A couple have spoken of their anger that having worked hard all their lives and paid off their mortgage, their home is virtually worthless.
That is because it is in a street full of boarded-up homes which are being sold off for £1 by the council.
George and Linda Hunter’s home is in a street where Liverpool City Council bought houses for tens of thousands of pounds and boarded them up, ready for demolition under Labour minister John Prescott’s discredited Pathfinder scheme.
Under Pathfinder, launched in 2003, the former deputy prime minister planned to raze thousands of homes to the ground. An estimated £2.2bn of public money was spent on buying and demolishing homes.
In a reversal of policy, it was subsequently decided to offer the expensively bought and now derelict homes to local people for £1 on condition that they renovated them.
The council had originally offered the Hunters £85,000, which the couple turned down as they believed the real value was £120,000.
They also had elderly parents living close by who relied on them.
However, with the parents now dead and as “the street has become a horrible place to live”, the couple went back to the council – only to be told that there was no offer on the table as the street was part of Liverpool’s Home for a Pound scheme.
Abode estate agents said they would value the three-bedroom house – which has been continuously lived in – as being worth around £60,000, but added: “At the moment, they would struggle to get even close to that.
“It would be very hard for them to sell their home when other properties in the road are being sold for £1.”
A Liverpool City Council spokesman said: “Homes for a Pound will see properties in this area which have long lain empty, derelict and rundown completely transformed, helping make this part of the city a thriving and sustainable community again.
“This is really good news for existing property owners as it will mean the area is a far more desirable place to live.”
However, Linda Hunter said the council had turned her once-friendly and lively road into a ghetto, adding: “Even if things do regenerate, it could take years, which means we are still stuck for a long time.”
A damning report by the National Audit Office in 2007 said that under Pathfinder, 10,000 homes had been demolished “without any discernible benefit”. Just 1,000 new homes were built and 40,000 refurbished.
The chairman of the Commons Public Account committee at that time, Edward Leigh, said the scheme had been a total waste of public money and a disastrous piece of social engineering.
Labour Housing policy in action…….
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Now I see why Steve Smith and Estates Direct entered into estate agency.
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If it wasn’t so sad for the people concerned that would be funny, RA.
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The perils of valuing your own house and standing firm on your valuation in a nutshell
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Abode estate agents said they would value the three-bedroom house – which has been continuously lived in – as being worth around £60,000, but added: “At the moment, they would struggle to get even close to that.
“It would be very hard for them to sell their home when other properties in the road are being sold for £1.”
So the EA valuation of £60,000.00 is wrong – its not worth that at all and they agree as well.
The owner valuation of £120,000.00 was pie in the sky
Labours Pathfinder policy cost me, you all of us £2,200,000,000.00 its a staggering amount of money to screw up on one policy let alone running the country when they left a note saying there is ‘no more money’
its going to be a cluster copulation for the next 5 years if Labour get in.
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I wonder how they arrived at £120,000.
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Sound like greedy people to me kicking themselves!
offered 85k for a property they valued at 120k now worth a quid!
If you want to stay in the property fine, dont moan about when you feel you have lost out on a deal.
As for government / council selling properties for a pound …….. As well meaning as they think they are shows how stupid some people are, surely this could have been allocated to people on the housing list on a long term rent and they can keep hold of an asset!
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