Buyer being charged for seller withdrawing from auction?

adzy77

Ill try to keep this short....

My partners elderly grandmother is in the process of buying a house which the seller had already arranged to put up for auction, she made an offer before it went to auction which the seller accepted subsequently it never went to auction.

Skip forward she is now ready for exchange but she is being asked to pay a £6,000 fee for withdrawing the house from auction. This was never mentioned before and seems a lot of money, plus why should she pay it?

jjlandlord

The seller is perhaps being charged that fee by the auction house and is trying to pass it on.

Obviously the prospective buyer has no obligation to pay, but equally the seller might then also call the sale off. Or he is just trying it on.

It's called negotiation.

Doozergirl

She shouldn't pay it! She's not even legally obliged to buy the house. The vendor should have checked their own contract - to be fair to the auctioneer, it sounds like they've found a buyer regardless of the auction happening or not and are entitled to a fee.

I have been charged as a buyer 2% of the selling price, but that was in a true auction situation where it was part of the contract which was exchanged immediately.

It may have been in the planned auction contract, but it doesn't have to be in this one as the contract is there to be negotiated still. This is the vendor's problem.

eddddy

Hi adzy77

As jjlandlord says, that sounds like the fee the seller would have to pay the auctioneers. It's down to negotiation whether the buyer adds that on to the sale price. (If it goes to auction, it wouldn't get added to the hammer price.)

Although there is likely to be a much smaller admin fee for the buyer to pay.

Presumably your partner's grandmother is taking legal advice on this, and not just assuming everything is ok (some auction properties can have horrendous legal problems). So the solicitor should check the contract for any unexpected fees.

Russe11

Don't pay.

withdraw offer

let it go to auction.

bid

if get it cheaper, bonus.

If not, move on to next property.

Running_Horse

Or reduce the offer by...ooh I don't know...£6,000?

fed_up_and_stressed

It wasn't the bidders choice to put it up for auction the sellers are wanting their cake and eat it. Either reduce the offer by 6k or walk away.

Running_Horse

Interesting. You often hear of offers made before auction and the property being withdrawn. Auctioneers must have watertight contracts and expect their money no matter what, just like EAs. Sounds like the seller didn't read their contract.