Bought a house at auction - garage dispute

sp2013

Hello,

I bought a property through an auction in Sept16. The property description on the brochure included a Garage. Admittedly I had not gone to see the place and was a blind buy however knew it's worth as we know the area well and didn't read the legal pack thoroughly as first time buying from auction! Hindsight it's worked out well with the house.

Once the solicitors started processing through I understood the garage wasn't included and contacted the auctioneers who then advised it is 100% included and has spoken to the seller...apparently seller tried to sell off the garage prior to the auction which auctioneers blocked. However legal pack does not include the garage! Seller is refusing to change this.

Am I able to take legal action against the auctioneers for misrepresentation? Surely they've advertised the place incorrectly... For showing garage as part of the sale (addendum prior to the auction didn't mention change to the garage). Additionally have an email and phone recorded message from Auctioneers confirming they've spoken to seller confirming its mine (not sure how much weight this has legally).

Any help/advice would be great,

Thanks

sp

AdrianC

You bought on the basis of the legal pack. When the hammer fell, then contracts are exchanged on the basis of the legal pack itself.

Sounds like the vendor's pulled a fast one on the auctioneer themselves. You're going to need proper legal help on this one.

G_M

The obvious person to ask is the solcitor you used/are using.

But my guess is that:

didn't read the legal pack thoroughly .........However legal pack does not include the garage!

seems pretty conclusive!

Chanes

You didn't read the legal pack with care and I would think you have a pretty weak position based on what you admit it states. The legal pack is the fact of it the rest is 'he said she said' argument. Speak to a solicitor - if they say don't pursue it follow their guidance.

marksoton

sp2013 wrote: »

However legal pack does not include the garage! Seller is refusing to change this.

Oh come on. Auction sales are relatively high risk at the best of times.

Your due diligence should have been watertight. In other words YOU read the pack and don't rely on a third party.

eddddy

If auction details are incorrect, in theory, it may be possible to claim for misrepresentation. Here's an example:

In Harsten v Bleaken a developer bought a site at auction with a view to building a detached house on the land. In the auction particulars, the sellers made several statements which the court decided were misrepresentations...

...

The court ordered the sellers to buy the property back from the developer and pay damages as well for other losses...

Link: http://www.russell-cooke.co.uk/media/1777/harsten-developments-v-bleaken-property-seller-ordered-to-buy-property-back-follwing-misrepresentation.pdf

But in you case, it sounds like the legal pack was clear, which would weaken your case. You probably need to get an opinion from a litigation solicitor.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm wondering about that comment about the vendor having tried to sell off the garage prior to the auction - which the auctioneers blocked.

Did they block it? If so - how? If so - is there any chance you could also block the sale of your garage? So - even if you can't insist you get your garage - you can at least prevent the vendor selling it (ie to anyone other than you - at a very low price)?

Small chance - but I'd be asking about that blocking - just in case....

If that were possible - then I guess it would give a bit of leverage to get your garage.???

csgohan4

It's like blaming the EA for saying there was 100 year lease but only actually 83 years. They are not liable for misrepresentation.


It's buyer beware and in this case they did not read the legal pack and hence OP you are paying the price of this.


The auctioneer are not the Vendor nor are they legal experts, they are only going on what they are told and hence the legal pack becomes important.

Hoploz

How could the auctioneers block the sale of the garage? I can't see what it has to do with them what is sold prior to auction, only that the legal pack represents what is actually being sold ... Which it did.

I've no idea where the liability lies here as I've never dealt with auctions, but if they knew their advert included the garage but this was being sold separately it's up to them to represent it as excluded, not to stop it being sold??

marksoton

Hoploz wrote: »

How could the auctioneers block the sale of the garage? I can't see what it has to do with them what is sold prior to auction, only that the legal pack represents what is actually being sold ... Which it did.

I've no idea where the liability lies here as I've never dealt with auctions, but if they knew their advert included the garage but this was being sold separately it's up to them to represent it as excluded, not to stop it being sold??

Presumably it was a repo.

steampowered

Surely any claim would be against the seller, not the auctioneer.

If the seller described the property as having a garage then I suppose you might possibly have a claim. It sounds like the legal pack contradicted the property description so I'm not sure where you would stand.

The only thing you can really do at this point is give a copy of the full documentation to a litigation solicitor and see what they think.