Hello
There are websites like zwangsversteigerung.ch/ (mentioned on this forum earlier) selling property of loan defaulters by auction.
Has someone experience buying via such auctions? Is there a catch? Owner wouldn't vacate perhaps ?

Shall be grateful for tips / things to look out for

The obvious tip is to be extremely careful! You will be committing yourself to buying a possibly very bad property.

You definitely need a good survey and to search local planning applications, before placing any bid.

Sometimes there are legal restraints on the property, rights of way by neighbours etc, and so a visit to the land registry is also necessary.

Property to be auctioned is advertised and usually the relevant documents are available for viewing at the local office responsible for the auction. Sometimes there is a chance to visit the property but not always.

The state of the house might be rather dire. There was a property near us where the new owner who bought it at auction (he was the only bidder!) made the terrible discovery that the pets had been left behind.

You need to bring a bank draft to the auction (or cash!).

A friend of mine works at a Notary and we were discussing this recently, there are a few odd things about this system here. Normally a price is disclosed which is what is required to clear the debt owing, this can be the starting price or minimum finishing price, no apparent set rules. In the past if the bidding did not reach this level the bank would buy it back from themselves, hold it or give it a makeover and resell at a "profit", not so much anymore depending on the their valuation. Disclosure of documents may not be as complete as in a normal sale, you should visit the Notary and get them to check the "Grundbuch" (propert records) for any special clauses/liens on the property. But also be aware that these should be in there, they may not be. He gave the example of a friend who signed a sales agreement (sale of the property was from a messy divorce) checked everything only to find out the husband had sold an "option to buy" (well under market value ie. Chf100m2 instead of circa Chf2500) space so the neighbour could have a larger driveway and extension on his house, using up all the spare building volume from the two properties. Had the sale gone through then the new owners would have been obliged to honour this agreement. Buyer beware!!