How To Bid At Auction

When bidding at an auction in Queensland, it is very important that you are fully prepared as the process is different to a sale that is negotiated between buyer, seller and agent (called a private treaty). There are a number of mandatory steps you need to take, as well as some extras we recommend.

When you are bidding at an auction in Queensland, you are bidding on an ‘unconditional’ basis. This means you cannot have conditions on the sale such as subject to finance, or subject to the sale of another property and furthermore, the five business day cooling off period, which applies for all private treaty sales (unless buyer agrees to waive their cooling off right), does NOT apply for a purchase made at auction. For this reason, you should engage a finance professional to ensure you have your finance arranged before the auction.

If you know you intend to bid on a property (or are interested in one), you should also contact the agent well before the auction date to request a copy of the contract. This will allow your solicitor to look over the terms of the sale contract prior to you entering into it as there is no time to do this post the hammer fall on auction day.

Buying at an auction also means that like finance, the contract cannot be subject to building and pest conditions (as again, it is on an unconditional basis). If you wish to have a building and pest done before you bid, contact the agent to arrange this. You may also find that some sellers have arranged this before the auction and the agent may have a copy you can view.

If you have any questions about a property that is up for auction, please contact us and we can guide you through the steps that you may need to consider.