What could your property be worth at auction?

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About Cheffins Property Auctions

Cheffins is one of the largest property auction houses in East Anglia.  Cheffins’ Property Auctions take place four times a year from our dedicated auction house based in the heart of Cambridge on Clifton Road. Selling your property at auction with Cheffins is straightforward and transparent.

Property for sale at auction comes in all shapes and sizes and typically includes residential, mixed use, commercial property, investment opportunities as well as land. Types of properties that sell well at auction include properties in need of refurbishment or properties with development potential as well as agricultural or amenity land and building plots. Investment properties are also popular and there is no need to sell with vacant possession as a number of buy to let investors attend our auctions who are looking for income from their investments.

Our property auctions feature properties throughout Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire and Buckinghamshire. Our East Anglia presence is convenient for all locations and accessible to London buyers too.

Property Auctions are a flexible and expedient way of buying and selling all different types of property. The whole process can take as little as eight weeks from instruction to completion of sale. There are many advantages to buying and selling property at auction particularly for property that is perhaps not best suited by the more traditional methods of sale or where a quick sale is required. With four auctions a year at Cheffins, and the ability to offer standalone online timed auctions, you can identify a date by which your property might be sold thereby enabling you to plan ahead. Contracts are exchanged on the fall of the hammer creating a legally binding contract on both buyer and seller with completion typically four weeks after the auction date.

Houses up for auction, repossessed property for sale, run down property,  land for sale at auction and commercial property are all popular with auction-goers. As a result, property auctions frequently see competitive bidding for the best lots which can lead to properties selling for much more than expected.

How property auctions work

Most types of properties sell well at auction. Property auctions are a fast and efficient way of selling a property therefore you need to be sure that the timescales are right for you. The first step involves one of our team providing an appraisal of your property and recommending a guide price. Armed with the facts, it is then your decision whether you wish to sell your property at auction.

If you decide to go ahead, we will advise you of the terms and our fees. There is an Entry Fee for entering the property into the catalogue which is non-refundable and payable before the auction. The fee ranges from £300 including VAT - £600 including VAT.

Detailed Legal Packs are then produced by your solicitor and include details of title, legal searches, property seller’s information, fixtures and fittings, planning permissions and any Special Conditions of Sale that need to be included in the contract. A full Legal Pack will give buyers more confidence to bid on your property at auction and they are available to all interested purchasers before the auction.

Full details of the property will be prepared by one of the Property Auctions team for your approval, including plans and photographs for inclusion in the Property Auction catalogue.

An intense period of marketing then takes place four weeks prior to the auction through national, regional and local advertising, on our website and on Rightmove and EIG, the UK’s largest property auction website.

Once marketing has begun, we will undertake viewings up to the date of the auction. For more popular lots these may be conducted as block viewings.

Once we have ascertained the level of interest from the viewings and marketing, we will discuss a reserve price with you. Most properties are sold subject to a ‘reserve’ which is the minimum price at which the auctioneer will sell the property as agreed with you. The amount of the reserve is not normally disclosed to potential buyers. It is important to note that the level of the reserve should not be set above the lower end of the guide price.

On the day of the auction, if the bidding reaches the reserve price or above, the fall of the auctioneer’s hammer creates a legally binding contract. The auctioneer’s clerk will sign the Sale Memorandum (on your behalf) and collect the deposit from the buyer.

If the property does not reach the reserve, the auctioneer will speak to you after the sale to discuss any post-sale interest as properties often receive offers after the auction.

Once the deposit funds have been received, we deduct our sales commission which is typically 1.5% - 2% plus VAT of the sale price plus any outstanding expenses; the balance is sent to your solicitors together with a copy of the signed Sale Memorandum. Your solicitors will then deal with completion and handling of the balance of the purchase price. Completion normally takes place 20 working days after the auction but this can be sooner or later depending on the seller’s requirements.

When your property sells at the auction you should notify your solicitor immediately so that they are aware of the situation. If the property fails to sell, then we will continue to market the property and contact interested parties to see if a sale can be agreed post-auction. If a sale is not agreed we would be pleased to discuss alternative ways of achieving a successful sale of the property for you.

The entire process of selling a property at auction is expedient and transparent and within a precise timeframe which provides clear parameters for all parties involved.

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What could your property be worth at auction?

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