How to Read an EIG Auction Catalogue Like a Garage Investor

EIG (Essential Information Group) is where most UK property auctions get aggregated, and the EIG catalogue page for any lot is the single most concentrated information source on a garage you might bid on. Most new investors read it like a residential listing — title, photos, price guide, description. That is not how to read it.

This is what each field actually means, what to focus on, and where the traps are.

The fields that matter

Title and short description. Skim. The title tells you what the auction house thinks they are selling — single garage, block of three, garage compound. The description is sales copy and contains roughly zero useful information. Trust nothing here without verifying.

Guide price. This is the most-misunderstood field on the page. A guide is the auction house expectation of where the property will start in the room — it is not a reserve, not a target, and not a market estimate. Guides are typically set 15-30% below the auction house true expectation, to attract bidders. Treat the guide as a floor, not a forecast.

Auction date. The day the lot will be offered. Note that EIG sometimes displays multiple auction dates if a lot does not sell — re-listings often happen at the same guide price.

Lot number. Important for two reasons: it tells you when in the auction your lot will be offered (lots run in numerical order), and it is the reference for ordering the legal pack.

Auctioneer / auction house. The auction house has a real effect on what you are bidding on. Allsop, Bond Wolfe, Mark Jenkinson, and the larger houses tend to deal with cleaner stock; some smaller regional houses deal with messier titles. Build mental notes on which houses produce which kinds of issues.

The fields that lie to you

Photos. These are the single most dangerous field. Garage auction photos are typically:

• Old (taken the last time the property changed hands, sometimes years ago)
• Selective (the angle that flatters the asset)
• Generic (a stock garage from elsewhere in the same block)
• Or absent (no photos at all is sometimes more honest)

We have seen lots where the headline photo was of a different garage, and ones where the interior photo was from the day the previous owner refurbished it, fifteen years ago. Photos are marketing material, not evidence. They are not warranted.

Tenancy details and rent. If the catalogue says "currently let at £100/month", verify. The rent might be:

• Notional — the seller aspiration, not a current paying tenant.
• Old — set five years ago and not updated.
• Theoretical — the rent the seller has been "trying to achieve".
• Sub-market — a tenant who has been there since 1998 and pays £35/month.

The legal pack should contain a copy of the actual tenancy agreement; that is the source of truth.

Description prose. "Excellent investment opportunity", "extremely high yield", "rare to market" — all sales copy. Skip.

The fields people skip that they shouldn't

Title number. This is the unique Land Registry reference. Cross-checking the title number against the title plan and registry copy in the legal pack is the first step in any due diligence.

Tenure notes. "Long leasehold" can mean 999 years remaining or 65 years remaining. "Freehold" can mean a clean freehold or a freehold subject to a 1934 estate covenant. The catalogue summary does not tell you; the legal pack does.

Buyer's premium and admin fees. These are usually disclosed at the bottom of the listing or in the auction conditions. Read them. They can add £1,500-3,000 to the cost.

Special conditions of sale. Linked from the listing, in the legal pack. The headline page often summarises but does not capture the full effect. The Legal Pack Reviewer flags the common buyer-unfriendly clauses.

The reality check

A useful exercise on every shortlisted lot:

1. Read the catalogue page.
2. Note what you would pay based on the description.
3. Read the legal pack.
4. Note what you would pay based on the legal pack.
5. The difference between the two numbers is the value of due diligence.

Almost always the post-pack number is lower. Sometimes it is much lower. Occasionally it is zero — the legal pack reveals something that disqualifies the lot entirely.

How to use the catalogue effectively

Build a workflow.

Step 1: catalogue triage. When a new catalogue arrives, scan it for garages in your geography and price range. Apply hard filters first — wrong area, wrong price, wrong tenure summary. This usually cuts the universe to 5-15 lots in any given catalogue.

Step 2: short legal-pack scan. For each shortlist, download the legal pack and scan the title register, title plan, and special conditions. This takes 15-20 minutes per lot. Run the Legal Pack Reviewer in parallel.

Step 3: physical inspection. For each lot that passes the legal-pack scan, drive there. Most of your shortlist will fail this step — photos lie, descriptions exaggerate, locations underwhelm. Inspect everything.

Step 4: pricing model. For each lot that passes inspection, run the Maximum Bid Calculator with realistic local rent comparables. Set your walk-away price.

Step 5: bid. With your number written down, on lots you have inspected, with legal packs you have reviewed, with rent assumptions you have validated.

The catalogue is the start of the process, not the end. The investors who lose money at auction are usually the ones who treat the catalogue as the spec.

Auction-house practices and catalogue formats vary. Specific listings should be reviewed against the underlying legal pack and physical inspection.