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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Alice Suffield & Charlie Jones

Shock as pair given house for free before it's 'destroyed' and left unsellable

A pair of over-ambitious were given a house for free but it was left 'unmortgageable' after being gutted, leaving a TV presenter speechless when he saw the damage.

As part of Channel 4 's Great House Giveaway, two strangers who have never owned a home are given cash to buy, renovate and sell a property at auction.

They have to stick to the strict budget to get it liveable but, if successful, get to split any profit made.

Daniel, 36, and 18-year-old Peter were tasked with getting the four-bedroom terraced property in Neath, South Wales, into a liveable state, but after seeing the state of the place, Peter dropped out of the project, reports WalesOnline.

The two were tasked with getting the four-bedroom terraced property in Neath, near Swansea, into a liveable state (Channel 4)

Daniel was left to crack on but when presenter Simon O'Brien made his first visit since the property had been bought, he was shocked at the amount that had been ripped out, leaving it, in his words, un-mortgageable.

This ninth episode of series three focused on the property in Skewen, an area both Peter and Daniel were familiar with.

Having got the house for £86,000, the two thought it would take just £15,000 to renovate with hopes to sell it for £120,000 afterwards.

Presenter Simon O’Brien (pictured) was left 'speechless' due to the amount Daniel had ripped out (PA Photo/Channel 4 Television/Chwarel)

Daniel, who works in a food processing factory, wants to foster in the future, so the number of bedrooms and large garden was the biggest draw to the house for him.

Apprentice plumber Peter said the property caught his eye due to its location. He said: "I know there is a big park around the corner, and it's a nice place to live, so I think it'll be a nice house to do up."

The house was described as "deceptively spacious four bed terrace with an extended kitchen, [that] done up, could be worth £120,000."

The property needed tonnes of work (Channel 4)

Both men did an initial inspection of the property, which brought up a few areas of concern.

In one of the rooms there were mushrooms growing from the skirting board, whilst in another there was a hole in the floor, and cracks in the walls.

The house appeared dated throughout and was in need of a new kitchen, bathroom and roof.

Daniel was particularly concerned by the cracks in the wall. He said: "This could be the money pot but we will see."

Despite spending £45k on the property it sold for less than the pair originally got it for (Channel 4)

Both Peter and Daniel agreed that they would need at least £15,000 to make the property liveable, which is exactly what presenter Simon gave them.

Both men seemed optimistic, but when the build began, Peter got a little daunted by the enormity of the project, and decided to pull out.

Before the work began, Simon told Daniel to "go gently" on the property and to not start ripping it to pieces.

A lot of the house had been ripped out (Channel 4)

However, Daniel did not heed this advice, as when Simon arrived, the property was unrecognisable.

Simon said: "It's not very often I'm speechless, but this is one of those times.

"The house has been well and truly gutted - no, demolished. No - destroyed, to the point it's completely un-mortgageable."

As the build progressed, Daniel seemed to uncover more and more problems.

The property ended up selling for less than it was bought for (Channel 4)

One day, he arrived on-site to find he needed a whole new roof. For him, that was the end of the project.

He hired a building company to finish the job at cost of £30,000, meaning Daniel spent a total of £45,000 on the house.

By the end of the six months allotted for the renovations, the house wasn't in a liveable state, meaning it had to go back to auction.

The Great House Giveaway presenters Simon O'Brien and Tayo Oguntonade (channel 4)

The property had been bought at £86,000, but despite Daniel spending a whopping £45,000, the property sold at a mere £82,500, less than it had been bought for initially.

Despite his loss, Daniel still insisted he learnt a lot from the project. He said: "It was good. Obviously from a learning and personal experience, but obviously it was a lot more difficulty than we expected in the beginning.

Daniel, 36, and 18-year-old Peter bit off more than they could chew (Channel 4)

"Each time a hurdle would come along, I'd try and sort of, have a bad day and push myself back up and say 'Oh come on now, you know you can do it' and then obviously one day, I walked in the house, I opened the upstairs door and there was no roof."

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