They spent more than a penny! New owners splash out more than £30,000 on disused public toilet in Cornwall that could become holiday home in latest example of holiday hotspot’s soaring property prices
- The facilities in Saltash, Cornwall are run down but could become new trend
- The property sold for an unknown amount, more than its £30,000 guide price
- Locals despair at rising property prices, blaming second home owners
A dilapidated and deserted public toilet in Cornwall has sold for more than £30,000 in a damning sign of the overheating housing market in the county.
Countrywide Property Auctions (CPA) have been handling the sale in Cornwall and said the long-forgotten and disused public toilet block in Saltash was offered freehold.
The tiny building was given a guide price of £30,000 – but when it came up for auction sale yesterday any would-be buyers would have been disappointed.
It appears one buyer grew tired of waiting and decided to jump the queue as CPA announced the property had been ‘sold prior to auction’, but refused to disclose how much it sold for.
The company simply said it was ‘higher than the guide price’. We’re all familiar with paying for a toilet once in a while, but could this be the most expensive visit ever?
The tiny building is closed off from public access and is understood to be in a poor state of repair
From behind the building looks even worse – it’s certainly not the type of place you’d trust not to take a leak…
For Cornish locals it is just the latest sign of a housing market from which they say they are being priced out of.
Residents say they are struggling to buy homes in the face of competition from second home owners from outside the county.
In St Ives, home to around 9,500 people, 540,000 day trippers and more than 220,000 staying tourists visit every year and locals report being unable to afford even basic housing in the area.
This is despite the fact the town’s tourism industry relies on locals to staff its service industries, with approximately 2,800 residents being employed in the tourism sector.
St Ives is a favourite holiday spot in Cornwall for beach lovers – but this comes at a huge cost for locals who can no longer afford to live there
According to Rightmove, average house prices in the town are now at £440,000, more than 17 times the median annual earnings of someone in Cornwall.
This makes the £30,000 for such a tiny, rundown building suddenly seem more reasonable.
Subject to planning permission from Cornwall Council, the new owners of the toilets could use them for a variety of purposes – besides the obvious, of course.
The building could be renovated, repaired or even transformed into a bungalow for holiday renters – or maybe demolished altogether.
Its location on Callington Road, by the A38 places it right on the coastline, just a short distance to the west of Plymouth.
It has mains electricity, water and drainage, and even has its own layby for travellers who used to see it as a pitstop in a legs-crossed emergency.
It could thus become a bungalow – and possibly a holiday let – or cafe if the new owner plays their cards right.
Currently it’s not in the best of shape – the roof has holes so anyone using it could find raindrops leaking on to their head.
And it’s not exactly in a state where someone could take advantage of its price and turn it into a home – certainly without a lot of investment.
Towns such as Truro rely on tourism for their revenue – but it’s beginning to make the area unsustainable
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, average house prices rose by £24,000 in the UK in March 2022. By comparison prices in Cornwall rose by more than £40,000 or 15.3%.
This was matched by a 39% drop in property sales which reflects the spiraling prices as demand outstrips supply.
Part of the supply problem is due to thousands of families moving away from urban centres and into the countryside during the work from home demands of the pandemic.
But locals and council leaders have also been scathing about second home owners who live in their properties for just a few months of the year.
This includes landlords who rent out holiday cottages and celebrities, such as Gordon Ramsay, Twiggy and Dame Judi Dench.
The leader of Cornwall Council previously said: ‘Second homes that stay empty for most of the year are increasingly becoming a real threat to the viability of so many communities across Cornwall, particularly given the housing crisis which has been exacerbated by international events, including the pandemic.’
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