Auctions - when/how to get solicitor and surveyor involved?

[Tfann]

For those who have bought at an auction, did you review the legal pack yourself or with a solicitor, and did you use a surveyor who viewed the property prior to the auction?

I'm wondering about the practicalities of this…chances are that I won’t get the property I’m interested in because someone else outbids me or the reserve is higher than I’m prepared to pay. I assume I’ll have to pursue several properties before successfully bidding on one, and paying each time for a solicitor and surveyor just based on the low chance that I will actually get this property doesn’t seem financially viable.

Do you need a mortgage? It's hard to go for auction properties if you need a mortgage. You need to normally complete in 28 days or lose your deposit plus any fees due. If its a cash buy you need to have a shit hot solicitor who can get it all done quickly. A survey is a lot harder to get booked in in time and most will not have one done.

Would you know what you're looking for in a legal pack? There can be all sorts of hidden problems in there (former property solicitor).

It's a risk financially to pay out for legal advice/surveyors on several properties, but nowhere near as big of a risk as bidding successfully having not carried out all the checks. Something to weigh up with how much you'd be willing to lay out on legal advice/surveyors etc I suppose?

We’re hoping to find something which we can buy without a mortgage, we have some savings and are looking to buy in a relatively cheap area. That’s one reason why I’m looking at auctions, there seem to be some things that would just be affordable for us (judging by the guide price).
But I’m worried that we’d spend all our savings on solicitors and surveyors in the process if we end up pursing several properties?

Thanks @popplego yes that’s exactly the problem, I don’t have legal knowledge. I’m wondering how other people do it, or if buying at an auction is only suitable for investors who are able to do this all by themselves.
Obviously I would invest in legal advice usually and I agree that this is a very good investment, I just wonder that after seeking this advice for 20-30 potential properties I’m interested in, most of my savings will have gone into this, and I’d be better off buying the usual way where I only need a solicitor once my offer was accepted, as opposed to auctions where I need to seek advice before even bidding.

auction is sold as seen.
read the legal pack and view the building(s) with a builder.
pull the deeds from the land registry and in mining areas a geological map.

If it's that many then I'd look at buying in the traditional way to be honest, or the legal fees would be really high and probably not worth it.

You could go through the deeds/search results in the legal pack yourself as pp says, but it's not much use if you wouldn't know if an entry was standard or a problem. There's still a fair bit of unregistered land knocking about in some parts of the country too, so it's not always just looking at a simple Land Registry title document.

Good luck on your search whatever you decide to do

You won't have time to get a survey done until after you have bought. Auction properties are sold as seen. If you don't know what to look for to spot possible issues or how much roughly different things would cost to repair then I would not recommend buying at auction. You could end up with a complete money pit without realising.

Take it from someone who lost 25k last year. My entire life savings at the time wiped from trying to buy at auction. It was traumatic!
I was ignorant but never again. I thought the property just needed modernising like new kitchen, bathroom and paint but it had structural defects which wasn’t disclosed in the legal pack and the contract was so airtight. They covered everything coverable

I was also buying with mortgage and was unable to get any bank to loan on it. Getting a bridging loan wasn’t worth it so I had to pull out.

A survey is a must before deciding to bid at auction except you have the funds to take on whatever problems you discover the property has.
Had I done a survey, I never would have gone through with it.
And yes read the legal pack. Sellers are con artists who put what should be illegal clauses in the contract

Take the survey/solicitor advice as a good little investment as opposed to throwing away good money in a bad transaction if you end up winning the bid.