A 216-year-old terraced house worth £1.1m in Borough has been put up for auction, as Southwark Council sells off assets to ‘build more homes.’
The Grade II listed property at 26 Park Street has been listed in Savills’ auction catalogue for 23 July.
It is one of 9 council homes across Southwark that are to be auctioned off. They will be sold under new “fast track” rules meaning only assets of more than £3 million would require cabinet approval.
Earlier this year, the council increased the threshold from £750,000.
As part of this year’s budget-setting process, the council indicated it would seek to sell high-value council homes that become empty, sparking concerns from opposition politicians like Liberal Democrats. But the council says it plans to use the money to build more homes.
Cllr Stephanie Cryan, Cabinet Member for Equalities, Democracy and Finance, said: “It is never an easy decision to sell assets, but it’s an approach having to be taken by councils across the country after many years of underfunding.
“Our long-established policy lays out where disposal of void properties is appropriate, namely where it is uneconomical to repair them and it is our plan to use the money raised to continue to invest in our homes. With every sale, the relevant approvals are in place before any home is sold.”
The Savills description reads: “An attractive three bedroom, three storey end of terrace house – close to Borough Market. Grade II Listed. In need of modernisation. Vacant.”
Cllr Victor Chamberlain, Lib Dem councillor for Borough & Bankside and leader of the council opposition group, said: “It is scandalous to be selling off council homes when so many are desperately needed, especially in the most expensive areas of our borough. Selling off the family silver is not the right approach, and now we’re seeing the result of Labour’s choice to fast-track these decisions.
“Selling off commercial assets is short-term thinking. We need to be sweating our assets to generate long-term income, not flogging them off for a one-off windfall.”
We asked Southwark Council for a list of the other eight properties up for auction and will be updating this story.