Terms of Service

Truelot (“Truelot”, “we”, “us”) operates truelot.co.uk, a website and associated services (the “Platform”) for listing, bidding on, and buying UK residential property by timed online auction. By creating an account or using the Platform, you agree to these Terms of Service (the “Terms”). If you do not agree to them, do not use the Platform.

Truelot is a technology platform only. We provide the software that lets sellers and agents list property, lets buyers bid on it, and lets both sides exchange contact details and documents with their solicitors once a sale completes. We are not:

• an estate agent, auctioneer, or property valuer;
• a solicitor, conveyancer, or provider of legal advice of any kind;
• a financial adviser, mortgage broker, or provider of financial advice;
• a holder of client money. Payments are processed by Stripe (see Section 8); we never hold funds on behalf of a buyer or seller; and
• a verifier of listing details or legal pack documents. Everything a seller or agent uploads is taken at face value.

You should get independent legal, financial, and professional advice before bidding on, selling, or exchanging contracts on any property listed through the Platform.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering a binding contract in England and Wales to use the Platform. When you register, you must provide accurate information and keep it up to date. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for all activity on your account. We strongly recommend enabling two-factor authentication, which is available free of charge from your account security settings. Tell us immediately at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorised access to your account.

Sellers and agents are solely responsible for the accuracy and completeness of everything they submit: the listing details, the material information fields (tenure, council tax band, ground rent, service charge, and so on), and every document uploaded to the 8-point legal pack. Truelot does not check, verify, or certify any of it. By listing a property, you confirm that you have the right to sell it (or are authorised to list it on the owner’s behalf) and that the information you provide is accurate to the best of your knowledge. This responsibility includes compliance with the material information requirements set out by National Trading Standards, and, where a seller lists through an agent, the obligations placed on that agent by the Estate Agents Act 1979 and its associated regulations.

A listing cannot go live until every required legal pack document has been uploaded. This is a completeness check only, not a review of content or authenticity.

Placing a bid is a commitment to buy the property at that price if you are the winning bidder when the auction closes, subject to the seller’s reserve price being met. Bids cannot be withdrawn once placed, except where required by law. A bid placed in the closing minutes of an auction may extend the auction end time to prevent last-second sniping; the extended time is shown to all bidders.

If the reserve price is not met, the listing closes unsold and no sale takes place. If it is met, the winning bidder is expected to proceed to exchange and completion in the usual way through their own solicitor, and is liable for the flat buyer fee described in Section 6.

Fees are shown in GBP and are payable through Stripe. Current fees are:

• a monthly subscription for sellers and agents, at the rate shown on our pricing page for the plan you choose;
• a flat buyer fee of £1,000.00, payable by the winning bidder once an auction closes successfully. This is not a percentage of the sale price;
• an optional one-time pay-per-ad fee of £20.00 per additional listing slot, for agents who reach their plan’s listing limit; and
• a termination fee of £200.00, payable only if you cancel your subscription while one or more of your listings has an active bid. £100.00 of this is earmarked to compensate the affected bidder or bidders; the remainder is retained by Truelot. Cancelling with no active bids on any listing is free. See Section 7 for the bereavement exception to this fee.

You can cancel your subscription at any time from your dashboard. If none of your listings have active bids, cancellation is immediate and free, and those listings are archived. If any listing has active bids, the termination fee in Section 6 is payable before cancellation completes, so that the listing can still run to completion for the bidders involved. This fee reflects the cost of unwinding a live auction and compensating the bidders affected by its early closure; it is not a penalty for cancelling in the ordinary course.

If the account holder has died, we do not require the termination fee. A family member, executor, or other representative should email [email protected] with evidence of death, such as a death certificate or grant of probate, so that our team can review the account manually, cancel the subscription, and waive any fee. This process is manual and cannot be completed automatically through the Platform.

All payments on the Platform are processed by Stripe, a third-party payment processor. We do not see or store your full card details. Your use of Stripe’s payment services is also subject to Stripe’s own terms and privacy policy. We are not responsible for the acts or omissions of Stripe or any other third-party payment provider.

Once a sale completes and the buyer fee is paid, we compile the uploaded legal pack documents and party contact details into a bundle and make it available to the buyer, seller, and their solicitors. This bundle is provided as a convenience only. We do not check, verify, or take responsibility for the contents. Solicitors and both parties should carry out their own review, searches, and enquiries before relying on anything in it.

You must not use the Platform to:

• list a property you do not own or are not authorised to sell;
• upload false, misleading, or fraudulent documents to a legal pack;
• place bids you do not intend to honour, or manipulate bidding through multiple accounts;
• attempt to circumvent any fee described in Section 6; or
• interfere with the operation or security of the Platform.

We may suspend or terminate any account that breaches this section, at our discretion.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded. Subject to that, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, Truelot accepts no liability, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, for:

• any inaccuracy, omission, or defect in a listing, its material information, or its legal pack, however caused;
• a failed, delayed, or disputed property transaction between a buyer and a seller;
• the acts, omissions, or service failures of any third party, including Stripe, solicitors, and email or SMS providers; or
• any indirect or consequential loss, including loss of profit, loss of a bargain, or loss of opportunity.

Our total liability to you for any claim arising from your use of the Platform is limited to the fees you have paid to us in the twelve months before the claim arose.

You agree to reimburse us for any losses, costs, or claims we incur as a result of your breach of these Terms, or of any information or document you submit to the Platform being inaccurate, misleading, or unlawful.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change, we will let registered users know by email or by a notice on the Platform before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Platform after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them or from your use of the Platform.

Questions about these Terms can be sent to [email protected].