Looking to sell your property fast but not sure who to trust? Complete our contact form
Looking to sell your property fast but not sure who to trust? Complete our contact form
Critical Analysis:
When you’re selling your property, it’s of vital importance to know who you’re working with.
In here, you’ll find everything you need to know about Savills Auctions and whether you should trust them to sell your property quickly.
Want to hear why we recommend My Homebuyers above everyone else?
Auction houses such as Savills Auctions offer a quick and easy way to sell your property. This sits somewhere between selling at full price with an estate agent, which can take six months or more, and selling to a fast cash buyer, which will be quicker than an auction sale, but may get you a lower price.
Auctions will charge commission, plus you will also have to pay legal fees for the preparation of documents both prior to the listing and following the sale. There is no commission or legal fees to pay on a quick cash home sale.
Auctions can generate a higher selling price for your property if there is competitive interest, however there are no guarantees. You may not sell at all if there is no bid matching your reserve price and you may have to withdraw your property or postpone the sale. This can delay your sale until the next auction or beyond. A cash home buyer may not give you as much as you could get at an auction, but your sale will be swift and guaranteed.
Company
Established in
April 1987
Members of RICS
Not shown
Members of Propertymark
Yes
Trading standards approved?
Not shown
Members of TPO
Not shown
Registered with ICO
Yes
How often are auctions held
Monthly
Online auctions
Yes
Fees
2.5% + VAT (min £1250 + VAT) £500+ VAT upfront listing fee
Complaints procedure
Assumed
Customer service
4.5 / 5
Google rating
4.2 / 5 (1548 reviews)
Savills auctions is part of a FTSE 250 listed international property company with 40,000 employees and 700 offices worldwide. Savills Auctions are one of the largest in the UK and hold regular auctions at least once per month. Savills Auctions specialise in residential property, but also cover commercial property and land sales.
4.5 / 5
(source: Companies House)
Savills is a globally recognised brand in the real estate sector, advising major corporate clients as well as blue chip individuals. They also have a High Street presence in the UK as estate agents, property managers and auctioneers.
Savills Auctions hold regular property auctions, mostly using the traditional auction method. Most of these are held online, with buyers not able to attend in person. Bids can also be made by proxy or by telephone on the day.
According to their own figures presented on their website, Savills have an impressive success rate of around 79%, although it should be noted that these figures are not independently verified. Their charges are standard and reasonable.
Savills experience and expertise are undeniable, as one of the biggest players in the real estate sector, not just in the UK but worldwide. However, their sheer size may put some sellers off, as they are concerned that Savills may be simply too big to show the required attention to individual sellers and properties, especially at the lower end of the market.
As a national auction house, Savills Auctions gives sellers access to a wide selection of buyers covering the whole of England and Wales. Once again, some buyers may prefer the local knowledge and understanding of a smaller regional company.
Savills Auctions will advertise properties for auction both locally and nationally, with prestigious publications such as the London Evening Standard used for higher priced properties. Auction properties are also listed with Rightmove and Zoopla to increase awareness and exposure.
The Savills Auctions website does not show the logo for Propertymark or any of the organisations, however searching on the Propertymark database shows Savills are members of ARLA and NAEA, two of the associations that make up the Propertymark brand.
By using a Propertymark Protected member you are guaranteed to be consulting with a professional who will give you up-to-date advice and guidance. Propertymark regulates members’ activity according to a code of conduct and rules, with disciplinary action for instances of non-compliance.
Propertymark members adopt RICS’ Common Auctions Conditions for auctions of real estate in England and Wales. These are designed to set a consistent practice for auctions across the industry.
Once again, there is no specific reference to this on their website, but it is assumed that a company the size of Savills would be a member of the Property Ombudsman and as such would be obliged to work to a strict code of practice. TPO is a government-approved trade body that protects property sellers.
Membership of TPO means that customers have an additional method of resolving complaints and grievances that cannot be resolved between the existing parties. TPO offers independent adjudication on disputes via a complaints enquiry telephone number 01722 333306 or by completing a form online on the TOP website.
Yes, Savills Auctions are regulated by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
Under RICS rules, auctioneers selling real estate (incorporating Common Auction Conditions) must ensure that clients are provided with terms of engagement that are fair and clear. These should meet all legal requirements and relevant codes of practice including reference to complaints-handling procedures and, where it exists, an appropriate redress scheme.
They must also do the utmost to avoid conflicts of interest and, where they do arise, to deal with them openly, fairly and promptly.
Savills has been registered with the Information Commissioners’ Office since 2002.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent regulatory body set up to uphold information rights. The ICO also governs all forms of data collection and advertising intelligence. The ICO has a Free Online Checker where you can verify whether a company is registered with them or not.
The Savills Auctions website lists comprehensive privacy and cookie policies. These suggest that the company is GDPR compliant and will collect, store and use your data in accordance with established codes of practice.
It is worth noting that as an international company, your data may be transferred outside of the UK and Europe, to countries which do not have the same levels of protection. In this case, Savills state that ‘appropriate safeguards will be put in place’. However, this protection is not mandatory as it is in the UK and Europe.
As stated in the cookie policy, any data or personal details that you provide may result in marketing or sales emails from either Savills or their partner companies. For this reason, you should always be very careful about what information your disclose and what cookie policies you agree to. You should always have a choice, and you should read any cookie / data use agreements carefully rather than just blindly clicking your consent.
Savills have been trading for more than 35 years and the brand has built a global reputation, so it’s safe to say that they’re well established in the real estate sector. For a company to grow so large in just a few decades is a great tribute to the way in which they conduct themselves.
We use the ‘over/under 5 years trading time’ as a rule of thumb to gauge whether a company is an established entity with a lot of experience under their belt, or just a newly founded business that may not have the expertise or reputation you can rely on. Savills have far exceeded this benchmark and are one of the largest real estate companies in the world.
Savills Auctions hold property sales online at least once per month. They held eight auctions in the first six months of 2024. Auctions are predominantly held online, with bidders able to take part online or by telephone, or by placing a proxy bid with the auctioneer. You are not able to attend most auctions in person.
To place a bid, you need to have registered in advance and provide compulsory information such as proof of identity and your source of funds, in order to comply with money laundering regulations.
While auctions are held online, they are still traditional auctions, with bidders placing bids competitively at the time until the virtual hammer comes down.
Savills Auctions do not list their charges online, however our sources state that they charge a seller’s fee of 2.5% + VAT. This is standard in the auction sector. Sellers also have to pay a non-refundable deposit of £500+VAT upfront to enter an auction, and this will not be returned if the property is withdrawn or goes unsold. This is also a standard fee in the auction sector.
Naturally, the fees will vary depending on a number of factors, including the type of property, the property value etc. Prospective sellers are advised to contact the auction house directly for an up to date quote on your property or properties.
According to their own sales figures, Savills Auctions have a very successful track record when it comes to auction sales. In the first six months of 2024, they held eight auctions, totalling 1967 properties. On average, 79% of these properties were sold at auction.
If your property is sold at auction, then the deal is done and there is no risk of the sale falling through, as there is with a sale through an estate agent. As soon as the hammer falls the sale is binding and contracts are exchanged. The buyer must pay a 10% deposit there and then, and they must complete the sale within 28 days.
This process provides you with a very fast and certain sale, which will not be affected by surveys, cold feet or the countless other issues that mean as many as one in three sales fail. However, the tight, four-week completion timescale may not leave enough time for potential buyers to arrange a mortgage, and so this will limit potential buyers to developers, investors and cash buyers.
Not all properties sell, even with the best auctioneers. Savills’s high success rate still leaves one in five homes unsold. If this happens to you, then you will have to wait for the next auction, which could be several weeks away.
We didn’t find anything that raises suspicion during our thorough research of Savills. Our investigators sifted through all of the data and legal records of Savills and everything was clean.
However, we’ll redact this paragraph at the first glimpse of dodgy practices.
We never stop researching and our unbending commitment to excellence doesn’t waver. This paragraph is only valid up until the ‘Last Updated’ date of this review, which can be found at the top of this page.
As far as we are aware, Savills haven’t received any additional awards or prizes.
There’s nothing more we could add.
To assess the overall user experience (UX) of auctions.savills.co.uk we first analysed their website for ease of use and intuitiveness.
The Savills Auctions website is simple and straightforward and includes buyers’ guides, sellers’ guides and a guide to how auction bidding works. These are welcome additions for first-time auction users.
The website features dates and listings for their upcoming auctions for the next six months. It also includes ten pages of previous auctions. This not only shows you their success rate, but also gives you an idea of the prices properties have sold for.
We calculated their First Response Time (FTR) by messaging them at approximately 11 AM on a non-holiday weekday (on a Tuesday to be exact) and used a stopwatch to estimate how long it took them to respond.
Savills Auctions responded in 42 seconds.
Which is much faster than the industry average. And a fast FRT is something we consider highly important, especially in this sector.
A faster response time suggests that the auction house is better equipped to deal with customer queries.
And if they’re better equipped to deal with customer queries, then it means they’re investing their resources where it matters the most.
We also asked if they offer some sort of ‘Client Satisfaction Guarantee’, and if yes, what would that guarantee consist of.
Savills Auctions don’t offer a Client Satisfaction Guarantee but are one of the largest and most respected real estate companies in the world, so they must be getting something right!
Most reputable companies will have a formal complaints procedure on their website, where clients can express any disagreements, issues or just plain dissatisfaction with the overall service.
By having such a procedure in place, the company shows that they are willing to listen and if possible, rectify any problems that may arise.
Savills Auctions does not have a published complaints procedure on their website. It is also not clear whether they are members of the Property Ombudsman service to independently mitigate any disagreements.
This does not mean that they don’t have a complaints procedure. They may well have one, but potential customers will need to ask for a copy of this as it is not available online.
A legitimate auction house that does what it promises shouldn’t have a problem letting you speak to their past customers.
Of course they need to have the permission of the individual involved and provide some kind of proof that it is a genuine past client of theirs.
We strongly encourage all our readers to ask to speak to a past client.
In this section, we’ll discuss what the public thinks of Savills and what online reviews the company has received.
Keep in mind that online reviews can be easily faked. The company in charge might hire fake review writers to write positive reviews. Or on the other hand, their competitors might hire fake review writers to write negative reviews and tarnish the said company’s reputation.
Also, social media followers can be artificially inflated.
That’s why we deem this section as purely anecdotal.
It is not possible to distinguish the reviews of the different sectors of Savills business to isolate the auctions team. Savills reviews on Trustpilot are 76% five-star, however there are also 20% one-star reviews. These reviews cover all areas of the Savills business and include disgruntled tenants and landlords as well as property sellers using their auction services.
Savills also has its own dedicated YouTube channel with lots of handy videos explaining the property sector and how best to sell your house.
We didn’t find anything suspicious with Savills’ social media or online presence, nor with their customer reviews.
We also didn’t find anything suspicious with their domain rating and backlink profile nor their unique monthly search traffic.
We didn’t find anything suspicious with Savills Auctions’ social media or online presence, nor with their customer reviews.
We also didn’t find anything suspicious with their domain rating and backlink profile nor their unique monthly search traffic.
Savills Auctions is part of a global property group. The auctions part of the business is based in London and holds regular online auctions. You cannot attend these auctions in person, but bids can be placed online, by phone or by proxy.
They are one of the largest auction houses in the UK, giving customers national reach. However, this may lead to a lack of the local touch and the advantages of local knowledge and understanding. They do advertise all properties on the most popular portals to increase exposure.
They hold traditional auctions at least once a month, with eight in the first six months of 2024. Using their own figures, these auctions have a high success rate of 79% on average, which is excellent for the sector in England and Wales.
Savills Auctions do not state that they are members of any of the five founder organisations of Propertymark, nor do they state that they are members of the Property Ombudsman. That said, it is reasonable to assume that this is the case with such a world-renowned brand. They are registered with the ICO. They do not have a published complaints procedure, although once again, this can be assumed with a company at this level.
On balance, Savills Auctions offer the reassurance of a household name, with a high success rate, although they may not provide the kind of personal, local service some sellers would prefer.
We will be continuously updating this review as we do with all of our other content. If Savills decide to alter, amend or modify something, then we’ll make sure to adjust our critique and score accordingly.
We’ve independently investigated all the UK’s top fast home buyers with our cast-iron 18 point checklist.
And by using the free Safe Connect™ programme we’ll introduce you to our most recommended & strictly vetted home buyer.
The Safe Connect™ programme was created to ensure you not only get the best possible, genuine cash offer, but also to protect you in this unregulated market.
If you click the orange button below, we’ll automatically Safe Connect you to the best property buyer in the UK – as vetted by our team of investigators. And most importantly, you’ll see exactly why we objectively classified them as the best property buyer in the UK.
If you use the Safe Connect™ programme to connect with a cash home buyer, we’ll personally hold them accountable. We’ll ensure they go the extra mile and treat you like a VIP.
The Safe Connect™ programme is a free service. There are no additional fees or costs on your end.
Safe Connect™ ensures there will be no last-minute price drops and no nasty surprises. It’s quick, easy and it eliminates all headaches.
Our strictly vetted partner will know that you’re coming through Property Sale Watchdog and they won’t dare to mess you around.
Savills Auctions is just one of the many fast home-buying companies in the UK.
In order to make sure you choose the right one, it’s best if you compare them all.
Look at their strengths & weaknesses, their pros & cons and make an informed decision.
It’s essential to know you’re in safe hands, that’s why we’re here to help.
Use our company comparison table to find a reliable and trustworthy service, and decide whether expediting the sale of your property is the right thing for you.
This review is being constantly screened by our investigator team and will be corrected in line with the emergence of new evidence.
If a company contacts us with a genuine and verifiable piece of information which supports their cause, then we’ll immediately redact the review and point to the new information.
On the other hand, if we discover that a company which we’ve previously praised for a certain industry trait, starts to dabble in dodgy practices, we’ll also redact the review immediately.
We’ll point to our new findings and we’ll adjust the table metrics and scores accordingly.
For this reason, make sure to take notice of the ‘last updated’ date at the top of this page.
More To Explore
The Complete Guide:
What is a Memorandum of Sale And How to Use it
Read More >>
The Bulletproof Guide:
How to Sell Your House Fast and What's the Catch
Read More >>
