When looking to buy your future home, the last thing you'd expect is to be required to sign a health and safety waiver just to view the property.
However, a four-bed detached house in Stoke-on-Trent is asking potential homeowners to do just that. The three-storey property sits on a road where a sinkhole opened up in 2019 and residents were unable to park outside their homes for almost three years.
Photos of the property also revealed that the driveway at the side of the property has collapsed, with paving slabs scattered around and pointing at a variety of angles. In fact, the listing places 'collapsed driveway' as one of the house's key features. StokeonTrent Live reports.
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The Boatman Drive property is listed with Butters John Bee and set to be auctioned at 6.30pm on October 17 at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Stoke-on-Trent. The guide price is a generous £50,000.
However, potential buyers are being urged to double check whether they could get a mortgage on the property before bidding and a health and safety waiver must be signed before visiting.
The listing continues: "It is suggested that potential purchasers make their own enquiries of mortgage lenders as to whether the property is mortgageable prior to making a viewing or a bid at auction. Any person wanting to view this property will need to sign a health and safety waiver prior to accessing the property grounds."
The house has also been described in the listing as a "modern four-bedroom detached family home with en suite to master, family bathroom, ground floor WC, lounge, dining room, fitted kitchen, UPVC double glazing, gas central heating. Gardens to the front and rear. Garage".
The city council was forced to close Boatman Drive to traffic in August 2019 after a sinkhole in the area appeared. Authorities have since been engaged in a dispute over the issue with developer Redrow and Severn Trent Water while the street was featured on BBC's Rip Off Britain programme in October last year.
A resident of Waterlily Close, off Boatman Drive, who asked not to be named, told StokeonTrentLive: "If I could I would sell up tomorrow and move.
"However with the current situation on Boatman Drive affected the surrounding streets, it just doesn't seem viable. Many residents have been trying to sell over the last few years and end up taking the property off the market because they aren't getting any offers.
"I have already thought about how the auction sale of the property may compare with what I paid for mine. It's just gut-wrenching."
A spokesperson for Stoke-on-Trent City Council said: "We are working to find a solution to resident access and will communicate on this when investigations allow. We are unable to comment further on the stability of the road. We continue with investigations on the cause of the movements."
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