House Auction - Bidding off the wall

[Sir Bagalot]

I know at a house auction that the auctioneer can take bids off the wall up to the reserve price.

What if at the beginning of the lots that the auctioneer clearly states that the next x number of properties have no reserve and are here to be sold. Then proceeds to take bids off the wall to 5% above the guide price.

Legality of that?

[grahamm]

Bids off the wall could be bids on behalf of a buyer not in the room.

[anonymous-user]

grahamm said:

Bids off the wall could be bids on behalf of a buyer not in the room.

No, that’s commission or on the book bids.

[t400ble]

Happens all the time at the car aucton

[grahamm]

Roman Rhodes said:

No, that’s commission or on the book bids.

Yes, commission or on the book bids for bidders who may or may not be in the room. It may look like bids off the wall when the auctioneer is actually taking commission bids. I tried to make my suggested explanation simple in case some readers were not familiar with the terms used in auctioneering.

I think we are agreed on the possible explanation and you were clarifying the terminology

[Sir Bagalot]

In this instance(s) the auctioneer clearly stated that it was a no reserve auction. He was taking room bids along with internet bids and the properties that I was potentially interested in all sold for more than I was willing to pay.

None of them actually sold.

Now I do understand that if a reserve is not reached he can take bids off the wall but in this instance there was no reserve (as clearly stated by himself). Obviously those internet and room bids were false but what is the legality of this?

Edited by Sir Bagalot on Friday 15th June 13:01

[grahamm]

If the properties didn't sell it would seem the statement that there were no reserves was false. I am not sure of the legality, or whether you could justifiably seek compensation, or force the acceptance of the highest bid, but I expect there will be something in the auctioneer's terms and conditions which covers them. Was the statement of no reserves made at the time of the sale or earlier? Is it possible reserves were requested by the vendor between the statement being made and the sale?

[Sir Bagalot]

Before the properties were auctioned it was clearly stated that they were to be sold with no reserve.

I'm not after compensation of any sort, I'm more fked off as my available time to do a quick refurb is getting shorter and shorter due to other commitments.

[Trevor555]

They just advertise "no reserve" to get more people to attend the sale.

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

Sir Bagalot said:

Before the properties were auctioned it was clearly stated that they were to be sold with no reserve.

I'm not after compensation of any sort, I'm more fked off as my available time to do a quick refurb is getting shorter and shorter due to other commitments.

Worth land registering the properties and approaching the lender or owner direct? if they haven't sold (for whatever reason) they're still available.

Or go back to the auction house and negotiate direct with them for the property(ies)