Symonds & Sampson

Symonds & Sampson has been operating since 1858 and covers the English West Country from seventeen regional offices — Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Cornwall. It is an estate agency, a surveying practice and an auction house at once, and the auction side is where its rural and residential property comes to market when a private sale is not the right route.

What you can buy

• Residential property, including houses needing work.
• Land — agricultural, amenity and development.
• Commercial and rural property.
• Agricultural auctions — farm machinery and livestock equipment, run as their own events.
• Grass keep — seasonal grazing lettings sold by auction, a distinctively rural English category.

How the bidding works

Auctions are advertised with a legal pack and a guide price, in the standard British property auction pattern: you do your legal and survey work before the sale, and the contract is formed when the hammer falls. The firm's coverage across six counties means lots are spread over a wide area, so the office handling a given lot is the one to contact.

What to check before you bid

In a British property auction the legal pack is the whole of the disclosure and reading it is not optional — tenure, tenancies, covenants, rights of way and any planning history all live there, and you are bound the moment the hammer falls. Budget for the deposit on the day and completion within the stated period, usually twenty or twenty-eight days.