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PROPERTY NEWS
Property bargains in the offing – but study the sale conditions!
The current weaknesses in the property market have opened up excellent opportunities for bargain hunting to buyers with access to finance, particularly where sales are forced. But if you attend an auction, be sure to read and understand all the conditions of sale - you will be held strictly to them whether you do or not.
With an auction other than a sale in execution, the sale may be "subject to confirmation", in which event the seller will have a period of time (often 7 days) after the sale to decide whether or not to accept the highest offer.
In contrast, with an auction sale by the Sheriff of the Court - i.e. a sale in execution of a court order - the sale must be to the highest bidder, and must be "without reserve", i.e. a final sale is concluded "on the fall of the hammer".
Execution creditors will normally attend the sale and bid the price up to a level sufficient to cover the claim - but where a creditor is prepared for whatever reason to let the property go "for a song", a real bargain is in the offing. And, as happened in a case recently before the High Court, if the creditor’s representatives fail in error to bid the price up, the sale is still final and binding. The end result in that case - the buyer paid only R50.000 for a house worth probably six times that.
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