A couple has moved into Britain’s cheapest home which set them back just £1 but could now fetch up to £70,000.
Lawrence Poxton, 48, and his wife Teresa, 46, moved into the terraced property in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, after the council put 33 properties on the market for a pound in a desperate attempt to clean up the area.
The bus driver and his wife were picked from thousands of applicants to be the first couple to move into the homes - which they now estimate could be sold for up to £70,000.
The couple first applied to get the keys to one of only 33 houses available for £1 in March 2013.
After being selected from thousands of applicants, the lucky couple blindly picked their new home out of a model in November
Every lucky person to grab keys to a house was given a £30,000 low interest loan to completely renovate the derelict dumps.
Lawrence and Teresa, who have been together for ten years and married for five, were given the choice of doors, flooring and cupboards as the face-lift was completed.
Only a small handful of houses in the town have been renovated as part of this scheme so far. On Denbigh Street only eight out of 90 houses have been renovated
New beginnings: The couple first applied to get the keys to one of only 33 houses available for £1 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, in March 2013
Mr Poxton said: 'When we picked it, the house was just a shell.'
'We’ve had a new roof, windows and doors put in and they’ve re-wired all the electrics and put in new central heating and insulation.
'It’s like a completely different building to the one we picked nine months ago - it’s fantastic.'
Previously the pair rented a similar house in the town centre, but even though they have to pay back the council loan in the next ten years, they are saving money.
The 48-year-old said: 'Typically we were paying £425 per month in rent with bills on top.
Home sweet home: Lawrence Poxton, 48, and his wife Teresa, 46, sit on a bed in their new home in Stoke which they designed themselves
'Here, we are paying almost half of that in paying back the loan and we have got a house that we own, instead of just throwing money at someone else.
'In our last place we had a window smashed in in January and it wasn’t fixed until March - we were freezing.
'It just feels amazing being able to make this house our own home - we can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives here.'
Only a small handful of houses in the town have been renovated as part of this scheme so far.
On Denbigh Street - the road the Poxtons live on - only eight out of 90 houses have been made up, and Mr Poxton admits they 'stick out like a sore thumb' in between all the other dilapidated buildings.
As a result, security guards patrol the road 24 hours a day to ensure none of the houses are vandalised or any copper is stolen.
A lot of the houses around Denbigh Street are owned by private landlords and haven’t been looked after by the tenants who live in them.
As part of the council’s scheme though, landlords are being offered the same £30,000 loan to modernise their houses.
Mr Poxton said: 'We’re not worried about being a target here.
'We knew that when we moved in that it would take a while for everything to improve.
'It was never going to happen overnight, but we’re confident that the council know what they’re doing and this will be a really nice place to spend the rest of our lives.
Source: dailymail
