Hi All,
Here is the long story short and advice is needed for my friend who is under significant stress at the moment…
My friend went to an auction and was tricked into bidding by the real estate agent who showed him the reserve price which was significantly higher and told him that if his bid was highest, he would have the first right to negotiate.
I asked him, why did you bid? The answer was he liked the property but had not got the inspections, pest control etc as this was the first time he was visiting this property and since the agent told him that the property would pass and then he can get all these things done later so he made a bid.
To his surprise, agent came back after the discussion with the vendor and said vendor is happy to sell at that price and he didn't knew what to do then.
So he walked off and did not signed any contract and feels cheated and also doesn't want to proceed with the property. Now as expected he is getting calls from the agent threatening all sorts of things.
Looking for advice from someone who is knowledgeable in this field or has gone through this before. Property at auction was in NSW.
Thank you in advance.
Edit: Many thanks for your responses. Below is some more information that I have gathered from him and advised him to get legal advice on this.
He reached the auction 10 minutes late, the intent was just to gauge the market sentiment and whilst the auction was paused(as no one was bidding above the x amount, there were at least 3-4 bids that has already been placed) as no one else was bidding; he decided to have a look at the house bedroom's(everyone was standing in the living area) but the agent told him that he cant inspect the house without registering and this made him register for the auction. Whilst he looking around, 3 agents kept on following him and telling him how good the house is and all the other things that they normally would do and kept chasing him up to place the bid to which he said no to multiple times citing reasons as aforementioned. He was then shown the reserve price and told that he could decide later whether to buy the house and get all the inspections done if he was the highest bidder as the house would pass under the reserve which he believed and placed the bid and too his surprise the agent came back and said vendor has accepted his bid and the property is sold to him to which he got frustrated and walked out.
Edit 2: Thank you all for your inputs; he contacted lawyer and has been advised to relax as lawyer is pretty confident that there are too many mistakes that the agent has done where legally agent might get into trouble if this goes to court. few of them he told me are reserve price revealed in private, misrepresentation of information to trick the other person and he also told him that if the agent continues to call or threaten then he can be sued for harassment.
Edit3: Thank you all for your valuable inputs.Property has now been sold to the second highest bidder and REA sent a text message to my friend to pay the difference. My friend has now decided to take this up and these real estate agents in the court.
If they haven't signed anything, does a verbal contract count for an auction?