Section 42 — Property Law Act 2007: Auction sales of property other than goods

42 Auction sales of property other than goods (1) This section applies to the sale by auction of every kind of property other than goods. (2) If the property is put up for sale by auction in lots, each lot must be treated as the subject of a separate contract of sale, unless the contrary is proved. (3) A sale by auction may be notified to be subject to a reserved or upset price, and a right to bid may also be reserved expressly, by or on behalf of the vendor. (4) The vendor, or 1 person on the vendor’s behalf, may bid at the auction, but only if a right to bid by or on behalf of the vendor is expressly reserved by or on behalf of the vendor. (5) A sale by auction is complete when the auctioneer (by the fall of the hammer, or in some other customary manner) announces its completion. (6) A bid may be retracted by the bidder who made it at any time before the auction is complete. (7) If a sale by auction is not notified to be subject to a right to bid by or on behalf of the vendor,— (a) the vendor must not bid or employ a person to bid at the sale on the vendor’s behalf; and (b) the auctioneer must not knowingly take a bid from the vendor or a person acting on the vendor’s behalf. (8) The purchaser may treat as fraudulent a sale that contravenes subsection (7). Compare: 1908 No 168 s 59 ; 1952 No 51 s 51