An Auction Purchase Completed in 14 Days
Louvaine Road, Battersea SW11. We were instructed after the hammer had already fallen — which is the wrong order, and worth saying plainly.
At a glance
- Service
- Auction purchase of a leasehold flat
- Location
- Louvaine Road, Battersea, London Borough of Wandsworth, SW11
- Property
- Period conversion flat requiring modernisation, within a conservation area
- Tenure
- New 125-year lease on a disposal by Wandle Housing Association
- Instructed
- After exchange on auction day
- Outcome
- Legal pack reviewed and reported on, defective services and the conservation area designation identified, and completion achieved in 14 days against the 28 the contract allowed
The order of instruction
Our client bought a period conversion flat in Battersea at auction, and instructed us after the hammer had fallen. That is worth stating first, because it is the most useful thing on this page.
At auction, exchange happens when the bidding stops. There is no cooling-off, no subject to survey, and no renegotiating once something unwelcome comes to light. By the time we were instructed, our client was already contractually bound to buy — and the deposit, along with the balance, was at risk if he could not complete.
It worked out here. The client had cash, the title was sound, and the purchase completed early. But the honest advice is that this is the wrong order, and we would always rather be instructed before a client bids than after. A review that costs a few hundred pounds beforehand can identify the one thing that makes a property unsuitable. Afterwards, the same review only tells you what you have bought.
We say that to clients before they bid, and we will say it on a case study where the outcome was good — because the outcome was good partly by luck.
What the review found
We reviewed the legal pack and reported on it, so our client knew precisely what he had committed to and anything requiring attention could be dealt with before completion rather than discovered after it.
Two things came out of it. The services to the building were defective, which matters on a flat already needing modernisation because it changes what the works will cost rather than merely what they will look like. And the building sits within a conservation area, which constrains what can be done to the exterior and adds a consent requirement to anything visible from the street.
Neither was fatal and neither stopped the purchase. But both are precisely the sort of finding that would have shaped a bid, had the review happened a week earlier.
The flat was being sold with a new 125-year lease on a disposal by Wandle Housing Association. There was no restriction attached to the former housing association ownership — though it is worth knowing that corporate and institutional disposals, a bank selling after a repossession for instance, quite often carry an anti-embarrassment clause preventing a quick back-to-back resale or requiring a share of any uplift. If you are buying at auction to sell on, that is a clause to look for before you bid, because it can remove the entire point of the purchase.
The practical point. Send us the legal pack before you bid. If you have already bid, send it now — there is still a great deal that can be done between exchange and completion.
Completing in half the time
The contract allowed 28 days. Our client wanted 14.
The flat needed modernisation and he had works to start. On a purchase funded from cash reserves there is no lender timetable to accommodate, so the only constraints are the searches, the enquiries, the seller’s solicitors and whether anyone is in a hurry. We agreed the shorter date and completed to it.
A shortened auction completion is not clever lawyering. It is availability and sequencing. The work has to start on the day of instruction rather than the week after, and somebody has to be chasing the other side while the file is still on their desk. That is a function of how a firm is set up, which is why volume conveyancers rarely offer it.
When this applies to you
Bidding, or already bound?
If you are considering bidding at auction, send us the legal pack first. If you have already bid, send it now — the sooner the better, because everything found between exchange and completion is something that can still be planned around.
And if you are buying with cash and want to complete faster than the contract requires, that is usually achievable. Raise it at instruction rather than a fortnight in.
Common questions
Can I instruct a solicitor after I have already bid at auction?
Yes, and you should do so immediately. You are contractually bound from the fall of the hammer, so the review no longer tells you whether to buy — but it tells you what you have bought, and identifies anything needing attention before completion.
Can you complete faster than the auction contract requires?
Often, particularly on a cash purchase where there is no lender timetable. Here the contract allowed 28 days and we completed in 14.
What should be checked in an auction legal pack before bidding?
The title and any restrictions, the special conditions of sale, the lease where the property is leasehold, service charge and management information, searches, and anything disclosed in place of enquiries. The special conditions deserve particular attention, as they frequently shift costs onto the buyer.
What is an anti-embarrassment clause?
A term used in some corporate and institutional disposals preventing a quick resale, or requiring the seller to share in any uplift if you sell on within a set period. It did not apply here, but it is worth looking for if your plan is to add value and move on.
Client names are not used in our case studies. Properties are identified by road, block and postcode only. Every matter turns on its own facts, and outcomes described here are not a prediction of what will happen in yours.