# Two hands, one hammer: disputed bids at a Queensland property auction
Two bidders claim the last bid, a bid is missed, or the hammer falls too soon. What Queensland conditions of sale and the law let the auctioneer do, and where a complaint goes.
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Most auctions end without argument. A number is called three times, the hammer falls, and one person walks to the contract table. Now and then it goes differently. Two paddles go up together and both bidders believe the last call was theirs. A bidder at the back says a bid was made and never taken. Someone calls a figure, hears it repeated and wants it back. Or the hammer comes down a moment before a hand that was plainly rising.
What happens next is not improvised. It is written down in three places: the conditions of sale that every bidder is taken to have read, the general law on when an auction sale is made, and the rules that govern what a licensed auctioneer must record. This guide goes through each kind of dispute in turn, using the wording of the conditions used in Queensland, the Property Occupations Regulation 2014, the Sale of Goods Act 1896, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland's Best Practice Guidelines and the Office of Fair Trading's published complaint process. It describes the general position. A particular dispute turns on the conditions used that day and on what was actually said and done.
3final announcements advised before a sale is declared
5 yearsminimum time the bidders register is kept
1 yearto lodge a claim fund claim after noticing a loss
REIQ Best Practice Guidelines, chapter 3; Property Occupations Regulation 2014; Office of Fair Trading claim fund guidance.
## The conditions of sale decide most disputes
The auctioneer's power over a disputed bid comes first from a contract, not from an Act. Before the first bid, the conditions of sale are put on display. The REIQ's Bidder's Guide, handed out with many auction packs, tells bidders that the conditions are displayed before the auction and that some auctioneers also read them aloud at the start. The REIQ's Best Practice Guidelines ask member auctioneers to have the conditions available for prospective buyers to inspect before the auction, and to follow the REIQ Conditions of Sale by Public Auction. They also describe a bidder registering by handing over a signed registration form together with signed conditions of sale. A bidder who registers on those terms has agreed, before raising a paddle, to the rules under which any argument will be settled.
Three clauses of the REIQ form do nearly all the work in a dispute. The first gives the auctioneer discretion to refuse a bid from any bidder, and says a bid is accepted and irrevocable unless the auctioneer refuses it. The second says that if there is a dispute over a bid or over the result, the auctioneer may reopen the bidding or resolve the dispute in any other way the auctioneer considers appropriate. The third is a single sentence: "The decision of the Auctioneer is final in all matters relating to the auction."
Not every auction in Queensland runs on the REIQ form. The Public Trustee publishes its own conditions for the properties it sells, and councils selling land for unpaid rates write theirs. The wording differs, but the structure is the same, as the comparison shows.
Three sets of Queensland auction conditions on disputesAs published by each body
Point
REIQ form
Public Trustee
A regional council
Refusing a bid
Any bid, at the auctioneer's discretion; all bidders are told.
The auctioneer may refuse any bid.
Any bid judged not in the seller's best interests.
Taking a bid back
A bid is irrevocable unless refused.
No bid may be retracted.
Not without the auctioneer's consent.
A disputed bid
Reopen the bidding, or resolve it another way.
Decided at the auctioneer's absolute discretion; may reopen.
The auctioneer is the sole arbitrator.
Deposit on the fall of the hammer
10% unless the contract says otherwise.
5%, or less if approved.
10%, paid immediately.
REIQ Conditions of Sale, Public Auction; Public Trustee of Queensland real property auction conditions; Rockhampton Regional Council conditions of sale by public auction, July 2024.
The conditions on the board are the ones that count on the day.
## When the sale is made
Every dispute comes back to one question: had the sale already been made? If it had, the argument is about a contract. If it had not, the auction is still running and the auctioneer is still in charge of it.
The classic statement of the rule in Queensland law is in the Sale of Goods Act 1896. Section 59 says a sale by auction is complete when the auctioneer announces its completion, customarily by the fall of the hammer, and that until that announcement any bidder may retract a bid. That Act applies to goods, which it defines as chattels personal, so it does not in terms govern a house and land. The same idea reaches land through the general law of contract, where it is far older than any Queensland statute: in the English case of Payne v Cave, decided in 1789, a bid was treated as an offer that could be withdrawn until the hammer accepted it.
The Property Occupations Act 2014 and its regulation, which license auctioneers and set their duties, are about who may conduct an auction and what must be recorded. They do not contain a separate code for resolving a disputed bid. Lawyers writing for the REIQ in March 2026 summed up the position for real property in one line: at the fall of the hammer, a binding contract is formed. The REIQ conditions say it in their own words, stating that the property is sold on the fall of the hammer and that the highest accepted bidder must then sign the contract as buyer and pay the deposit.
Before the hammer, then, a bid is only an offer, and the auctioneer is free under the conditions to refuse it, to clarify it or to go back to an earlier one. After the hammer, anything that reopens the bidding is being done to a concluded bargain. That is why the conditions speak of a dispute over the result as well as a dispute over a bid.
## Two bidders claim the final bid
The commonest dispute is the simultaneous bid. Two registered bidders each believe they made the call at, say, $900,000, an illustrative figure. Only one of them can be the buyer at that price.
The REIQ guidelines deal with the moment before it becomes a dispute. Where there is any doubt about whether a bidder has bid, or about the amount, the auctioneer should clarify it with that bidder immediately. Registration helps here: under the Property Occupations Regulation 2014 each registered bidder is given an identifier that must be easy to use when bidding and easy for the auctioneer to recognise, so the auctioneer can attribute a bid to a number in front of everyone.
If the doubt is not cleared up and a real dispute arises, the conditions give two routes. Under the REIQ form the auctioneer may reopen the bidding or resolve the matter in another appropriate way. The Bidder's Guide and the Best Practice Guidelines describe the usual method: the auctioneer may resubmit the property for auction, and if the dispute arose before the reserve was reached, may resubmit it with a bid made on the seller's behalf. The Public Trustee's conditions are more specific about the restart point. They allow bidding to be reopened at the highest previously accepted bid, or at another bid the auctioneer determines.
Reopening does not require the auctioneer to prefer one person's account: both bidders are invited to go again. Neither bidder has a right under the conditions to insist on a different method. The Public Trustee's conditions add a line that explains why: bidders are responsible for the recognition of their bids.
## A bid the auctioneer did not take
A missed bid is a different complaint. The bidder does not say someone else's bid was theirs. They say they bid and the auctioneer went on without them.
The published material puts part of the responsibility on the bidder. The Bidder's Guide tells bidders to stand where the auctioneer can see them, hold up the bidder number and call the bid clearly, and to speak up at once if the auctioneer calls or hears the bid wrongly.
A bid can also go untaken for a lawful reason. Under the regulation, only bids from registered bidders may be accepted, and bidders must be told so. An auctioneer is not permitted to accept a bid above the reserve from the seller or the seller's agent. The REIQ guidelines add that a bid reasonably suspected of being a dummy bid should be rejected. Beyond those cases the conditions give a general discretion to refuse. What the REIQ form and the guidelines require in return is openness: if a bid is refused, the auctioneer must tell all the bidders.
A bid below the increment the auctioneer has asked for is the everyday example. The guidelines say the auctioneer must clearly announce the amount by which a bid may be increased. The Bidder's Guide lets a bidder either call an exact amount or take the increment suggested. The Public Trustee's conditions are stricter: no bidder may advance by less than the sum the auctioneer names. Under either form, an auctioneer who declines a smaller rise is using a power the conditions give, not ignoring a bid.
If a bid was missed and the bidder says so before the hammer, the auctioneer can acknowledge it and continue the call. The harder case is the bid that surfaces after the hammer.
## Taking a bid back
Under the general rule a bidder can withdraw a bid at any time before the hammer. The conditions used in Queensland are written to close that door. The REIQ form makes a bid accepted and irrevocable unless the auctioneer refuses it. The Public Trustee's conditions say it in one sentence: "No bid may be retracted and the auctioneer may refuse any bid." The council conditions in the table allow withdrawal only with the auctioneer's consent.
Worth knowing
A bid made under the standard conditions is not easily undone
The old rule lets a bidder retract before the hammer. The conditions displayed at most Queensland property auctions say the opposite, and a registered bidder is taken to have agreed to them. Whether the condition would hold against a particular bidder is a question for a court, not for the rostrum.
An auctioneer faced with a bidder who says a bid was a mistake can treat it as a matter of clarification, which the guidelines encourage, or can refuse the bid and announce the refusal, which the conditions allow. What the bidder cannot do under the REIQ form is insist.
The conditions add a further promise that sits behind every bid. Under the REIQ form a bidder warrants an ability to enter into and complete the contract, and a person who bids for someone else without handing over a written authority beforehand is treated as bidding for themselves. A bidder cannot therefore step away from the last bid by saying afterwards that it was made for another person. The lawyers writing for the REIQ in March 2026 note that such a claim made after the hammer does not of itself undo the sale.
## When the hammer falls in error
The fall of the hammer is meant to be hard to get wrong. The Best Practice Guidelines ask that once the highest bid is above the reserve and no further bid is coming, the auctioneer make at least three final announcements, each clearly distinguished from the last, before announcing the sale to that bidder.
Even so, a hammer can fall while a paddle is in the air, or on a bid the auctioneer has attributed to the wrong number. The conditions do not use the word error. They speak of a dispute over the result, and they give the same two answers as for a disputed bid: reopen, or resolve it in another appropriate way. Under the REIQ form the auctioneer's decision on the point is final.
Timing matters. An objection raised at once, while every bidder is still present and nobody has signed, can be met by reopening the bidding in front of the same crowd. Once the contract has been signed and the crowd has gone, there is no auction left to reopen, and what remains is a question about a contract. The auctioneer's own authority points the same way. The REIQ conditions make the auctioneer the agent of both buyer and seller to sign the contract, irrevocably, but the REIQ's March 2026 article explains that this authority lasts only as long as it is reasonably connected with completing the sale.
The bidder who wins and then will not sign or pay is a separate case. Under the REIQ form, if the deposit is not paid the seller may treat the result as invalid and resubmit the property at that buyer's risk and expense, or hold the buyer to the contract. The Public Trustee's conditions let the auctioneer sign for a buyer who does not.
How REIQ guidance sequences a doubtful bid
Clarify at onceAny doubt about who bid, or how much, is settled with that bidder immediately.
Refuse or resubmit openlyA refused bid is announced to all bidders. A real dispute may see the property resubmitted.
Call it three timesAt least three distinct final announcements come before the sale is declared.
## How final is the auctioneer's decision
The finality clause is broad, and at the auction it means what it says. No bidder can appeal to the agent, the seller or the crowd.
Finality has limits that come from outside the conditions. A clause cannot authorise what the law forbids. The auctioneer cannot settle a dispute by taking a bid from an unregistered person, because the regulation bars it. Nor can a dispute be resolved with a seller's bid above the reserve, or with a seller's bid that is not announced: the regulation requires the auctioneer to tell the other bidders when the seller or the seller's agent bids. That is why the REIQ guidance confines resubmission with a seller's bid to disputes that arise before the reserve is reached.
The clause also governs the auction, not the auctioneer's licence. An auctioneer's conduct can be examined by the regulator whatever the conditions say. The REIQ article makes the point about registration: a bid accepted in breach of the registration rules can still bind buyer and seller, and the auctioneer can still face regulatory action for the breach. The two questions, whether there is a contract and whether the auctioneer complied, are answered separately.
> The conditions make the auctioneer the judge of the auction. They do not make the auctioneer the judge of whether the auction was lawfully run.
## What the register and the records can prove
The bidders register is a record of who was entitled to bid. Under the regulation the auctioneer registers a person on being given a name and address and shown proof of identity, records the details of anyone a telephone bidder is acting for, and issues the identifier. The register must be kept for at least five years after its last entry. It can show that a person was registered, under which number, and in whose name. It is not a log of bids.
Access to it is narrow. The regulation says an auctioneer must not disclose a registered bidder's identity to anyone except an inspector or a court, with an allowance for telling the seller or the seller's agent where that is needed to negotiate after a property is passed in or otherwise to facilitate the sale.
The second record is the auction contract book the regulation requires for real property. After the auction the auctioneer records the date and, if the property sold, the price and the buyer's details. If it did not sell, the entry is the highest bid and, where known, the highest bidder. The maximum penalty for failing to keep the book as required is 10 penalty units, and a principal licensee must keep required records for at least five years.
Neither the REIQ conditions nor the Bidder's Guide says anything about audio or video recording. Where an auction is livestreamed or run through an online platform, the footage or the platform's log may show the order of bids more precisely than anyone's memory, and bidders using a platform may have accepted its separate terms, as the Bidder's Guide warns. Whether a recording exists, who holds it and whether it can be obtained are matters for the particular auction.
## Where a complaint can go
A person may want one of three things after a disputed auction, and each belongs somewhere different.
Three routes after a disputed auction
What is sought
Where it goes
What that body can do
A review of the auctioneer's conduct
Office of Fair Trading
Assess, conciliate, investigate or refer. It cannot order a remedy.
Money lost through a licensee's conduct
Claim fund, lodged with the Office of Fair Trading
A claim is decided by the Office or by QCAT, with review at QCAT.
A ruling on whether a sale exists
A court
Decide the contract question and make binding orders.
Office of Fair Trading complaint and claim fund guidance, pages updated between January 2024 and April 2026.
The Office of Fair Trading is the regulator of auctioneers. The REIQ's guidelines say plainly that the institute is not the regulator and cannot investigate complaints, and direct complaints about a real estate professional to the Office. A complaint must be made in writing. According to its guidance, updated in April 2026, it normally makes contact within 10 working days and aims to resolve most conciliations within 30 days. It is equally clear about its limits: "We can't provide compensation or force a business to provide a refund or other remedy." Judgments and orders, it says, can only come from a tribunal or a court.
The claim fund is for financial loss caused by the conduct of a property agent, an auctioneer or their employees, among other licensees. The Office's guidance says a claim must be lodged within one year of the person becoming aware of the loss and no more than three years after the event, that lodging is free, and that an extension of time is sought from the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. A claim is decided by the Office or by the tribunal, and a decision can be reviewed by the tribunal.
Neither route answers the question a losing bidder most wants answered, which is whether the property should have been theirs. That is a dispute about the formation of a contract for land, between the bidder, the seller and the person who signed as buyer. It is a matter for a court, on the conditions, the evidence of those present and whatever records exist. The tribunal's own description of its minor civil dispute work lists tenancy, minor debt, consumer and trader, and dividing fence matters, and does not mention property sales.
## What competitions and guidance add
The REIQ's guidelines are the nearest thing to a written method for disputes, and their core has been set out above. Competition rules point the same way without spelling out a dispute procedure. The Real Estate Institute of Australia describes the Australasian championship as marked on strict criteria against a devised bidding process. The entry kit for the Victorian institute's 2026 senior competition, the only full rulebook found for this guide, gives competitors a scripted bidding plan and a set of conditions that let the auctioneer refuse any bid without giving a reason and bar any bid after the fall of the hammer. Those are Victorian competition conditions, not Queensland law, and they are mentioned only to show what is rehearsed.