Auctioneer won't take bid on Bank Property

Dazzler88

Guys,

Looking for some advice on here, I am a first time buyer and a property in my area has come up for sale. It is a bank repossessed property, they haven taken it off a local Property Developer who went to the wall.
I rang my local auctioneer last week to enquiry about the property, he advised that it is for sale but he can't take bids off me, because the Property Developer is buying it back through someone else.

I would be of the thinking that the above is completely illegal, surely he cannot choose who he takes bids from.

Any advice on what I can do, is there anyway I could find out which bank has repossessed the property and contact them direct, I assume they would have done it through a receiver.

Is there a body that regulates auctioneers, should I make a bid offer my email, and they may have to accept the bid as official.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Sleeper12

I find it very hard to believe that an estate agent would be that stupid tbh.

They did not have to give a reason why they weren't taking bids 'yet'. Or they could have humoured you & pretended to take your bid.

The Property is either on the public market or its not. Maybe the estate agent meant that its not on the public market?

Samuel T. Cogley

The vendor can accept/reject bids from whomever they please. You've potentially a case against the receiver but (and I'm open to correction here) the correct jurisdiction is the High Court. Locus Standi may also be an issue.

Dazzler88

While it may be hard to believe, they were, probably should have said this case is in a small town where everyone knows each other.

He said I have loads of other properties listed that you can bid on but can't take a bid off you on this one, I am arranging a deal with said property developer on this.

Dazzler88

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

The vendor can accept/reject bids from whomever they please. You've potentially a case against the receiver but (and I'm open to correction here) the correct jurisdiction is the High Court. Locus Standi may also be an issue.

Thanks for your feedback, my issue is that the auctioneer wont even take bids from me, he will neither accept bids or reject bids. How would I have a case against the receiver, they probably don't even know that the auctioneer is arranging a deal with the former owner through another person.

Is there any database that can tell me who the receiver is.

Dazzler88

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I find it very hard to believe that an estate agent would be that stupid tbh.

They did not have to give a reason why they weren't taking bids 'yet'. Or they could have humoured you & pretended to take your bid.

The Property is either on the public market or its not. Maybe the estate agent meant that its not on the public market?

While it may be hard to believe, they were, probably should have said this case is in a small town where everyone knows each other.

He said I have loads of other properties listed that you can bid on but can't take a bid off you on this one, I am arranging a deal with said property developer on this.

It is listed as on the market for sale but gives Price on Application and the ad states no viewings bought as seen.

Samuel T. Cogley

Dazzler88 wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback, my issue is that the auctioneer wont even take bids from me, he will neither accept bids or reject bids. How would I have a case against the receiver, they probably don't even know that the auctioneer is arranging a deal with the former owner through another person.

Is there any database that can tell me who the receiver is.

The receiver is the vendor in this case. They should know who the bid is coming from. They should also be looking for the best possible price. If you want to complain (and burn your bridges with) the auctioneer its the PRSA I think.

ACADasltiv

You may be able to find the property developer on Vision Net, Solocheck, Search4less or any of the credit check websites. If you do that you may be able to see if any of their companies are in Receivership and which bank holds the charge over the assets. Long shot, but could be worth trying.

Dazzler88

ACADasltiv wrote: »

You may be able to find the property developer on Vision Net, Solocheck, Search4less or any of the credit check websites. If you do that you may be able to see if any of their companies are in Receivership and which bank holds the charge over the assets. Long shot, but could be worth trying.

Thanks for that advice, I know who the property developer is, the auctioneer said to me 'I am selling this bank property, it was taken off Mr.Joe Bloggs, he is going to buy it through another relative, can't take bids off anyone else'

He even had the cheek to say poor Joe fell on hard times, the same developer in question borrowed circa €50 million, and when the crash hit, left hundreds of local subbies out of pocket for thousands of euro.

So I have little sympathy for this developer.

Obviously I have not used the developers real name above

dubrov

Contact the bank and complain about the auctioneer.

It sounds like the developer is pulling a fast one and for some reason the auctioneer is playing along.

Dazzler88

dubrov wrote: »

Contact the bank and complain about the auctioneer.

It sounds like the developer is pulling a fast one and for some reason the auctioneer is playing along.

They are both pulling a fast one, the reason both are playing along, is the EA sold loads of houses for said Developer during the boom, and they are close friends.

How would I find out which bank the property is being repossessed by.

gimli2112

PSRA is probably the regulator. They seem to be involved in anything that deals with property services.

ACADasltiv

Dazzler88 wrote: »

How would I find out which bank the property is being repossessed by.

If you check the websites I listed above and see which bank has a charge over the assets of his companies. If he's over €50m in debt then he'll have multiple companies, but even if you can't find the Company that built the house, you may be able to find one bank with charges over the assets of some/all of his companies. If you do then that's more than likely the bank selling the house.

Old diesel

Re burning your bridges with the auctioneer.

Do you really want to deal with an auctioneer who behaves like this.

Samuel T. Cogley

Old diesel wrote: »

Re burning your bridges with the auctioneer.

Do you really want to deal with an auctioneer who behaves like this.

It depends. It's all well and good saying that in Dublin, but if a large proportion of the potential market is with this auctioneer, you need to think long and hard.

JimmyMW

Dazzler88 wrote: »

Guys,

Looking for some advice on here, I am a first time buyer and a property in my area has come up for sale. It is a bank repossessed property, they haven taken it off a local Property Developer who went to the wall.
I rang my local auctioneer last week to enquiry about the property, he advised that it is for sale but he can't take bids off me, because the Property Developer is buying it back through someone else.

I would be of the thinking that the above is completely illegal, surely he cannot choose who he takes bids from.

Any advice on what I can do, is there anyway I could find out which bank has repossessed the property and contact them direct, I assume they would have done it through a receiver.

Is there a body that regulates auctioneers, should I make a bid offer my email, and they may have to accept the bid as official.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Have a solicitor bid anonymously on your behalf, I cant see him refusing an official bid from a solicitor, explain the situation to the solicitor first.

surrender monkey

Easy to find out who the bank is if the property is registered in land reg. Just download the folio and go to part 3 of the folio headed "burdens" the last charge against the property that's not cancelled out is the bank that's the owner of the charge on the property. The charge for the folio is 5 euro. Of course if the house hasn't been registered for the first time in land reg it's more difficult. You could start there.

If you know the developer company name you could look up on the companies office. If a receiver has been appointed there will be a notice filed. You can buy this notice and find out who the receiver is. What the developer and estate agent is doing is illegal and banks do go to great lengths to try to stop this happening.

All that being said and as others have posted, p*swing off the only estate agent in the village might render it impossible for you to buy property in the area in the future. Sometimes you have to weigh up your options. If you notify the bank of what is happening they will probably sell the property at auction instead !

BarraOG

I have the exact same story as the OP. Only difference is that three years has passed since I attempted to buy the property in question. Was told that it was Sale Agreed. Property still sitting there today going to rack n ruin. Downloaded the folio and there is a Judgement Mortgage on it with the Mortgages Dept. of a major Irish bank against the developer. Property was only on the market briefly and never sold - recon the plan is to let the judgement run out. Would it be worth contacting the Bank directly to establish what the story is with it? Wonder if data protection is an issue. Is there any other middle man, besides old auctioneer, who I could contact and if so how would I establish who they are?