[Cherie]

so an update on this as there was a news item on it this morning, Stoke are releasing 12 more houses today, in addition to buying the house for a £1.00 the council give a grant of 30K to get the house back into living condition, they give it to a contractor to complete the work and the homeowner can choose the fixtures and fitting, taps, kitchen etc. All the homeowner has to do is paint it...and put in any carpets/curtains and obviously furniture and the homeowner only moves in when the property is finished.

The 30K is then paid back in the form of a mortgage on the property, so the person interviewed was paying 400.00 a month in rent, is now paying 200.00 for their mortgage...and has their own home.

When asked about the area she said they knew they were buying in a run down area the the council work with the police the ensure the residents are safe

[bots]

Originally Posted by Cherie

so an update on this as there was a news item on it this morning, Stoke are releasing 12 more houses today, in addition to buying the house for a £1.00 the council give a grant of 30K to get the house back into living condition, they give it to a contractor to complete the work and the homeowner can choose the fixtures and fitting, taps, kitchen etc. All the homeowner has to do is paint it...and put in any carpets/curtains and obviously furniture and the homeowner only moves in when the property is finished.

The 30K is then paid back in the form of a mortgage on the property, so the person interviewed was paying 400.00 a month in rent, is now paying 200.00 for their mortgage...and has their own home.

When asked about the area she said they knew they were buying in a run down area the the council work with the police the ensure the residents are safe

that sounds like an ideal solution. To the majority, refurbishing a derelict property is just too daunting a prospect to take on. This method can be taken on by anyone.

[user104658]

If the structure itself is sound and you can do the bulk of the work yourself / with friends then it's a very good investment. If significant building work is needed or if you'd need to hire people to do most of the work... it probably works out cheaper to just buy a house in better condition.

[DemolitionRed]

So where can we find these houses?

[Beso]

Fantastic, it must have been a nightmare, and a lot of hard work. Well worth it now though.

Great story.

[Marsh.]

The kitchen and bathroom.

[thesheriff443]

No such thing as a free lunch!
The reason these houses are derelict is no one wants to live there, there are no jobs either

Why do you think the council themselves would not renovate these houses?
Developers don't want these houses either as there is no money to be made.

[DemolitionRed]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

No such thing as a free lunch!
The reason these houses are derelict is no one wants to live there, there are no jobs either

Why do you think the council themselves would not renovate these houses?
Developers don't want these houses either as there is no money to be made.

The houses were due to be demolished and the site used for redevelopment. The people who moved out some time ago had already received more than the sale value so they could buy property elsewhere. When the redevelopers didn't meet the deadline, they decided to sell the site on to people who needed homes.

Housing redevelopers were never given a choice to purchase these properties. They were never on the market.