Selling a Property at Auction: The Barry Plant Method

A legally mandated document you must provide to buyers before they can bid. It covers critical legal details like zoning, covenants, land titles, and rates.

If the highest bid fails to hit your reserve price, the property is "passed in." The highest bidder then wins the exclusive right to sit down and negotiate with you first.

The moment bidding hits or exceeds your reserve price. The auctioneer will announce this publicly, meaning the property must be sold to the highest bidder that day.

Weekends and public holidays do not count. This is crucial for calculating your cooling-off exceptions (e.g., the 3-day rule before and after the auction).

An auction contract has zero safety nets for the buyer. They cannot pull out if their finance falls through or if a building report comes back poor.

• The Nuance: If you reject a written offer during the campaign because it's too low, your agent must immediately update the advertised price guide to reflect that.
  
• The Penalty: Agents caught underquoting face severe fines of over $48,000 and risk forfeiting their entire sales commission.
  

The 2026 Reserve Reform Rule: Victoria mandates that agents publish the vendor's exact reserve price a full 7 days before the auction. Failure to do so means the property cannot legally proceed to auction.

A dummy bid is a fake bid planted to falsely inflate the price or momentum of the auction. It is strictly illegal for family members, friends, or the agent to bid from the crowd to help you out.

• The Exception: The only legal bid made on your behalf is a Vendor Bid, which can exclusively be executed by the licensed auctioneer and must be loudly declared as a "Vendor Bid" before the amount is named.

A vendor bid is a strategic bid made by the auctioneer on your behalf to help stimulate bidding if the crowd is quiet or hasn't reached your baseline. In Victoria, there is no strict legal limit on the number of vendor bids an auctioneer can make, but they can only be made by the auctioneer and the auctioneer must clearly announce them as a "vendor bid" before taking them. Dummy bidding (anyone else bidding on your behalf) is strictly illegal and carries heavy fines.

Can a property be sold before the auction date? Yes, it can. If a buyer makes an enticing pre-auction offer, you can choose to sell early. However, to protect yourself, ensure your agent communicates this to other interested parties to spark a mini-competition. Keep in mind: if you sign a contract 3 clear business days or more before the auction, the buyer will retain their standard 3-day cooling-off period. If it's within that 3-day window, the cooling-off period is waived.

You do not need to lock in your reserve price weeks in advance. In Victoria, sellers usually formalise their reserve price in writing with their agent and auctioneer on the morning of the auction, or the night before, based on the final feedback from the open-for-inspection campaign.

If the highest bid falls short of your reserve, the property will be "passed in". Under Victorian law, the highest bidder at the time the property is passed in gains the exclusive first right to negotiate a price with you. If you cannot come to an agreement, your agent can then open up negotiations with other interested bidders or transition the property into a private treaty sale.

An auction sale in Victoria is entirely unconditional. The successful bidder must immediately sign the Contract of Sale and pay the deposit (typically 10% unless an alternative amount was explicitly agreed upon before the auction started). They cannot pull out due to standard clauses like "subject to finance" or "subject to a building inspection".

While a 10% deposit is standard practice, it is not a legal requirement. If a buyer approaches your agent before the auction asking to pay a smaller deposit (e.g., 5%) or wishes to use a deposit bond, they must get your written approval before the bidding starts. If they win without prior arrangement and cannot pay, they are technically in breach of contract.

No. In Victoria, buying a residential property at a publicly advertised auction is completely unconditional. The successful bidder has zero cooling-off rights, meaning they cannot legally change their mind or back out of the contract without severe financial and legal penalties.

Sellers should be aware that this rule extends far beyond just the few minutes the auctioneer is standing on the front lawn. Under the Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic), the cooling-off period is completely waived for any contract signed within 3 clear business days before or 3 clear business days after a scheduled public auction.

This protection applies to you even if:

• A buyer makes a compelling offer a few days early to stop the auction from going ahead.
• The property is "passed in" on the day, and you negotiate a private sale with the highest bidder immediately afterward.
• The auction is officially cancelled, but the contract is still signed within that 3-day window.

What this means for you: If a contract is signed within this designated auction window, the sale is immediate and locked in. The buyer must pay their deposit on the spot, and the deal cannot be made subject to last-minute building inspections or finance approvals.