Cottage filled with rubbish and wrecked by fire sells for double its guide price

A cottage completely wrecked by a fire leaving it in a heap of rubble has sold for double its asking price after a three-day auction. Bidders battled to buy the property at 8 Victoria Avenue, Maindee - which could kindly be referred to as a "project" - listed with a guide price of £50,000.

Pictures show the scale of devastation following the fire at the two-bedroom home in Newport, but it clearly didn’t put the bidders off when it went to auction last week. Such was the intense interest in the detached cottage, which also offers an overgrown jungle in the garden that is now growing up the property, it sold for £114,500 after 78 bids at Paul Fosh Auctions on August 30, 31, and September 1.

The cottage has two reception rooms, a kitchen and a shower room on the ground floor, with two bedrooms above. While it requires a lot of work, there is also a sizable garden.

Read more: Inside the rundown house and former bicycle shop going to auction that still has bikes inside

It estimated that the property could be let for somewhere in the region of £800 to £900 per month (Paul Fosh Auctions)

It's not just the inside of the cottage that needs work (Paul Fosh Auctions)

Gemma Vaughan, who works for Newport-based Paul Fosh, said: “Bids flooded in from the word go with potential buyers keen to put their mark on this dilapidated and fire-damaged property. Despite the property requiring full renovation inside and out, it created a high level of interest ahead of the sale which was carried on throughout the three days of the auction."

The bidders were clearly not put off at the auction last week, despite the amount of work that needs doing to it (Paul Fosh Auctions)

Inside 8 Victoria Avenue, Maindee, Newport, which has been wrecked in a fire (Paul Fosh Auctions)

Ms Vaughan said the property could make an ideal rental. “Once refurbished it will make a lovely home or a buy-to-let property in this desirable part of the city," she explained. "Properties in good order in this part of Newport, just a mile from the centre of the city and a short drive to the M4, can achieve in the region of £800 to £900 per month rental.”

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