1. What is a private bid?

Are you participating in an auction commissioned by a mortgage holder, a foreclosure auction under Article 3:268 of the Dutch Civil Code? Then you can submit a written bid 14 days before the ascending-bid auction. This is called a private bid.

Address this written bid to the notary handling the auction. Your private bid must be unconditional. This means you may not include reservations such as “on the condition that the bank is willing to provide financing” or “on the condition that I can sell my own property for at least price X”.

The mortgage holder or the owner of the executed collateral may enter into a purchase agreement with one of the bidders. That agreement is then submitted to the court for approval.

The auction is suspended if an agreement is submitted. If the court approves the purchase agreement, the purchase is concluded. In that case, we cancel the auction.

Good to know: you cannot place a private bid in an attachment auction or bankruptcy auction.