New batch of £1 homes goes on sale in Liverpool
Following the successful sale of 20 terraced houses, a new batch of properties are being offered by Liverpool City Council for just £1. But there are strings attached.
Following the success of the sale of 20 terraced houses for just £1 each, Liverpool City Council has expanded the scheme to sell off up to 150 more homes.
Dubbed ‘Homes For A Pound Plus’, the new batch of homes are offered on the condition that buyers bring them up to decent standards and do not sell them for five years.
Webster Road, Liverpool | Source: Google Earth
Homes for a pound
The homes for sale in the current round of the scheme are two- and three-bedroom houses located near Toxteth Park Cemetery, including those on Garrick Street, Bird Street, Richardson Street and Webster Road. The homes are in various states of disrepair, with old wallpaper and broken tiles, while some have no bathrooms or kitchens.
Some of the properties have been empty for at least a decade. The area has been described as a "ghost estate".
To qualify you need to have lived or worked in Liverpool, have a job and be first-time buyers.
The application stage drew interest from over 2,500 applicants, and Liverpool City Council says that everyone who applied should now have received an email explaining what happens next.
The Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, has made a pledge to build 5,000 new homes in the city, and a report from his office in March 2015 stated that so far 3,190 had been completed.
Richardson Street, Liverpool | Source: Google Earth
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Property 'pioneers'
The report also says that 1,765 empty homes have already been brought back into use – smashing the original target of 1,000. The office has set a new target of 2,000.
This includes all empty homes that have now been re-occupied – those sold for £1 need a lot of work to bring up to a decent standard, and the new owners must do so as part of the conditions of sale. So this isn’t an opportunity to turn a quick profit.
People taking up the scheme were described as “pioneers” by Councillor Frank Hont, speaking to the Liverpool Echo.
“They are going into derelict properties and one woman we were talking to last week had done it up beautifully,” he said. “But it takes time before these areas become desirable places to live again.”
A free event aimed at owners of empty properties is being held today (13th October 2015) at Liverpool Town Hall, which will supply information on how to turn an empty home into an asset.
Bird Street, Liverpool | Source: Google Earth
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