IT'S a key election issue. How do you provide housing that is decent and affordable, and helps build communities not wreck them?
We are not a charity, we do want to make a profit, but it's all about keeping the end house affordable and available to local people.
Cut stamp duty? Rent control? Right to Buy 2? Help to Buy? Build to Rent? Buy To Let?
None of the above?
In East Manchester two unlikely heroes are doing their small bit to provide decent family housing by bringing empty houses back into use and making them available for local people.
Tors Sinclair and Sally Lister from Hale are both former TV producers who for the last two years have been buying run down properties in Gorton and Openshaw, renovating them to a high standard and making them available for sale or rent.
In the two years since they formed Taylor Fay homes they have transformed six and have just acquired another three, the latter all on the same street in Gorton.
It would be easy to scoff at Cheshire housewives swanning into an East Manchester neighbourhood and doing a bit of a property makeover in between the school run and the spa but they are so clear about their ‘Homes for local People’ ambition and the aspirations for the area, you want to join them not jest.
Lister said: “Our aim is to create affordable and stylish homes that are available to the local community and will attract aspirational people to the area. This is so much more than just a makeover it’s about working towards creating a sustainable community and raising the profile of the area which we have grown to love.
“People should have access to good housing they can afford.”
Tors Sinclair & Sally Lister of Taylor Fay HomesSinclair kicked it all off when, after years of just talking and dreaming, she went to look at a little house on Lee Street in Gorton.
She said: “I have always had an obsession with property and really wanted to wanted to refurbish houses. It's all I ever wanted to do.
"Gorton had been on my radar because of the investment in the Etihad Stadium and campus and I saw this little house, a tiny two up two down, and asked Sally if she wanted to come and look with me and we started there. We both put money into the project, restored the house to the highest standard and sold it to a chef who works in a restaurant in the city.
“We learned a lot from the first house and knew we wanted to set a new standard.”
The project brought them in contact with Manchester City Council's Empty Homes team and the process that kicks in when housing associations decide to rid themselves of stock.
All their subsequent properties have been bought from Adactus and whatever your view on a social housing provider not keeping properties well managed and well maintained, it has allowed the pair to take on houses that had been left in a shocking state and up the standard of the finished product.
Take a look at the before and after pics:
Before
After resultTors said: "We have the right attitude. We take on unloved properties that first time buyers could not get a mortgage on or afford to refurbish, spend a decent amount of money on them making sure the basics like wiring, heating and insulation are right before putting in the nice bits.
"We are not a charity, we do want to make a profit, but it's all about keeping the end house affordable and available to local people.
"When we put our last house on the market for sale we had 40 investors wanting to buy it but we were not interested. It has now been bought by a local couple who are delighted with it and that, for us, is the main thing.
"One of our tenants is very keen to buy but cannot get a mortgage so he is renting for six months and after that time when his credit rating has improved we will return the rent and he can use it as a deposit on the property. It's all about helping first time buyers get their own home."
The sums currently stack up with them buying for an average £40k, spending £20k on a very good refurbishment and selling for around £70k or renting at a competitive rent - £525 for a two bed, £595 for three beds.
The more houses they can transform the bigger impact they will have. On their current street they have three properties they are working on to the delight of existing residents who happily make them a brew and would dearly love to see them do up all the empty houses on the row.
They are also looking to work with Manchester College to offer apprentices opportunities to work alongside their own team of builders.
Sally said: "We work hard on the detail to keep the quality really high and are very proud of the homes we are creating. The best bit though is the reaction of the people who now live in and the reaction of the wider community."
