Buying at auction in South Australia: the rules on the day and the week before

Auctions in South Australia run to a set of rules written into the Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994 (SA) and its 2025 Regulations. Some protect you as a bidder. One of them removes protection you would have on a private sale.

That one first. There is no cooling-off period when you buy at auction in South Australia, and none if the property passes in and you sign with the vendor later that same day after bidding. SA.GOV.AU puts it simply: auction sales are unconditional. Everything you would normally make the contract conditional on has to be dealt with before the auction starts.

Before the auction: what the agent must make available

The Form 1, for three business days

Section 11 of the Act requires the agent to make the vendor's statement, the Form 1, available for anyone to read:

• at the office of the agent or auctioneer for at least 3 consecutive business days immediately before the auction, and
• at the auction site for at least 30 minutes before the auction starts.

The agent must also take reasonable steps to tell prospective buyers when and where it can be inspected. Often it is simply emailed on request.

Read it, and have us read it. The Form 1 discloses mortgages, charges and encumbrances on the land, and a long list of particulars about planning, building approvals, environment protection and more. Our guide to the Form 1 vendor's statement explains what is in it. Anything you would ordinarily raise after signing, you need to raise before the auction.

The buyer's information notice

Section 13A requires a prescribed notice to be attached to the Form 1 when it is made available before an auction. SA.GOV.AU calls it the buyer's information notice (form R3). It sets out matters that might affect your enjoyment of the land, the safety of people on it, or its value, and suggests checks to make.

The advertised price

Section 24A controls how an agent can describe the likely selling price of residential land. A single figure must not be less than the higher of the agent's estimate and the vendor's price in the sales agency agreement. A range has to start at or above that figure, and the top of the range must not exceed 110 per cent of the bottom. An agent who breaks the rule cannot keep commission on the sale.

In practice this means the advertised price, or the bottom of the range, cannot sit below what the vendor has told the agent they want.

Getting ready yourself

SA.GOV.AU's advice is the right list:

1. Finance in place. A contract to buy at auction cannot be made subject to finance.
2. Inspections done. Building and pest reports finished before auction day, and the results understood.
3. The Form 1 and buyer's information notice read.
4. Know the auction conditions. Generally a 10 per cent deposit and a 30 day settlement, though some terms, such as the deposit or settlement date, can be negotiated through the agent before the auction.

Send us the Form 1 and the contract the agent will use as soon as you have them. If something in them needs a question answered, the time to ask the agent is before Saturday.

On the day

Register to bid

Section 24K says an auctioneer at an auction of residential land may only take a bid from someone registered in the bidders register who displays the unique number or identifier they were given. To register you give the agent your details and proof of identity. Each registered bidder must be given a written guide to buying at auction, in the form the Commissioner has approved.

If you want someone else to bid for you, they register with their own identification and a document signed by you authorising them to bid.

The standard conditions of auction

Schedule 6 of the Regulations sets out standard conditions that bind the vendor, the auctioneer and every bidder. Section 24J requires them to be available at the auction site for at least 30 minutes before it starts, and the auctioneer must announce that they apply. The ones that matter most:

• the vendor's reserve price is as recorded in the auction record
• the auctioneer may refuse a bid without giving a reason
• bidding increments are at the auctioneer's discretion
• the highest bid at or above the reserve accepted by the auctioneer wins
• no bid is accepted after the hammer falls
• unless the vendor and purchaser agreed otherwise in writing before the auction, the contract is signed and the deposit paid immediately after the hammer falls
• the auctioneer has irrevocable authority to sign the contract for the buyer or the vendor
• cooling-off rights do not apply to a sale by auction, or to a sale on auction day to someone who bid.

The reserve price

The reserve is the lowest price the vendor will accept. In South Australia it is not published. Section 24J(1)(ba) does limit it, though: the reserve must not, at any time before or during the auction, exceed 110 per cent of the selling price in the sales agency agreement. Combined with section 24A, that keeps the advertised price and the reserve within reach of each other.

Vendor bids: no more than three

Section 24N makes dummy bidding an offence. The vendor cannot bid, nobody can bid on the vendor's behalf, and the auctioneer cannot pretend to take a bid that was never made. The maximum penalty is $20,000.

Section 24O is the one exception. The auctioneer may make no more than 3 bids on the vendor's behalf at an auction of residential land, and only if:

• the auction conditions allow it
• the auctioneer announces, before bidding starts, that vendor bids may be made
• each one is announced as a "vendor bid" as it is made
• each one is below the reserve.

If the property passes in on a vendor bid, section 24P stops anyone marketing it at that figure without saying it was a vendor bid.

Collusion and disruption

Section 24L makes it an offence to agree with another buyer to hold back from bidding, or to bid only so far, including an arrangement that one person will buy and then hand the property to another at the auction price. Section 24M makes it an offence to stop a rival from bidding, or to disrupt the auction. Both carry penalties of up to $20,000.

If the property passes in

If bidding stops below the reserve, SA.GOV.AU says the vendor may decide not to sell, negotiate with any of the bidders, or put the property back on the open market.

If you negotiate and sign on auction day, having bid, you have no cooling-off period. Treat a post-auction contract that day exactly like an auction contract. If you sign on a later day, the ordinary two clear business day cooling-off period applies unless it has been validly waived. Our guide to the South Australian cooling-off period explains how that clock runs.

Offers before the auction

A vendor will sometimes accept an offer before auction day. Cooling off applies to that contract unless you waive it. To waive it, an independent legal practitioner must sign the prescribed certificate confirming they advised you about the consequences. A registered conveyancer cannot sign that certificate, so if a waiver is part of the deal you will need a lawyer for that step.

Expect the vendor to ask for a waiver. Without one, they would be taking the property off the market while you can still walk away for $100.

How this differs from Victoria

We are licensed in Victoria and registered in South Australia, and buyers moving between the two often assume the auction rules match. They do not.

Our guides to buying at auction in Victoria and the Victorian reserve price rules cover the other side of the border.

Questions we get asked

Can I make the auction contract subject to finance?

No. SA.GOV.AU says an auction contract cannot be made subject to finance. Get formal approval before you bid.

The agent says I can still cool off if I sign on Monday after it passes in. Is that right?

If you sign on a later day than the auction, cooling off generally applies unless you waive it. If you sign on the same day after bidding, it does not. Check the date before you sign.

I live interstate. Can someone bid for me?

Yes. Anyone you authorise can register and bid for you, provided they give the agent their own proof of identity and a document signed by you authorising them to bid. Make sure they know your limit, and that the contract will be signed on your behalf straight after the hammer falls.

Talk to us before auction day

We are registered in South Australia with Consumer and Business Services and act for buyers on South Australian purchases from our office in Cranbourne, Victoria. South Australian conveyancing runs electronically, so a registered conveyancer can act for you wherever the property is. We do not have an Adelaide office. We are open Monday to Friday, and on weekends by appointment.

Send us the Form 1 and contract early in the week. Ask us for a quote, or get in touch if you would rather talk it through first.

This article is general information about South Australian conveyancing and is not legal advice for your particular transaction. Speak to us about your specific circumstances.