Auctions

As a buyer, you will be seeking a bargain. Auctions present an opportunity to get a property for a lower price, particularly where there are relatively low levels of interest.

 Some points to note:

• Ensure you carry out due diligence before bidding. The warning “caveat emptor” has never been more appropriate as once the hammer goes down, you are legally committed to purchase.
• Provide your legal team with sufficient time to properly assess the pack of information. Never buy in a hurry without reviewing the details supplied.
• Get your funding ready. It’s common for a 10% deposit to be paid on the auction day with the full balance payable within 20 working days. If you don’t have a mortgage ready, this may not give you sufficient time to arrange a loan.
• Prepare your insurance. A typical auction contract term passes liability to the buyer as soon as the hammer falls. This means you will need buildings insurance that can provide protection right away.

If you’re selling a commercial property at an auction, you’ll need to prepare properly if you want to achieve the best price and attract interest. Bear in mind that even if you don’t sell the property you may still have auctioneer fees to pay.

Other factors to consider include:

• Get your information pack out early. Buyers will want time to scrutinise the details and run it past their legal team.
• Resolve simple title defects. Because of the risks inherently associated with auctions, buyers may be extra cautious. If there are any simple title defects it may be beneficial to rectify them before going to auction.
• Consider covenants. You may wish to include restrictions on the use of a property after its sale, such as not being used as a public house.

Many ask us ‘what’s different about you?’ and we like to reply, ‘because we go the extra mile’. We see our work as building and maintaining good business relationships rather than just earning fees. How we do this is by keeping in constant contact with our clients and intermediaries. From pre to post instruction we ensure that our clients are informed of all legal issues that may impact their business and therefore lives. That is why we provide daily or weekly updates to ALL of our clients whether there is anything to tell them or not (we don’t charge for this we just see it as part of our service). We like our clients to rest peacefully knowing that when we are instructed, and we say ‘we will take it from here’ they know we mean it.

The world is changing, and many individuals are realising that lifestyle is as vital to them as is income. We are the lucky ones who can hand pick lawyers who can provide the best quality advice but at outer city costs. Our offices are in North West London which may not be the most salubrious in the market but at the same time this allows us to charge our clients for what they pay for, our advice NOT our office space.

ALL our lawyers have previously worked in large city-based law firms and continue to practise and offer  the same high level service  they provided to clients in the City but without the pressure and demands often dictated by City law firm. This allows us to be competitive on our fees without compromising our service.

All in all, our clients win, which is the way we like it.

All our clients benefit from the same high level of care and attention whether the instruction is big or small. At the outset of each matter, we discuss the entire process with our clients, including the costs, potential outcomes and issues associated. This is to ensure clients are fully aware, knowledgeable and are in control always. Supporting and ensuring we provide the highest level of services, we offer our constant contact process with the partner or barrister leading  your file, a document log in for matters which are for larger and more complicated instructions and on-going support post transaction should our clients require it. Our aim is not just to get the work done, but to make our clients’ lives easier as we do it, which is why we ensure that our clients have regular access to the resources they need from us.