Join the Fight Against Unfair Fees

SHAFT: Stop Hidden Auction Fees Today

This campaign aims to combat hidden fees imposed on buyers during property auctions. Together, we advocate for transparency and fairness in property transactions.

Press Pack

About SHAFT

Our mission is to raise awareness regarding hidden auction fees.

We empower investors and buyers to make informed decisions.

Join us in promoting transparency and accountability within the auction process.

2025

Campaign Launched

60+

Media / Press Targeted

50k 

Annual Transactions Affected

Our Key Focus Areas

Highlighting the core areas of our advocacy:

1. Campaigning against hidden fees

2. Educating buyers on their rights

3. Advocating for fair practices in property auctions

4. Supporting investor interests

Awareness Campaigns

We conduct impactful campaigns to inform buyers about hidden fees in auctions.

Educational Resources

Access to guides and resources tailored for buyers and investors.

Legal Advocacy

Collaborating with legal experts to support buyers in navigating auction processes.


Why was SHAFT created?

To protect auction buyers from hidden fees

With over 50,000 residential properties offered for sale in 2024, auction sales have morphed from a professional property investor-based way of purchasing to a mainstream alternative to traditional estate agencies. Often certain sellers such as Housing Associations, Charities and Councils only use auctions to sell their stock. 

As the prevalence of auction sales has increased, so too has the use of 'hidden' fees in the legal documents that very often add £000s on to the purchase price. It is all too common to find a 'special conditions' document uploaded to the legal pack, sometimes only a few days prior to the auction day that has a clause demanding that the successful bidder will pay a further fee on top of the winning bid price. This is often hard to spot as it is written in words, not figures but might typically be for 1.5% + Vat of the winning bid. This is often then supplemented by demands for the purchaser to cover the vendor's legal fees, search fees and 'administration' fees. It is designed to obfuscate the sales process and catch purchasers out. Furthermore, many auction houses now typically demand 'processing' or 'admin' fees from the winning bidder of anything from £1000-£2000 on top of the purchase price. Before you know, a winning bidder on a £500,000 lot could find themselves paying well over £12,000 in fees over and above the purchase price they won the bid at.

These fees are not only unfair but underhand. Recent research shows that 30% of purchasers do not study the legal pack before bidding at auction. While we would always strongly suggest that a bidder always studies the legal pack, the hidden fees are designed to push up the total sales price of the property for unsuspecting purchasers. Worse still, some of the worst offenders are charities and housing associations. The rip-off fees should be scrapped as they are not-transparent, underhand, and designed to trick consumers into paying £thousands more than they otherwise would for their property. They are totally unnecessary, unethical and a blight on the reputation of the auction houses that list the properties and the sellers that demand them.

Join SHAFT as we call this practice out and demand an end to hidden auction fees today.

 

 

 

Case Study

This auction lot is listed for sale in February 2025 and features numerous extra 'hidden' fees in the special conditions of sale

We have redacted the address and solicitor details and highlighted the extra fees payable

Issues

  • You will notice that the % fee is written in word-form rather than numbers. This makes it harder to search for or notice in the document. Likewise, the different sets of fees are spread out at different positions in the document. It is clearly designed to confuse people or be missed. 

Extra Fees in this example

In this example the extra charges payable by the purchaser are:

  • £600 to seller for searches
  • £450 plus VAT for seller’s solicitor’s engrossment costs 
  • 2.75% fee plus VAT towards the legal and agent’s costs incurred by the seller

Calculation

In this example, assuming a sale price of £310,000 there would be £11,430 in extra fees payable by the purchaser.

These fees do not include Stamp Duty or the Auctioneer's 'administration fee' which is charged separately at a cost of £1500. 

This field is required.

I hereby agree that this data will be stored and processed for the purpose of establishing contact. I am aware that I can revoke my consent at any time.*

This field is required.

* Please fill in all the required fields.
Message could not be sent. Please try again later.
Message was successfully sent

Get in touch

Telephone: 020 7117 6660

E-mail: info@auctionshaft.org

 

© Tim Jackson 2025. All rights reserved.

We need your consent to load the translations

We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.