Property auction problem....help !!

Edward70

Doozergirl. I have checked and I seem to have done my monthly clean up on my phone. I thought it was all gone and irrelevant now ( stupidly ).

greatcrested

Edward70 said:

Not exactly.  Neither of my bids were accepted which is why she messaged me again right near the end of the auction asking me if I wanted to offer £110k again. It's only her boss who is claiming that my rejected offer is still on file as a live bid that is the issue. She told me that as my offers had both been rejected that was an end to the matter. When she messaged to ask if I wanted to offer 110 again that confirmed to me that she too considered my previous rejected bids to be torn up as it were. Why else would she be chasing me to offer that same figure again ?

Well I'm not very familiar with these auctions, and of course we don't have visibility of the T&Cs, but it does seem like you re-submitted a (third) offer which won the auction. The fact that two previous bids failed is irrelevant. But I am simply hypothesising....

Edward70

I will ask for a copy but the man who I'm dealing with is like the worst sort of old style double glazing salesman. At every turn when I don't do as he requests or refuse to  just accept his narrative he plays the legal action against me card. 

Edward70

I have found an email from them saying thanks for the offer ( subject to contract ) and a password for me to login to their Web site but that is not allowing me to do that so....nowhere do I have a copy of what I signed. It may have been a link but I'm not sure.

eddddy

As a starting point, ask them for evidence that you have entered into a legally binding contract - because you don't believe that you have.

But FWIW, their website says:

FAQ's
Can l place bids outside the auction process?
Bids can be placed on lots before the auction commences. It is up to the vendor whether or not they accept the bid. If you are interested in an unsold lot please contact us.
...

Can l change my mind?

Once the hammer has fallen on a property you are legally bound to complete the sale. With conditional lots you would forfeit your deposit but would not be bound to continue with the purchase.

Link: https://www.pattinson.co.uk/auction/auction-guide/buying-through-auction

So maybe what you filled in was a bid form. 

I guess it's quite possible that the terms are something like... if you fill in the bid form, the seller may accept your bid immediately and end the auction early, or the seller may let the auction continue to see if anyone bids higher. And in your case, the seller let the auction continue, but nobody bid higher than you did.

So maybe the auction lady you spoke to was telling you that your bid wasn't high enough to end the auction early.

knightstyle

Send them a SAR and tell them to stop all action until they have complied.   https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-to-get-copies-of-your-data/
Then you can come back with more information on what exactly you have done.

pinkshoes

Your offer of £110k was rejected in writing, they then later asked you if you wanted to resubmit your offer and you clearly said no.

The fact they asked you if you wanted to resubmit makes it very clear to me that there was no offer on the table.

I would write telling them this very clearly with times and dates of everything, and conclude that no contract was formed, and that they rejected the only offer you put forward, and they confirmed this in writing by asking if you wanted to resubmit (which you declined).

DO NOT pay or accept anything! They sound like one one pushing their luck an doing so by using aggressive tactics.

eddddy

knightstyle said:

Send them a SAR and tell them to stop all action until they have complied.   https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-to-get-copies-of-your-data/
Then you can come back with more information on what exactly you have done.

That would probably take too long. The OP has to make a decision very quickly about whether to

• Dispute that they entered into a contract
• Continue with the purchase (instruct a solicitor, apply for a mortgage etc)
• Walk away - and lose the £6k fee (and maybe the 10% deposit as well)

If the OP made a SAR...

• The  company has up to a month to reply to a SAR.
• Often the 'Modern Method of Auction' only gives you exclusive rights to buy the property for 28 days. After that time you risk losing your £6k fee (and maybe the 10% deposit)
• Assuming the OP has entered into a contract, making a SAR doesn't "stop all action until they've complied".  It won't change a 28 day deadline
• Those 28 days would be needed for the OP's solicitor to complete all the legal work, get surveys done, (and to apply for a mortgage, if required)

And... ironically, it would be in the auctioneer's interests to delay responding to the SAR, so that the OP misses the exchange deadline. Because then the auctioneer keeps the OP's £6k, and ha the opportunity to sell the property to somebody else and get another £6k.

Edward70

I haven't paid a deposit. He was pushing for me to pay it and sent me the legal packs and payment link with a deadline of 5pm that day but my solicitors are obviously following covid guidelines and working from home via emails and messages and reply in 24 to 72 hours so there was no way I could comply with his deadline wether I wanted to or not. 

Edward70

pinkshoes said:

Your offer of £110k was rejected in writing, they then later asked you if you wanted to resubmit your offer and you clearly said no.

The fact they asked you if you wanted to resubmit makes it very clear to me that there was no offer on the table.

I would write telling them this very clearly with times and dates of everything, and conclude that no contract was formed, and that they rejected the only offer you put forward, and they confirmed this in writing by asking if you wanted to resubmit (which you declined).

DO NOT pay or accept anything! They sound like one one pushing their luck an doing so by using aggressive tactics.

This was what I was hoping would back up the phone conversations. That she'd told me my rejected offer was now null and void. She was clearly asking me in writing if I wanted to proceed with a new offer of 110 which the vendor would accept and end the auction for. I message no thankyou and she accepts that happily.