A prefabricated two bedroom building is being auctioned, with Clive Emson joking that it could prove perfect for government ministers because it can be moved.
The prefab house, starting at £30,000, is constructed from two shipping containers, while it’s seen as an attractive holiday home once moved and placed.
The house has an operational electric heating system, open plan kitchen, bedroom and ensuite shower room.
The sale of the building is excluding land, foundation and delivery costs. The two containers will be dismantled and lifted individually and must be removed to a location of their choosing within 30 business days of the auction and will need access for a low-loader vehicle for delivery.
James Emson, managing director, said: “Our July auction covers all budgets, including for outgoing Prime Ministers who may suddenly require a new affordable home away from the precarious tenancy of Number 10 Downing Street.
“Indeed, given the mass resignation of government ministers, the highest in 90 years, lot 10 might be of particular interest to politicians because you can conveniently take the whole house with you each time if job security is a constant issue.”
With a guide price of £1.75m to £2m, Clive Emson auctioneers sees a parcel of industrial land in Essex (Lot 71) as a highlight of its 118 lots across the South of England.
The land is let at 28,800 per annum, while Thurrock Council has instructed the disposal of the 10.3-acre plot of land, which is located at the southern end of Purfleet Industrial Park, close to the Dartford Crossing.
Emson added: “This is another sizeable instruction from the local authority - another piece of commercial land locally sold in a fierce bidding war for £5.4m through us in the March auction, with demand driven by the strategic location and income/capital growth potential.”
Just under 1.7 acres of land at the mainline railway station town of Swanley, Kent, with planning permission for 18 homes, is guided at £1.5m to £1.6m. The instruction is from Sevenoaks District Council (lot 84). Guided at £980,000 to £1m, a 0.77-acre development site in Gillingham, Kent, has planning permission for seven houses (lot 44).
For those with a head for conversion heights, a former water booster tower is guided freehold at £5,000-plus and is located at Danethorpe, near Newark in Nottinghamshire (lot 42).
One of the more unusual lots is Fort Gilkicker, a Victorian fort overlooking The Solent, with planning permission granted for 26 residential units with “outstanding views” and guided at £1.5m-plus (lot 59).
Emson said: “Construction work started in 1863 and took eight years to complete, with the finished fort providing a semi-circular firing arc from 22 gun placements, over the eastern end of Stokes Bay, Gosport.
“This was to augment the other forts and defences constructed in the area by order of the then Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, and known as the Palmerston Forts amid sabre-rattling threats of a French invasion which never materialised.”
One lot has potential naked attraction – a three-acre former naturist site at Bethersden, near Ashford in Kent, is guided at £90,000 - £100,000 (lot 109).
On the investment front, a block of four Grade II-listed flats in Margate, Kent, has a guide price of £290-300,000 and generates £19,260 annually – equivalent to a gross annual rental yield of 6.4% at £300,000 (lot 46).
Built in 1843, and guided at £180,000-plus, former St Pauls Church in Penzance, Cornwall, has consent for three dwellings (lot 47).
The residential property with the lowest guide price in the July auction is a currently uninhabitable end-terrace house at Crediton, Exeter - £15,000-plus (lot 53).
A six-floor boutique guest house in Brighton, East Sussex, has 14 en-suite bedrooms and is guided at £700-£750,000 (lot 97).
Clive Emson Auctioneers’ online auction ends on Thursday, 28 July, with bidding live two days beforehand.
