Liverpool City Council is offering homes in the city for just £1 – providing you can give them a total makeover - anyone fancy a major DIY project? The sales are part of an initiative to bring 179 homes in Granby, Kensington and Picton back into use.
New owners would be expected to refurbish the £1 houses and live in them for at least five years.
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 Leader1 Liverpool over a £25 million contract to renovate the area, which included bulldozing the houses. However, the council withdrew from this contract last year.
Liverpool City Council Deputy Mayor Councillor Paul Brant was quoted “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.
The plans would also see small groups of properties sold to private landlords in Picton and some houses transferred to social housing provider The Riverside Group, which will renovate them and sell them on for 25% less than market value.
Last year, Stoke-on-Trent City Council offered a similar scheme in the suburb of Tunstall.
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