Stoke-on-Trent council wants to sell more empty homes for £1

The scheme will be the second wave of £1 homes after the success of the first wave in July 2015

Empty homes in Stoke-on-Trent (Reuters)

Stoke-on-Trent council has unveiled new plans to sell off run down council homes for £1 each.

The scheme will be the second wave of £1 homes after the success of the first wave in July 2015.

Buyers get a run down house in one of the city's less desireable neighbourhoods for £1 initially, plus a £30,000 loan to cover the cost of refurbishment.

The council hopes that by selling off empty homes to people in full-time work, it can jump-start downtrodden neighbourhoods.

Applicants for the £1 homes have to be in paid employment, first-time buyers and able to demonstrate that they have both good credit and savings for renovation.

The scheme to redevelop the area around Portland Street will cost the council around £1.5 million. That covers the cost of buying and refubishing around 25 empty homes.

Houses typically cost between £30,000 and £35,000 in that area of Stoke-on-Trent, less than half the average for a terrace home in the City.

"The aim was to bring in economically active people into a depressed area to change the rhythm of the area; to make it a busy, thriving, growing locality. This is working," the council said in a report.

"The new residents have settled in well and are prospering; the feedback from them is that they are happy and this was the best thing they did."

A similar run of 21 £1 homes in Liverpool went so well that Liverpool council has announced 150 extra £1 properties – which until recently were earmarked for demolition – in Picton.