Liverpool hands over first £1 home
LIVERPOOL City Council has named the first buyer of one of its £1 homes.
Jayalal Madde, 48, is a self-employed taxi driver who has lived for a number of years in Toxteth with his wife and two daughters.
He has put the finance in place for repairs, one of the conditions of the deal.
The council announced in February that it was making 20 homes available for £1 under a pilot scheme designed to help regenerate vacant properties in Granby and Picton.
The area was part of the previous government’s doomed Pathfinder housing market renewal initiative which involved buying up homes with the intention of knocking them down and building new properties.
The scheme ground to a halt in 2011 after being axed by the coalition, leaving hundreds of boarded up homes in Liverpool and elsewhere.
More than 4,000 people initially registered an interest for the £1 home scheme and 1,036 people have submitted a formal bid.
Those who secure a home will be expected to refurbish it to “decent home standard” within 12 months. It must be in a reasonable state of repair, be warm, weatherproof and have reasonably modern facilities. The council estimates around £35,000 will need to be spent on each property. The freehold will only be transferred once the work is complete and has been inspected.
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “I’m delighted to be officially handing over the keys to the first recipient of a home for a pound. We’ve had an amazing response to this scheme and have been absolutely inundated with applications.”
