Evidence of a sophisticated effort within the property auctions sector to trick ‘successful bidders’ out of their deposits has emerged after hundreds of customers of the company involved complained of lost funds which, The Neg estimates, are likely to reach a million pounds.

As well as a Facebook group for those who have taken issue with the firm, several former customers of Birmingham-based BP Auctions Ltd have also launched a petition calling for an official investigation into the firm and urged the Law Society and the SRA to better regulate the legal sector that provides the legal packs and conveyancing required to make auction sales happen.

Complaints have also been lodged with Action Fraud, HMRC and West Midlands Police and all three are looking into the company and its activities.

BP Auctions Ltd, which recently changed its name to PropsalesUK after being expelled by TPO after failing to pay an award of £8,000 to a complainant, is said to have taken significant deposits from auction bidders but then not followed through with paperwork and fobbed off increasingly urgent requests to return deposits.

Hammer price

The Neg has been shown emails and paperwork for one example of a listing that, Land Registry Title information showed, did not exist but that was ‘won’ at auction for a hammer price of £51,000.

This example was unearthed by online estate agent 99Home, which secured the sale by paying a £1 deposit so that it could identify the address of the property, which proved to not exist on the Land Registry.

BP Auctions Ltd, which had five directors until they all resigned in November last year leaving no one in charge, joined several industry schemes including Propertymark and TPO.

Propertymark says BP Auctions Ltd became a member for six months but voluntarily left in late October last year, without explanation.

A spokesperson for Propertymark tells The Neg that the auction house remains ‘under investigation’ following complaints despite the firm leaving the organisation.

BP Auction Ltd’s website was active from early 2023 until last month, when it was taken offline and both its phone number and email now return as unavailable.

Expelled again

After being expelled by TPO, BP Auctions Ltd then tried to join Property Redress but, under the ‘memorandum of understanding’ between the two redress schemes, was expelled almost immediately.

99Homes also says it has documentary evidence that proves another site, DaviesAuctions.co.uk, which is also no longer live, was used to attract bidders, and that payments for deposits were pointed towards the same company – Propsalesuk – the new name for BP Auctions.

One bidder, Jools Curb, took to the PropertyTribes website in July to complain that after paying a deposit following a successful bid, her solicitor revealed that the person selling the property was not the same person as on the title deed, and therefore the transaction collapsed.

She says: “I tried time and time again to contact the auction house to find out what had happened but just got a receptionist saying the same thing on repeat every time (someone will ring you back). No one ever gets back to me”.

“I’ve lost thousands of pounds that I can’t afford. I’m not a well off person.”

One bidder who nearly transferred £75,000 to BP Auctions before her solicitor counselled her not to, and who is involved in the campaign to highlight the firm’s activities, says she understands that two other people interested in the property she had bid on had also been pressured to deposit similar sums to ‘secure the property’.

The BTL investor, who wishes to remain anonymous, knows of one person who paid a deposit of £65,000, which represented a large slice of her retirement savings, to buy a rental property to pay for her granchildren’s eduction, but realised too late that she had been misled, and has never received the funds back.

Before ceasing operations, BP Auctions Ltd held a sale via industry platform EIG during which, as per its previous efforts on its own auction websites, buyers were invited to bid.

Significant lengths

EIG boss David Sandeman tells The Neg that companies using his online platform must pass stringent tests to be allowed to offer properties at auction but that on this occasion BP Auctions Ltd had gone to significant lengths to appear legitimate including a professional-looking website, a large inventory of properties for sale that looked convincing, legal support provided by a firm that claimed to be Law Society and SRA accredited as well as membership of key industry schemes and organisations.

“As soon as we realised that something wasn’t right we ensured that BP Auctions could not use our platform again – this is the first time that we’ve come across such a sophisticated attempt to mislead us and members of the public,” he says.

The Neg has tried to contact both DaviesAuctions.co.uk and BP Auctions/Propsalesuk to offer them an opportunity to respond to the allegations and complaints, but has not received a reply.

We have also approached the SRA and Law Society but both have declined to comment on either the case or the wider points made within the petition about regulation.

Those who have been affected by BP Auctions Ltd should either follow the Facebook page or contact it direct via email.