A House for the price of a loaf of bread

Liverpool City Council is set to sell abandoned homes for just £1 in a bid to rejuvenate run-down areas.

The idea behind the scheme is to use idle homes in Kensington, Liverpool, to help solve the City’s housing shortage.

As you might imagine, Kensington, in the L7 district of Liverpool, has little in common with London’s swanky Kensington district, other than its name. While one is the home of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge and the Beckhams, the other is shabby and desolate with whole streets of houses boarded up and unoccupied.

Reflecting the disparity of wealth across the country; Royal Kensington in London is where you will find the most expensive street in the country, Kensington Palace Gardens, where the average home costs more than £19 million. Yet, houses in its Liverpool namesake will be sold for the same price as a loaf of bread.

There is, however, a slight catch, in exchange for a £1 house, new owners will have to begin work to renovate the property to a decent modern standard within six months – which could cost them somewhere between £25,000 and £50,000.  They must also then live there for at least five years before being able to re-market.

‘I think it’s a great idea, if it brings the people back. My brother raised his kids in this street. It’s safe and children can kick a ball around. It’s lovely here,’ says Pauline Smith, a local resident, 50.

A similar idea has already been successful in America and is now also under way in Stoke-on-Trent.

‘This is not just about doing up old houses. It’s about rebuilding sustainable communities,’ says Paul Brant, the Deputy Mayor of Liverpool.

Richard Anthony

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Source: The Mail Online