A woman who says she was ‘effectively homeless’ while doing up a home she bought for just £1 has shared pictures of the stunning transformation. Maxine Sharples put in a bid at the extraordinary rate in 2015, under a scheme which sold dilapidated houses off cheaply in exchange for homeowners’ agreement to use their own money and resources to bring it back to life.
She revealed that she “couldn’t have been more naïve” about the process of upgrading the home. Starting the renovations during the pandemic, she was forced to take on a lot of the labouring herself - with astonishing results.
“I applied in 2015 as a postgraduate student at LJMU. I lived locally in L7 at the time and heard about the scheme through the grapevine,” said Maxine, who lives in Liverpool. “Although initially I didn’t have the funds, I applied anyway and thought, ‘I’ll cross that bridge’ if I was shortlisted. In 2019, four years later, I got a phone call to ask if I was still interested in a home for a pound.”
She was initially given just 12 months to complete renovations, but this was extended during the pandemic, report Liverpool Echo. She had an architect draw up a complete redesign of the house’s layout, giving it a totally new lease of life.
The Homes for a Pound scheme is designed to bring dilapidated, empty properties back to life and offer people like Maxine a new chance to get onto the housing market.
She said: “It has taken me 27 arduous months to get it signed off. It was gruelling, I couldn’t have been more naïve about the process. As a yoga teacher I couldn’t have been less experienced in construction project management.
“With tradespeople in short supply, I took to a lot of labouring myself. I began the rip out by myself. It took me nine months to get the house back to brick with a rotary hammer and borrowed electricity from my neighbours. A hole in the roof meant a tree had taken root, water ingress, asbestos, rat infestations, you name it, it had it all.”
Not only was Maxine taking on the role of project manager for the renovation, but she had completely redesigned the layout of the house. She added: “The house, a two bedroom Victorian terrace, was dark and dank. It needed light for my plants and my soul. So I had an architect draw up my idea to flip the house upside down.
“By removing the loft and all upstairs internal walls I created this double height open space. Add in two of Velux’s biggest sky lights and I had transformed the house in one foul swoop of the sledge hammer. Well maybe more than one, about five skips worth. I had 60k to renovate the house, I’ve spent 56k and there’s still about 10k worth of work to get it to the standard I’d like.”
She could not be more excited to finally be moving in the dream house that she has worked so hard for. She said: “I’ve essentially been homeless for two years, as I moved into my campervan to save money. Having underfloor heating is going to be such a luxury, triple glazed windows and a place to hang my plants once and for all. I’ve moved so many times in my life, from Liverpool at the age of six and back at the age of 18, I feel I can finally settle in a house that I brought back to life. It’s going to be pukka.”
And it’s not just moving into the house Maxine is excited for, but also joining the community of fellow £1 homeowners. She is full of praise for the project itself and those who led the way in taking up properties in the area.
She added: “I am a champion of the scheme, it is an innovative idea, and a massive success. Because ordinary people have put their blood sweat and life savings into transforming these houses, woe betide anyone in the community not pulling their weight, we are a strong community and I’m looking forward to joining it immensely and seeing how I can give back. My neighbours are local heroes, they were there when it was a ghost street, pioneers in the project. I’m the last one to complete and I’ve taken the longest so felt bad for ages, I’m happy to be joining them when I move in.”
If you want to follow Maxine’s £1 House journey, you can follow her on instagram @homesforapound.
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