The Property Ombudsman doesn’t often make auction headlines. However, this year it did and it spared no-one’s feelings when doing so.
Its latest insight report found that property auctions account for an estimated 5% of home sales in the UK (although the true figure is difficult to confirm), yet auction sales generate more than four times their proportionate share of complaints. Auction-related cases made up 5% of everything TPO handled in 2025 and handled a jaw-dropping 9% of all residential sales complaints, from a segment of the market that most people rarely interact with or actively stay away from through fear of the unknown.
When we corroborate this with the Property Redress Scheme’s own case files, a consistent pattern emerges rather than a one-off spike in complaints. Where reservation fees paid directly to agents with no clear evidence the terms were properly explained. Where buyers left to prove after the fact that a fee should never have been retained. Two different bodies share the same story.
Regular readers will know my position on conditional auction sales, but for those that are new to my ramblings or those who are happy to hear me complain once more, then here goes. The headlines and, frankly, the report itself, generalises “property auctions” as a single category. They are not, and that conflation is doing real damage to a small but active part of this industry that doesn’t completely deserve to be taking the full force of these reports.
The numbers (ugly, ugly numbers)
◆ Auctions: are an estimated 5% of home sales (compared to 2% pre-covid) and are now generating more than four times their proportionate share of complaints.
◆ That’s 5% of all TPO complaints in 2025 and a ghastly 9% of residential sales complaints.
◆ With 300+ auction complaints resolved in 2025 alone.
◆ 68% of those complaints came from buyers, not sellers, which is bucking the usual pattern across the wider property market.
◆ TPO’s stated recurring causes, like inaccurate marketing information, incomplete legal packs, unexpected fees, unclear sales processes.
◆ Greater context is needed, but not to make excuses: The total TPO complaints rose 47% year-on-year and 77% since 2023. Auctions are standing out as underperformers in an already worsening market.
