Paid deposit @ auction for apt. Solr cant certify the title, required for the bank!

G

Gottogo

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Recently paid my deposit at an auction for an apartment - in the meantime my solictor has indicated that he can not certify the title, required for the bank loan.

He is of course being smug (probably rightly so) and indicating that I should not have signed up for anything without a solicitor previously viewing the docs and not willing to provide much advice on what will happen next.

Does anybody have experience of a similar situation ? I know I am probably screwed, but

Is there anyway I can get the deposit back ?

Is it likely they will chase me for closure on the full amount if I can't get the bank mortgage ?

Thanks for any help.
 
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There is nothing smug about this. It is highlighted time and again that one should get a solicitor to check the title and one should get a surveyor to check the property. Some people sell property with problems at auction in the hope that someone will buy without checking beforehand.

Change your solicitor, which is what you appear to be doing. but don't expect some other solicitor can wave a magic wand for you.

If the title is bad, it may be that your solicitor cannot do anything.

Have you a home which you could sell to release the cash to buy the apartment?
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Try not to panic. Presumably the apartment you paid a deposit on is one of a number of apartments within a larger development. Is the problem with the title deed just related to your apartment only.

It is hard to offer any specific advise without knowing the actual location and development involved. I am sure if you share this information people who have bought there previously will be able to help put your mind at rest. Most of the apartment complexes in Dublin have their own sites on NEIGHBOURS.IE
 
I bought one of the Dublin apts at the recent Allsop auction - the problem appears to be with the title of the overall development. The information provided by the Vendor does not allow my solicitor to issue a certification of title to the bank and the agreement I signed on "auction day" apparently forgoes any right I have to request additional information.

I guess what I am really asking is do I have any rights when it comes to a property purchased at an auction. Rights in the sense that I can step back from the sale, due to the lack of documentation - I am willing to forgo the deposit ?
 

I know - hindsight is always damming.
It’s not that I didn't check, I obviously stupidly assumed that any property offered in such a high profile auction would have been kosher.


Brendan Burgess said:
Have you a home which you could sell to release the cash to buy the apartment?
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I do, but this may be throwing more good money after bad.
 
Gottogo said:
I know - hindsight is always damming.

.
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Hi Gottogo

This has nothing at all to do with hindsight. When these auctions were announced, I did a Key Post on How to Buy a house at auctiion. I am sorry, but it's plain common sense and you may now be in a serious position.
It’s not that I didn't check, I obviously stupidly assumed that any property offered in such a high profile auction would have been kosher.
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You didn't check. There is nothing non kosher about what Allsops did. In many of these cases and in other auctions, the property is only really suitable for a cash buyer as there are problems with the title or with the structure or whatever.

Brendan
 
You are right Brendan but if you will allow me to say it you could bit a bit more sensitive and sympathetic towards Gottogo.

Bye the way Gottogo as these apartments are most likely to be offered in the next auction due in July could you do the wider public a favour and identify where they are
 
belview said:
You are right Brendan but if you will allow me to say it you could bit a bit more sensitive and sympathetic towards Gottogo.
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There certainly is no easy way to tell somebody that they made a complete mess of something. The golden rule and very well and often documented is to do a legal search before one buys at an Auction.

OP, your only saving grace could be to find others that actually own apartments in the same development or find the solicitors that acted for the developers and request details as to problems with the Title documents.
 
Get another solicitor to answer the question what happens now. Don't use the same solicitor you have been using ever again - he should really have answered your question as to what options you have NOW. Granted you should have checked prior to the auction etc, your solicitor's job is to advise you about the present situation, not just to sit back and feel smug about the mistakes you made.
 
Gottogo said:
The information provided by the Vendor does not allow my solicitor to issue a certification of title to the bank and the agreement I signed on "auction day" apparently forgoes any right I have to request additional information.

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This should be added to the key post on auctions as a stark reminder to others. As there are going to be so many of these auctions, a warning should be put in the national newspapers by the consumer affairs (?) department warning people to seek legal advice before they go to an auction. In fact it's a pity it wasn't mandatory for advertisments of auctions to have a small print warning on this issue.

Gottogo for others would you mind posting up the wording of the document you signed at the auction.
 
Gottogo said:
I bought one of the Dublin apts at the recent Allsop auction - the problem appears to be with the title of the overall development.
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No you have no rights, you've signed away your rights. What you need to do now is find out exactly what is the title problem. Not sure how much time the auction house are going to give you? Being logical other people have purchased in that building. You could knock on doors and explain to the owners your predicment and ask them what solicitor they used and if there was an issue with the title for them. That solicitor will know how to sort out the title issue and you could hire him.

Not sure with the new registration process of titles but I wonder if you contacted the Land Registry would they be able to tell you the names of solicitors who worked on those titles. You could also maybe go to the solicitor of the original builder.

If you name the building as other posters have mentioned you might find someone here on AAM with more concrete advice.

If time is off the essence than you would do well to seek monies from elsewhere, selling what you have now. It's not necessarily throwing good money after bad, but if you don't close the sale and you have money/assets a job they will be coming after you via the courts and the costs will start to mount.

If you do sort out the money and the title is really bad, then you should hire Allsops to put it at the next auction and pass the problem on to someone else. It's entirely possible that the title problem is something you can live with.
 
Good advice there Bronte.

The main problem is that no lender will give him the money with a defective title, so he will have to get the money from elsewhere e.g. sell one of his other investments.

Otherwise it will only be a problem if the OP wants to sell it again.

It should not stop hime letting it which was his original attention.
 
Some of the Galway apartments at the Allsop auction carried specific warnings about possible problems with the title. If the apartment the OP bought didnt carry a warning this may give him an argument against the auctioneers. There is a legal principle "nomine uniam exclude altero" (excuse the latin) which means that if something is indicated in one place and not in another it does not apply to the other.

Basically if the auctioneers indicated a problem with some apts and not with his the buyer was entitled to assume his apt had no problem.

This might give the OP an opportunity to repudiate the contract. Good Luck
 
Cremeegg good point. but in cases of purchasing anything at an Auction, not just property the term 'Caveat Emptor must be taken as a factor.
 
cremeegg said:
Basically if the auctioneers indicated a problem with some apts and not with his the buyer was entitled to assume his apt had no problem.
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Find this hard to believe. The whole point of an auction is precisely the opposite. Buyer beware and check out your title first, it's not up too auctioneers to do this for you. Certainly not the auctioneers of the seller's who has no duty of care to you.

Cremeegg, could you elaborate on what was said/written about the Galway apartments.

Time for one of the newspapers to do a serious article on auctions, or maybe the Law Society might put out a press release to warn the public on the implications of buying at auction. Before the horse has bolted.
 
Bronte said:
Time for one of the newspapers to do a serious article on auctions, or maybe the Law Society might put out a press release to warn the public on the implications of buying at auction. .
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Hi Bronte

I have already sent a link to this thread to some journalists suggesting that they come back to it before the next Allsops auction.
 
I watched the Allsop auction and they did state that any potential buyers should do a title check, survey etc. It was clearly said so I don't know what point there would be in running to the newspapers to try and make a story out of nothing.
 
Hi Aristotle

it's a story with a great lesson.

Some people don't listen to general warnings such as "Check the title before you bid at an auction"

However, most people are influenced more by stories. e.g. "I bought on a whim without checking the title and now I am screwed. "

I would say highlighting Gottogo's story would save other people from making the same mistake.
 
aristotle said:
I watched the Allsop auction and they did state that any potential buyers should do a title check, survey etc. It was clearly said so I don't know what point there would be in running to the newspapers to try and make a story out of nothing.
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Apart from Gottog's tale of woe we had another poster on here that as far as I know we prevented from buying without checking title or doing a survey. That a person saved. If a newspaper article does the same it will be a good thing. Unfortunatly people need to be saved from themselves. People think that buying a property for such a 'cheap' amount is a bargain and they lose the run of themselves. Instead of a celtic bubble we'll have an auction bubble, not a good thing.
 
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