Auctions and Auction Houses

Getting into the Auction
Though the auction I attended at the auction hall of Naxos was a low-key affair, it gave me a sense of the dynamics of such an event. The bidders were overwhelmingly men, and while the ages were middle-age to retirees, there were a couple of guys in their twenties.

Bidding on the House
If you want to take part in a public property auction, finding information is quite straightforward. You only have to visit the official website for public auctions, where you can either choose to click on the ‘auctions calender’ under title ‘Public auctions’ in the ‘Main auctions’ section. Or on the left of the screen there is column in blue which has auction announcements at the top. Using either can help you find when, where, and what is up for grabs. Going through the upcoming events shows that most of the auctions will be for property – either blocks of land, apartments, or houses.

The term VĚCI NEMOVITÉ is an important one. It literally means immovable items and can refer to a block of land (pozemek), house (rodinný dům) or apartment (byt). The other term, VĚCI MOVITÉ, refers to personal property and includes machines, artwork, furniture and anything else which can be easily picked up and taken away.

Whether you find an auction by the auction listing or by the calendar, you will need to click on the Auction designation, which is a string of numbers. In the calendar section it is found under the title ‘Auction designation’. If you go through the ‘Auction announcement’, it is at the very top of each individual listing beside the word ‘auction’. Clicking on the designation will give you much more specific information about the what, when, where and how much it the starting bid as well as the minimum bid increment (the smallest amount by which a bid can be increased by a bidder). Some information may be missing, in which case you will see either nezadaný subjekt or nezadáno, meaning the information in question is unspecified.

An alternative list is available from The Czech Association of Auctioneers (Česká asociace dražebníků). The list shows you the time of the auction, the nature of the item on auction, the starting bid, where the auction is taking place, and the auctioneer who is conducting the auction all on one table. It also has the auction designation on the left of the page to access more information. One last source of property actions is visiting the websites of auctioneers. The drawback with this approach is the number of auctioneers. However, with patience you may find an auction not listed on the public lists. Furthermore, you will need to visit the auctioneer’s website anyway because the precise time is not listed on Centrální Adresa.

If you’re not in the market for real estate, you can also find auctions for other goods. Two sources of this information are the Customs Office (celní úřad), which are announced on their homepage under ‘POŘÁDANÉ DRAŽBY ‘.

Another possibility is the Chamber of Executors (Exekutorská komora). Despite the sinister name, the office is concerned with the sale of seized of goods. These goods are then sold at auction. To find one check this list.

Rules of Conduct
If you take part in a public auction, you should know a little about the expected behavior in advance. Any public auction is conducted in accordance with the Law on Public Auctions (in Czech).

Here are some of the key points covered in the law:
– The auction is in Czech, though you can bring a translator at your own expense. The translator has to be announced before the start of the auction.
– There is a registration fee of 100 CZK.
– Objects of cultural value, such as artifacts and art works, must have a certificate of permanent export.
– Auctioneers fees for sales up to 1 million is up to 10%. The fee is negotiated with the auctioneer and paid from the sale of the item.
– Participants in the auction must register 30 minutes before the start of the auction.
– The general public is admitted 10 minutes before the start of the auction.
– Payment depends on the final price. For items up to 200,000 CZK, payment is immediate. Over 500,000 CZK, the period is no less than 10 days.
– Written confirmation of sale is provided at the end.
– Each bid must be of at least the minimum bid amount, which is announced with the auction information (see the section above).
– The tax on real estate sold at auction is 3% of the final price. The tax is paid by the bidder.

The Art of the Auction
Because of the nature of the items of sale and the clientele involved, there will be some important differences between public auctions and art auctions. I contacted Jennifer Hejtmánková from Galerie Arcimboldo to get a better idea of what happens at these events.

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