UK estate agency Fine & Country has launched a dedicated auction division, Fine & Country Auctions, to offer vendors an alternative route to market. The new service, which will host regular auctions featuring properties marketed exclusively by Fine & Country licensees, aims to provide faster and more certain transactions. Fine & Country Auctions will operate using the traditional auction method, with contracts exchanged immediately when the hammer falls and buyers paying a 10% deposit alongside a buyer's premium. According to the company, this approach typically results in a fall-through rate of less than 1%. Ray Purchase, managing director of Fine & Country Auctions, stated that the service has been created to give Fine & Country network and their clients another powerful way to achieve a successful sale. The company said the standalone format is intended to give its listings greater visibility than multi-agency auction events.
The platform will operate monthly, with a dedicated auction on the last Thursday of each month. Sellers have the option to choose a 28-day completion or a 56-day completion, depending on their needs. Fine & Country said the auction service has been developed to work alongside its existing agency network rather than replace the traditional sales process. Vendors will continue to deal with their local Fine & Country agent, who remains responsible for marketing the property, arranging viewings and managing the client relationship. The specialist auction team will support agents throughout the transaction, providing auction pricing advice, preparing legal packs, marketing properties to auction buyers, managing the live auction process and progressing sales through to completion.