Auction terms

Properties Vision is a marketplace. We host listings and run the technology that lets an auction house sell a property online. We are not the auctioneer and we are not the estate agent.

The contract for any property is between you and the seller. The auction house named on the lot is the auctioneer, and its own conditions of sale apply in addition to these terms. Where the two conflict on the conduct of the auction, the auctioneer's conditions prevail.

To bid you must be at least 18 and hold an approved bidder registration for the auction in question. Registration may require identity documents and, above a threshold set by the auctioneer, proof of funds.

A bid is an offer to buy at that price. It is binding on the bidder. Placing a bid through the platform has the same effect as bidding in the room.

Where you set a maximum (proxy) bid, the platform bids on your behalf in the increments published for the lot, up to but never above your maximum. Your maximum is confidential and is never shown to the seller or to other bidders.

The auctioneer may refuse any bid, withdraw a lot before the fall of the hammer, or reoffer a lot if a dispute arises. Bids placed in error may be corrected only at the auctioneer's discretion.

Timed lots close at the time shown on the lot page. Where a lot is configured with an anti-sniping window, a bid received inside the final period of that window extends the closing time, so that a bid placed seconds before the deadline does not win by surprise.

The lot page always shows the current scheduled closing time, including any extension. The platform's server clock is the authority for when a bid was received.

A guide price is an indication of the seller's expectation. It is not a valuation and it is not a reserve. A property may sell for more or less than its guide price.

Every lot has a reserve, which is the lowest price the seller will accept. The reserve is confidential. If bidding does not reach the reserve, the auctioneer is not obliged to sell and the lot will be shown as unsold.

The buyer pays a buyer's premium, calculated as a percentage of the hammer price and shown on the lot page before you bid. VAT may be payable on the premium. The premium is in addition to the purchase price.

You may also be responsible for the auctioneer's administration fee, search fees and any disbursements, as set out in the lot's special conditions. Stamp duty land tax and legal fees for the transfer are yours.

The estimated total shown on a lot page is illustrative. It uses the current bid and the stated premium and does not include VAT, searches, or your own legal costs.

Auction sales exchange contracts on the fall of the hammer. From that moment you are legally committed to buy and the deposit shown on the lot page becomes payable immediately.

Completion normally takes place within the period stated in the special conditions, commonly 28 days. If you fail to complete, the deposit may be forfeited and you may be liable for the seller's losses.

Because contracts exchange immediately, you must have your legal checks, searches and mortgage arrangements in place before you bid. There is no cooling-off period.

By listing you confirm you are entitled to sell, that the information you supply is accurate, and that you have disclosed anything a buyer would reasonably consider material. Omitting material information is an unfair commercial practice under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and can lead to significant penalties.

You must tell us before publication about anything that affects the property's value or a buyer's decision to view, including tenure, rights of way, flood risk, and known building safety issues.

Auctioneers of property are estate agency businesses under the Money Laundering Regulations and must be supervised. We record supervision details for each agency and will not list an auction lot for an agency whose anti-money-laundering status is unverified.

We provide the platform and take reasonable care that it works. We do not warrant that listings are accurate, that a property is as described, or that a sale will complete.

To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss arising from a sale, from a listing, or from the platform being unavailable. Nothing in these terms limits liability for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

If you are a consumer, your statutory rights are unaffected.

We may update these terms. The version that applies to a sale is the one published when the auction opened. Material changes are shown by the 'last updated' date at the top of this page.