First, we will explore the process to sell your commercial property, followed by information you will need to provide to your solicitor for the Legal Pack, then lastly we will also go over tax implications to consider when selling your commercial property.

It can be summarised into 5 simple steps. In a nutshell:

1. Find a property
2. Register with us
3. Bid on a property
4. Pay reservation fee and deposit
5. Legal

And now in a bit more detail:

1.            Send us an enquiry

First, send us an enquiry here. We will call you and speak with you about your current situation and commercial property for sale. We will determine suitability for auction, explain our process, timescales and expected value you could get for your property.

In the initial stages, we will make sure you are fully aware of our process and how it all works and answer any questions or concerns you may have.

2.          Dedicated point of contact appointed

We will then proceed to assign an auction manager that will look after you, update and report back to you throughout the process. We go on to agree the secret reserve price. This is the price that you would be happy to sell your property for. It is no known to any bidders or partner estate agents. We then get to work with taking photos, advertising and preparing for future viewings.

3.          Legal

You would then start the legal process (known as the Legal Pack) with a solicitor before the property is live on auction.

The legal conveyancing process works slightly differently in auction. Here, the seller starts the legal process prior to putting the property up for auction. This Legal Pack ensures buyers have all the information they need about a property before placing bids. These are things like results from local searches. We will go into the details below.

This prior legal work ensures, that on the fall of the hammer, the legal contracts are exchanged straight away and the rest of the legal process is completed in 28 or 56+ days, if the sale is unconditional or conditional, respectively.

4.          Go live on auction

Next, we place your property on auction on a starting bid on our live bidding platform. The starting bid is lower than the reserve price to generate interest. Commercial investors and landlords are experienced and will recognise the property is worth more and see it as a bargain. Apart from our live bidding platform, the property is advertised in all popular online channels and shared our vast network of investors and landlords, nationally and internationally.

Viewings take place, enquiries are made regarding your Legal Pack and bids start coming in. You can track the bids live 24/7 on our live bidding platform from your smartphone or laptop.

Our auction runs differently to a traditional auction. We don’t have a set auction date, time or physical location. We run an auction cycle for 28 days with an individual countdown attached to each property. Each property runs on an entirely different timescale, and buyers are advised to attentively watch the clock.

We also want to make the auction as fair for everyone, as possible. We realise that in a standard auction or eBay listing, the most action happens in the last 10 minutes, and people can swoop in at the last few seconds and take a property off the market.

This is why, we do things slightly differently here at Smart Auction UK. Whenever a bidder places a bid within the last 10 minutes of the auction, the countdown resets back to 10 minutes and starts counting down again.

5.          Successful sale achieved

At the end of the 28-day auction cycle, your property sells for the highest bid above the reserve price and buyer pays the reservation fee and deposit straight away. As this is paid immediately, the buyer is financially committed at the very early stage, which is why we have a very low back out rate of less than 1%. This is compared to an average of a 30% back out rate with traditional estate agents.

The legal contracts are exchanged immediately at the end of the auction cycle and the remaining paperwork and legal formalities are finalised by your solicitor and you hand over your keys on day 28.

Information to provide your solicitor for the Legal Pack

Selling a commercial property requires the right advice from your property solicitor. They will advise you on your current obligations, how these will change once the selling process is underway, and after completion.

They will represent you in the commercial property transaction process, get together the Legal Pack, and release you from the responsibilities associated.

You solicitors will obtain the title deeds and plan of your property from the Land Registry, to ascertain the legal title of it. They will also ask you provide the following documents:

• Commercial Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) – the buyer needs to see this as part of the sale.

• Lease Agreements – with any tenants you have, which provide lease terms and timescales.

• Planning Permissions, Property Use Class and any lawful use certificates – any planning permissions that have been approved in the past, current use and any past uses, if known.

• Details of business rates, stamp duty land tax and any other costs the buyer will be viable for.

• Property Information and Management Pack (if applicable) – it may be that your property is part of a larger property that needs to be taken into account.

• Insurance documents – to detail any special risks or other detail needed for the prospective buyer.

There may be other specific documents that your solicitor will ask from you, depending on the nature and complexity of your commercial property or its location e.g. if near a petrol station.

Tax implications of selling your commercial property

• When selling your commercial property premises, there may also be other tax implications for you to consider, to make sure you are complying with all applicable tax laws. These are:

• Capital Gains Tax (CGT) or Corporation Tax (if a Limited company) – this will depend on your existing income tax rate.

• Value Added Tax (VAT) – generally exempt when selling a property however, seek expert tax advice as to individual circumstances.

• Income Tax – income tax will have to be paid if you are profiting from the sale of the commercial property. It may not apply if you are also immediately purchasing another property but seek advice regardless.

Always seek tax advice from a qualified professional as to your individual circumstances.

Next steps

The commercial property auction selling process is simple and aims to be quicker and more-cost effective for commercial property owners. If you are looking at disposal of your commercial property and think auction may be the right route for you, then do give us a call on 0330 223 6118 or send us an enquiry.