Liverpool City Council is offering homes in the city for just £1 – providing you can give them a total makeover.
The Victorian terraced houses in the Granby area of the city were bought for up to £70,000 as part of the Labour Government’s Pathfinder scheme to regenerate struggling areas of the country.
The council was in talks with a developer over a £25 million contract to renovate the area, which included bulldozing the houses. However, the council pulled the plug in November, leaving the homes empty and boarded up.
Liverpool City Council Deputy Mayor Councillor Paul Brant said: “This allows people who may be excluded from mortgages but have construction skills to play a part in the regeneration of their communities.”
Successful applicants will need to refurbish them to “a reasonable state of repair”, and they must be warm, weatherproof and have “reasonably modern facilities”. The owners must also live in them for a minimum of five years and not sub-let during that time.
Twenty houses will be initially be offered to residents in the ‘Four Streets’ area of Granby and Arnside Road in Kensington.
Meanwhile, houses in Picton will be renovated by the council in partnership with housing associations or offered to private landlords.
Last year, Stoke-on-Trent City Council offered a similar scheme in the suburb of Tunstall.
Photo courtesy of Liverpool City Council