A derelict house in South Wimbledon has gone on the market for almost £700,000, despite needing major renovation work to make it habitable.
The three-bedroom terraced home on Nelson Road has been listed by local estate agents SW19 following the death of its owner.
Marketing images show substantial damage and disrepair throughout the property, with mould, peeling wallpaper and fallen ceiling tiles in many rooms.
Groovy Seventies wallpaper and retro fireplaces give poignant glimpses of a house in its heyday but in its current state that era seems long passed.
There is a hole in the plaster in the living room ceiling, rubbish is strewn across the floor in another room, some windows are broken and the back garden is strewn with twigs from the few trees that are standing in the bare earth.
The worst conditions are in an extension containing the bathroom, however, which appears to have a gaping hole in the roof, above a bathtub filled with junk and twigs, as well as missing wall tiles and broken fittings.
Nonetheless the Edwardian property, close to the green space of Haydens Road Recreation ground and walking distance from Colliers Wood Tube stop, is listed for £695,000.
This is just below the £706,628 average sold price of a home in South Wimbledon over the past year, according to Rightmove.
Adam Byng, director of PCP Surveyors, estimated that a contractor would charge about £200,000 to refurbish the main house and a further £100,000 or more for a new extension and external works.
A three-bed property on Nelson Road changed hands for £990,000 earlier this year. Agents SW19 said they had recently sold a similar home on nearby Victory Road for more than £1 million.
SW19 director Luke Bennett said: "Although the state of the property is initially shocking, the only obvious structural damage is to the single-floor extension, which contains the bathroom, is of very basic construction and is likely to be fully replaced in any modernisation.”
In fact, the extent of dilapidation in the listed home could work in the favour of visionary buyers, he claimed.
"Any major modernisation project would require stripping a house back to much the state of this property – so it represents a blank canvas.
"There is potential for a two-storey extension at the back and a loft conversion that could take this to a four-bed property and a whole new price level.”
Bennett said the property had attracted healthy levels of interest and offers had already been placed.
The house has a reception and dining room at ground level, as well as kitchen and bathroom spaces. There are three bedrooms on the first floor, and the overall internal area is 68 square metres not including the extension.
Cash buyers only need apply as the house is considered unmortgageable.
