Woman left 'homeless' after buying £1 house turns it into incredible dream property

A woman who says she was 'effectively homeless' while doing up a home she bought for just £1 has shared pictures of the stunning transformation.

Maxine Sharples put in a bid at the extraordinary rate in 2015, under a scheme which sold dilapidated houses off cheaply in exchange for homeowners’ agreement to use their own money and resources to bring it back to life.

She told the Liverpool Echo that she “couldn’t have been more naïve” about the process of upgrading the home. Starting the renovations during the pandemic, she was forced to take on a lot of the labouring herself - with astonishing results.

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"I applied in 2015 as a postgraduate student at LJMU. I lived locally in L7 at the time and heard about the scheme through the grapevine,” Maxine explained.

“Although initially I didn't have the funds, I applied anyway and thought, 'I'll cross that bridge' if I was shortlisted. In 2019, four years later, I got a phone call to ask if I was still interested in a home for a pound.”

She was initially given just 12 months to complete renovations, but this was extended during the pandemic. She had an architect draw up a complete redesign of the house’s layout, giving it a totally new lease of life.

The Homes for a Pound scheme is designed to bring dilapidated, empty properties back to life and offer people like Maxine a new chance to get onto the housing market.

She said: "It has taken me 27 arduous months to get it signed off. It was gruelling, I couldn't have been more naïve about the process. As a yoga teacher I couldn't have been less experienced in construction project management.

"With tradespeople in short supply, I took to a