The Cape High Court has postponed an application by the Estate Agency Affairs Board for a warrant to access Auction Alliance's documents, Business Day reported on Friday.
Auction Alliance had asked the court to prevent a “warrant-less search” by the board's inspectors.
It also challenged the constitutional validity of provisions in the Estate Agency Affairs Act and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act which allow search and seizure operations.
The court ordered that the application for a warrant should be heard together with Auction Alliance's application to challenge these provisions.
It ruled that the board had not made a case for the warrant to be issued, the daily reported.
Auction Alliance's legal troubles began when billionaire Wendy Appelbaum alleged that the firm had used a ghost bidder to push up the price of wine farm Quoin Rock.
She bought the farm for R55 million on auction in December last year. - Sapa