Southwark: £1.1m council house up for auction

The 216-year-old terraced house at 26 Park Street has been listed in Savills' auction catalogue for 23 July with a guide price of £1.1 million, despite the fact that the council has not yet formally signed off the decision to dispose of the property.

As part of this year's budget-setting process the authority indicated it would seek to sell high value council homes that become empty, sparking concerns from opposition politicians and community groups about the erosion of mixed communities in expensive areas like Bankside.

This week, the council signalled that it was going to use urgency procedures to fast-track the decision to sell the house, claiming that "delay would risk not achieving the optimum price by having too much similar stock in the same auctions, resourcing issues in preparing the sales and failing to deliver receipts in the required timeline".

The Savills catalogue says: "An attractive three bedroom, three storey end of terrace house - close to Borough Market. Grade II Listed. In need of modernisation. Vacant."

We have invited Southwark Council to comment on the decision to list the house for sale ahead of formal approval.

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.”

Just over a decade ago Southwark Council sold off the 'Take Courage' house at corner of Park Street and Redcross Way - and the adjacent house - for a combined £2.96 million.

Earlier this year, one of the houses was back on the market with a £5 million asking price.