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What nearly derailed your latest auction property purchase?

ended 14. August 2026

Bridging Loan Directory is examining what causes auction property purchases to come under pressure between the winning bid and the completion deadline.

We would like to hear from brokers, lenders, solicitors, valuers, auction buyers and other property professionals with recent first-hand experience.

Please explain:

  • what nearly prevented or delayed completion;
  • when the problem was discovered;
  • whether it involved finance, valuation, title, the legal pack, property access, planning, insurance or another issue;
  • what financial or practical consequences followed; and
  • whether the transaction completed and how the problem was resolved.

Recent anonymised examples are welcome. Please include your role, the property type, the original completion period and enough detail to explain what happened. Concise responses of approximately 100–200 words would be ideal.

After Bridging Loan Directory publishes the story, Newspage will adapt it for a wider consumer audience and distribute it to national and consumer media. 

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Tony SanchezVerified
Founder at Bridging Loan Directory
Bridging Loan Directory’s reporting suggests auction purchases often come under pressure because a problem is discovered after the bid has been accepted, when the completion deadline is already running.

Recent cases have involved valuation access, existing charges, missing building control documents and legal issues that could not be resolved through the usual process in time. In one transaction, further delay was costing the buyers £2,000 a day. Another depended on additional property being offered as security to finance the full purchase price.

A decision in principle does not remove these risks. The lender must still assess the property, valuation, legal position, borrower and exit.

Preparation should begin before bidding: review the legal pack, confirm valuation access, calculate the full cash requirement and discuss the property and deadline with the proposed lender.

Tony Sanchez, founder of Bridging Loan Directory
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Nouran MoustafaVerified
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
Auction purchases are where small problems become expensive very quickly because the completion clock is already running.

A common issue is buyers winning first and properly understanding the finance or legal pack second. Then a valuation comes in low, a title or planning issue appears, or access delays the valuation. Suddenly the original mortgage no longer works and the buyer is facing a completion deadline, penalty interest or even losing their deposit.

That is where bridging can genuinely save a transaction. If the underlying purchase still makes sense, a bridge can provide the speed and flexibility to complete, resolve the issue afterwards, then refinance onto longer-term funding.

My biggest advice is simple: do as much underwriting as possible before raising your paddle. At auction, “I’ll sort the finance afterwards” can become a very expensive sentence.
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Hannah VandervenninVerified
Director - Mortgage Adviser at The Mortgage Consultancy
he buyer came to us after she'd won the lot. First-time buyer, first-time landlord, first-time everything, and the legal pack hadn't been read or checked before she bid.

We agreed the funding and structure and instructed the valuation. It later transpired the seller hadn't yet completed their own purchase, making it a back to back transaction, where the property changes hands twice in quick succession. The lender we'd sourced, chosen because it was the best deal available to her, wouldn't fund that. We changed solicitor and lender midway through and rebuilt it on worse terms, against a clock that never stops.

It completed on time. It cost her a second set of fees and a great deal of stress that an hour of reading would have prevented.

Auction rewards speed, but only if the work happens before the bid. Read the pack, and have people around you who will appraise the deal before you commit, not after you've won it.
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Adam StilesVerified
Managing Director at Helix Financial Partners
Borrowers reading the legal pack themselves to save some money only to find post purchase that half a flat wasn't included in a title plan!