Guide for New Users

When someone stops paying — a mortgage, a tax bill, a court judgment — the property can be taken and sold without the owner agreeing to it. Every country allows this, and every country does it differently.

Broadly there are three routes. A court orders the sale as part of enforcing a debt. A tax authority sells to recover unpaid property taxes. A lender sells under the security it holds. Which route applies, who is allowed to bid, what deposit is required and what happens to any surplus all change from country to country — and sometimes within one country.

Two things. The Auction Tracker collects live listings from the official sources that publish them, so you can filter across countries in one place. The country guides explain the procedure behind those listings, written from the statutes and court rules themselves.

It does not run auctions, take bids, or act as an agent. Every listing links back to the source that published it, and that source is the thing you act on.

Check what the amount actually is. Different systems publish different figures — an opening bid, a minimum next bid, an appraised value, or nothing at all. We label which one we are showing. A small number often means the sale is structured in stages, not that the property is cheap.

Check the currency. Where a country runs more than one exchange rate, we convert using a named rate and say which one. The unconverted figure is what the authority published.

Check the coverage label. Every country carries one — Indexed, Partial, No source found, or Not researched. It describes our data, not the country. Under Partial, a count is a floor. It is on the home page in full.

Read the official notice before bidding. Deadlines, deposits, viewing arrangements and who may bid are set by the notice, not by us. In some countries only a lawyer may place the bid at all.

Browse the Auction Tracker for current listings, or read a country guide for the procedure behind them: Argentina and France. The FAQ covers the questions that come up most.