Auctions are where London’s awkward property is sold: probate houses, short leases, flats with sitting tenants, blocks, mixed-use buildings, repossessions and anything a seller wants gone in a month. Prices are lower than the open market by the amount of the awkwardness, which is why Gulf investors ask about buying at auction from abroad. The catch is that the hammer is a binding contract, the deposit is paid that day, and completion follows in four weeks.
Buying from abroad
Buying London property at auction from abroad: the legal pack, the deposit on the hammer, and the 28 days
Why auction
A Gulf investor can bid at a London auction online, by telephone, by proxy or through an agent in the room, after registering with identity documents and proof of funds a week ahead. Under the traditional method the hammer exchanges contracts, a ten per cent deposit is paid that day by bank transfer from a sterling account, and completion is usually 28 days later. On a £1,000,000 lot that is £100,000 on the day, £900,000 at completion and £113,750 of stamp duty within 14 days. The catch: a buyer who cannot complete loses the deposit.
For a seller: certainty and speed. For a buyer: price, and access to stock that never reaches the portals. The large London auctioneers (Savills, Allsop, Barnard Marcus, Auction House London, Strettons) hold sales every month, online since 2020 with the room as an option, and publish catalogues three to four weeks ahead with a guide price for each lot. The guide is not the reserve, which is confidential and usually within ten per cent of the guide, and lots routinely sell above both.
Traditional and modern auction methods and what each commits you to
The two methods, and what each commits the buyer to on the hammer:
Traditional and modern auction methods compared
| Traditional (unconditional) | Modern method (conditional) | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens on the hammer | Contracts are exchanged; the buyer is legally bound | The buyer pays a reservation fee and gains an exclusive period |
| Deposit | Ten per cent of the price, that day | Reservation fee, typically 4 to 5 per cent including VAT with a minimum of several thousand pounds, non-refundable and not part of the price |
| Completion | Usually 28 days after the sale; sometimes 14 or 42 | Exchange within 28 days, completion within 56 |
| If the buyer withdraws | Loses the deposit and is liable for the seller’s loss on resale | Loses the reservation fee |
| Finance | Must be in place or bridged before bidding | A little more time, at the cost of the fee |
Source: RICS Common Auction Conditions for real estate auctions; the London auctioneers’ conditions of sale, checked 14 October 2026. Fees and timings vary by auctioneer and lot.
The traditional method is the real auction and is what the London auctioneers mostly run for investment stock; the modern method is common for estate-agent auctions of ordinary houses and its reservation fee makes the effective price higher than the hammer suggests.
The London auction legal pack and its special conditions
Every lot has a legal pack online from the catalogue date: title, lease, searches, the seller’s property information form, special conditions of sale, tenancy documents, and often a survey or an energy certificate. The special conditions are where the surprises are: the buyer may be required to pay the seller’s legal costs, an auctioneer’s administration fee, the searches, arrears of service charge, or a contribution to a disputed major-works bill, and the completion date may be shorter than 28 days.
Who reads the auction legal pack and what it costs
The pack is read by the buyer’s solicitor before the sale, at a cost of £500 to £1,500 per lot, whether or not the buyer wins; a buyer who bids on a pack nobody has read is buying blind. The firm reads the pack with the solicitor, visits the property at the viewing, and sends the client a one-page note: the price we would pay, the conditions that matter, and whether to bid at all.
Registering to bid at a London auction from overseas
A bidder registers with the auctioneer before the sale, online, with identity documents and proof of funds for the deposit; the auctioneer’s anti-money-laundering checks are the same as a solicitor’s and are done before the sale, not after, so a buyer in Riyadh starts a week ahead with the documents our guide on anti-money-laundering checks lists.
Registering a company to bid, including overseas companies
The registration names the buyer, who must be the person or company on the contract; a bid on behalf of a company needs the company’s documents and, for an overseas company, its Overseas Entity ID, as our guide on the Register of Overseas Entities explains, because completion in 28 days cannot wait for a registration that takes six weeks.
Four ways to bid at a London auction from abroad
Four ways. Online, through the auctioneer’s platform, in real time, which is now the usual way for everyone. By telephone, with a member of the auctioneer’s staff bidding on the buyer’s instruction during the lot. By proxy, with a written maximum bid lodged before the sale, which the auctioneer executes up to that figure. Or by an agent in the room, which is what the firm does: present, with the client on the telephone, a ceiling agreed in writing beforehand, and no bid above it.
Paying the auction deposit on the day by bank transfer
The deposit is paid by bank transfer on the day, so the funds must already be in a sterling account the auctioneer accepts; a transfer from the Gulf that takes three days does not satisfy a contract signed at three o’clock. Our guide on opening a UK bank account and our guide on currency transfers cover getting the money ready.
Auction costs and fees for a non-resident buyer
What a non-resident pays, and when, on a £1,000,000 lot:
Costs on a £1,000,000 auction lot, 2026
| On a £1,000,000 lot bought by a non-resident who owns a home abroad | Cost |
|---|---|
| Deposit on the hammer | £100,000 |
| Auctioneer’s administration or buyer’s fee | £1,000 to £3,000 plus VAT; check the special conditions |
| Seller’s legal costs, if the conditions pass them on | £0 to £3,000 |
| Solicitor to read the pack and complete | £2,000 to £4,000 plus VAT |
| Survey before the sale, if the lot justifies it | £900 to £2,500 |
| Stamp duty, due within 14 days of completion | £113,750 |
| Balance of the price at completion, 28 days after the sale | £900,000 |
Source: GOV.UK Stamp Duty Land Tax rates for non-UK residents; the London auctioneers’ conditions of sale; firm’s calculation, October 2026.
Finance in 28 days is possible only with a lender that has already approved the buyer and a valuer who can get in; most auction buyers pay cash or use a bridging loan at 0.7 to 1 per cent a month, refinanced after completion, as our guide on remortgaging as a non-resident explains. Interest on a late completion runs at the rate in the conditions, commonly 4 per cent over base, and a buyer who cannot complete loses the deposit and may be sued for the shortfall on resale.
What sells at London property auctions and who it suits
Short leases, which our guide on leasehold extension after the 2024 Act explains how to value; flats with regulated or assured tenants, sold at a discount for the income; probate houses, unmodernised and often the best value in the catalogue; mixed-use buildings and small blocks, which our guide on buying a block covers; properties with a planning history or a defect the open market would not take; and repossessions. A buyer who understands one of these categories and can price its awkwardness buys well; a buyer who bids because the guide looks cheap buys the awkwardness without the discount.
Our rules for bidding at a London auction
Bid only on a lot the firm has visited and whose legal pack the solicitor has read; only with cleared sterling funds for the deposit and a completion plan for the balance; only at a ceiling fixed in writing before the sale and never raised during it; and only on a category of property the buyer understands. On those terms a London auction is the best-priced market in the city for a patient investor. Without them it is the fastest way the firm knows to lose a deposit.
Sources: RICS Common Auction Conditions for real estate auctions (isurv) · Stamp Duty Land Tax: non-UK residents (GOV.UK) · Register an overseas entity (GOV.UK) · Money laundering regulations (GOV.UK). Checked against the common auction conditions of sale used by the London auctioneers and GOV.UK on 14 October 2026; fees and timings vary by auctioneer and lot and are stated in each legal pack. General information, not advice on a particular purchase; the legal pack and the solicitor decide. Figures verified 14 October 2026.
Frequently Asked
Questions about buying at auction from abroad
Not under the traditional method; the hammer is exchange of contracts and withdrawal forfeits the deposit and exposes you to the seller’s loss. Under the modern method you lose the reservation fee.
Yes, at the viewing days, with the auctioneer’s permission, and the firm recommends it for a house or a conversion; the cost is lost if you are outbid, which is the price of knowing.
Yes, on the hammer price, with the same surcharges, due within 14 days of completion; our guide on stamp duty for overseas buyers gives the bands.
Ten per cent of the price, that day, under the traditional method: £100,000 on a £1,000,000 lot. It is paid by bank transfer, so the funds must already sit in a sterling account the auctioneer accepts; a transfer from the Gulf that takes three days does not satisfy a contract signed at three o’clock. The balance of £900,000 is paid at completion, usually 28 days after the sale.
Under the traditional method the hammer exchanges contracts, a ten per cent deposit is paid that day and completion follows in 28 days, sometimes 14 or 42. Under the modern method the buyer pays a non-refundable reservation fee, typically 4 to 5 per cent including VAT, for an exclusive period, with exchange within 28 days and completion within 56. The fee is not part of the price, so the effective price is higher than the hammer suggests.
Title, lease, searches, the seller’s property information form, special conditions of sale, tenancy documents, and often a survey or energy certificate, online from the catalogue date. The buyer’s solicitor reads it before the sale at £500 to £1,500 per lot, whether or not the buyer wins. The special conditions are where the surprises are: the seller’s legal costs, an administration fee, service charge arrears or a shorter completion date may be passed to the buyer.
Yes, four ways: online through the auctioneer’s platform in real time, by telephone with a member of the auctioneer’s staff, by proxy with a written maximum bid lodged before the sale, or through an agent in the room. The firm bids in the room with the client on the telephone, at a ceiling agreed in writing beforehand, and never above it.
Yes, but the registration must name the company that will be on the contract, with the company’s documents and its Overseas Entity ID. Completion in 28 days cannot wait for a registration on the Register of Overseas Entities that takes six weeks, so the company must be registered before the sale. Our guide to the Register explains the process.
Only with a lender that has already approved the buyer and a valuer who can get in within the 28 days. Most auction buyers pay cash or use a bridging loan at 0.7 to 1 per cent a month, refinanced after completion. Interest on a late completion runs at the rate in the conditions, commonly 4 per cent over base.
No. The guide price is published in the catalogue three to four weeks ahead; the reserve is confidential and usually within ten per cent of the guide, and lots routinely sell above both. A buyer who bids because the guide looks cheap buys the awkwardness without the discount.
