Properties bought by Salford town hall bosses and offered to households whose homes were earmarked to be demolished are to be rented out after being empty for three years. The eighteen properties were purchased by Salford City Council in March 2009 for a cost of £1m.
The homes were offered in a unique home-swap scheme to tenants whose own houses were to be bulldozed as part of the regeneration of the borough. However, not all tenants took up the offer and the council haCs since failed to sell them on the open market due to the problems that the housing market has suffered. The council also spent £1.5m renovating the two-bed terraces in various streets in Seedley.
The home-swap project was hailed as the answer to inner-city decline and the council bought 160 properties in total. They are now admitting that they over estimated the number needed and the empty houses, which are valued at £130,000, will now be let to private tenants after the council organise landlord insurance for the properties. Ultimately the council’s intention remains to sell them in the future when the market recovers, but until then they feel that letting the properties will balance the wishes of local residents with the financial responsibilities of the council.
Peter Connor, speaking for the council, said: “When it became apparent that the eighteen properties in question would not be needed to provide home-swaps for residents, they were offered to residents in other parts of the city who were being affected by demolition. When this did not result in them being taken up, the properties were offered for sale on the open market, but the current economic conditions meant that was not possible either. So the best solution is to let the eighteen properties which will ensure that the properties will generate money for the council.”