Liverpool's first £1 home to be ready for Christmas

The first person to complete repair work on a Liverpool home bought for just £1 hopes to be in for Christmas.

Related topics:  Property
Warren Lewis
9th December 2014
House Grass 2

Self-employed taxi driver Jayalal Madde, 49, plans to move into his new home in the next couple of weeks. Mr Madde took possession of the house last October under Liverpool City Council's experimental 'Homes for a Pound' scheme.

In total, 20 properties were sold for the token fee of £1 under pilot scheme launched by the council, with a guarantee from the new owners that they would refurbish the homes and live in them for at least 5 years.

Mr Madde, who currently lives in Toxteth with his wife and two daughters, raised funds for the refurbishment himself and has been working to bring the house to the Decent Homes Standard over the last year.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson will be given a guided tour of the refurbished home tomorrow.

The Mayor said: "I am really pleased to be having a look around Mr Madde’s new home and seeing the work he has carried out to bring it up to standard.

I know from my conversations with him that he has a genuine commitment to the area, and it is great to know that a once run down property has been lovingly transformed into a home for his family, and will also help contribute to making the local area more attractive and sustainable."

Liverpool City Council's assistant mayor and cabinet member for housing, Cllr Ann O'Byrne, said the scheme "is just one of a range of measures that we are using to bring properties back into use, such as working with housing associations and developers".

Adding: "We are not pretending it is the answer to the issues with empty housing stock in Liverpool, but it is one of the tools now at our disposal."

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