BBC Homes Under the Hammer buyer breaks golden show rule and it proved 'costly'

Homes Under the Hammer fans will be well aware that the BBC programme consistently emphasises two crucial guidelines when acquiring property at auction.

Purchasers are invariably urged to scrutinise the legal documentation meticulously and to inspect the property beforehand, regardless of how enticing a deal might appear.

During Thursday's (August 21) repeat episode, Martin Roberts was exploring South-East London to examine a flat in Woolwich boasting excellent transport connections to the city centre and convenient access to the Woolwich ferry.

Martin remarked that the location "couldn't get any better" and predicted the flat would be in high demand purely for this reason. There were several additional advantages, including a functioning lift to assist with transporting items to its third-floor position, plus the property featured two bedrooms and two bathrooms whilst appearing to require minimal renovation work, reports MyLondon.

The flat was heading to auction with a guide price of £170,000 and included a substantial 129-year lease, which Martin considered excellent value given its central and well-connected position.

Martin did nevertheless harbour one significant "niggling issue" regarding a particular feature linking the main living area and kitchen.

The previous owner had chosen to raise the floor level, something the presenter described as "odd", since this would make an already compact flat feel even more cramped.

His guidance suggested it might have been done deliberately to "hide something" as he encouraged any prospective purchaser to guarantee they had thoroughly examined it.

He remarked: "Well slightly intriguing when it comes to that floor but incredible location for a good price."

Ibrahim, a neighbourhood IT project manager, secured the winning bid of £180,000, marking his inaugural auction venture and property renovation but confessed to Martin immediately that he'd violated one crucial programme regulation and it had proven a "costly" blunder.

He acknowledged: "First of all I won this at auction without a solicitor, I'm not going to do this again. That was a mistake," he additionally revealed: "I read all of the legal pack myself, next time I will make sure it is read by a professional person. I missed one document and that document was a big surprise for us.

"What was?" enquired Martin. Ibrahim clarified: "This apartment is coming with a car park and that car park ground rent is 25 times more than the flats ground rent."

Seeking further details, Martin questioned: "What's the ground rent for the car park then?"

"For everything, all of the ground rent surcharges, we are expecting around £5,000 per year. For this location, it's a lot," declared Ibrahim, who recognised any prospective tenant would need to absorb this extra charge. Speaking to camera, Martin outlined the consequences of breaching valuable programme rules, stating: "So Ibrahim discovering the perils of not thoroughly researching a property before you buy it...and all those hidden charges."

Ibrahim estimated that the renovation would require five weeks to finish and had £30,000 available to spend on transforming it to a high and furnished specification.

Nine weeks later, Martin returned to visit Ibrahim to assess the progress.

All construction work had finally been finished, meaning he experienced a four-week delay - he clarified this was caused by requiring replacement windows and addressing the primary issue with the elevated flooring.

It emerged that the suspended floor was concealing an extraction pipe for the kitchen that required removal, with a new contemporary fan being fitted in the kitchen as an alternative.

The project manager performed reasonably well in maintaining the budget and surpassed his £30,000 allocation by merely £3,500, which also covered furnishing the flat completely.

His total expenditure on the property reached £213,500, and an estate agent valued that should he choose to sell, he could achieve a pre-tax profit of approximately £36,000.

Nevertheless, Ibrahim was eager to let the property and already had a tenant secured and prepared to pay £2000 per calendar month.

Homes Under the Hammer airs weekdays on BBC One from 11.15am