properties are promoted more heavily than the traditional estate agent route. Your house when sold through auction will be added to the major property websites such as Rightmove and Zoopla , along with being sent to an email database we have of active and keen auction buyers. In addition, press advertising will form a key part of the strategy to promote your house along with social media and introducing local prospective buyers to consider buying at auction

The main difference is that selling your house by auction is governed by a fixed timescale for exchange and completion. Exchange occurs on the fall of the hammer at the auction on the date of the auction, with completion often occurring as quickly as 28 days later. Selling your house by private treaty (through an estate agent) offers no fixed timescale and is often part of a chain of house sales and purchases meaning that exchange and completion can take much longer.

Another key difference is the in which the value of your property is assessed. When selling our house by auction, an auctioneer will use a pricing strategy that generates interest from multiple buyers and in doing so will encourage the ‘bid up’ system in an auction environment. The final selling price for a house sold at auction will either be similar or even exceed those achieved via estate agents.

Auction provides speed and certainty, removing the often long drawn out and emotionally draining process caused by a traditional sale.

Easy – complete the contact form below and AuctionMyHouse will be in touch!

When a property is being sold through an estate agent (private treaty), it is the responsibility of the buyer to have their solicitor carry out the relevant searches and legal enquiries on the house they are purchasing.

However when selling a house at auction, there may be dozens of potential buyers who show interest in your house so it does not make sense to have them all have searches carried out. The burden therefore lies with the seller to have their solicitor prepare the Auction Legal Pack which will be made available to all prospective buyers prior to the auction date.

Ensuring that the legal pack is available in good time is key to giving your house the best possible chance of selling on auction day, failure to provide a properly executed legal pack could deter prospective buyers from bidding as they may not feel fully informed about your house.

A comprehensive legal pack ensures that your potential buyers do not feel like anything is being ‘hidden’ from them and therefore give them confidence in making their purchase

Depending on the type of property you are selling, the contents of a pack will vary. Nevertheless for any property the starting point is to show to buyers that you do actually own the house you are selling!  This is evidenced by documentation obtained from Land Registry, in the form of a title document, deeds, and the title plan.

Your solicitor will do the majority of the work, but as the owner and seller of the house you will be required to complete what is known as the Property Information Questionnaire and the Fixtures and Fittings Form.  These forms are relatively easy to complete, however you may be selling a house by auction that you have inherited or is part of a probate matter and so might not know the answers to the questions!

This is absolutely okay and in these instances it is acceptable to state that the property is ‘sold as seen’ and include the grant of probate in the legal pack.

Generally the following will be contained in a legal pack:

1. Title Document
2. Title Plan
3. Property Information Questionnaire
4. Fixtures and Fittings Form
5. Local Authority Search
6. Water & Drainage Search
7. Environment Search
8. Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
9. Standard Auction Conditions
10. Special Conditions

The information provided by the Local Authority Search is one of most importance and interest for most buyers as this will contain information on what is happening locally development wise, be it building, transport, or any other public development which may affect the property and its surrounding area.

A drainage and water search is considered to be important because it shows the flood risk to the property, which will prove particularly important for provincial or rural properties.

An absolute must have for a legal pack is the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). It’s a legal requirement to have an EPC whenever a property is advertised for sale or rent. EPC’s are valid for 10 years, so it may well be that you have a valid EPC for your property already – if you bought or have tried to sell the property within the last 10 years. An easy way to check this is by looking at the EPC Register website at http://www.epcregister.com/

All property auctions are governed by a standard set of conditions, known as the general conditions of sale, or the standard auction contract. These conditions will be published in the auction catalogue.  These conditions state:

• The role of the auctioneer and the conduct therefore of the auction.
• The terms of the transactions including that completion will be 28 days after auction day
• The deposit will be 10% of the purchase price.

In addition your solicitor will provide a legal document known as the Special Conditions which:

• State the lots number, the address of the property and the seller’s solicitors contact details.
• It is also in these conditions where you can vary the terms of the common conditions. For example of the completion date – this could be changed from 28 days to maybe 40 days.

.Depending on the type of property you are selling at auction, there may be other necessary documents that are required for the legal pack.

For a tenanted property:

• A copy of the tenancy agreement must be provided with as many as possible associated landlord and tenant documents such as the gas safety certificate, and deposits made etc.

For a leasehold property:

• You w ill need to include a Management Information Pack – as the seller this is your responsibility to provide this. You will have to apply to the Management Company of the property for this. The owner of the freehold.

The pack will evidence:

• Financial statements to show if service charges are all up-to-date,
• Insurance policy documents,
• Fire safety certificates and other compliance documents to show the property is being properly managed.

The management pack can take a few weeks to arrive, so it’s important to request as soon as possible. Most solicitors will ask the seller to request these directly from the management company themselves. In terms of what should not be included in the legal pack, as the name suggests the pack is for legal documents and nothing else. There is no need to include surveys or marketing materials in the auction legal pack.

For a freehold property, an auction legal pack can be prepared in anything from 1 week to 3 weeks. The local authority search is usually the delaying factor, on average taking up to 3 weeks, but some councils can take longer, so it is worth asking your solicitor how long the local authority for your property is currently taking.

For leasehold properties, the delaying factor is usually the management information pack (obtained from the managing agents or the freeholder) which often takes longer than it should.  As soon a you decide to sell at auctions it is  worth chasing your freeholder (or their managing agent) to make sure they’re dealing with your request and that you get the management information pack in a timely manner.

Most auctioneers will allow a property to be entered in to auction with the bare minimum in the legal pack; that will typically be the office copies (Land Registry documents) and the special conditions of sale.

If there are one or two searches missing from the legal pack then it’s usually okay to let the property go to auction, but if any of the key documents are missing e.g. the title documents or lease then it’s better to withdraw from auction and enter in to a subsequent auction once the legal pack is ready.

When selling at auction its usual to instruct the auctioneer and your solicitor at the same time, typically about one month before the auction date.  It is advisable to ensure that your solicitor will begin compiling the legal pack as soon as they receive your instruction so that it’s ready for prospective buyers no later than one week before auction day.

A legal pack is valid for 6 months from the date the documents are produced. So if for whatever reason you need to withdraw the property from auction and enter into a later auction a month or so later, the auction pack will still be valid.