Unmortgageable west London home sells for £691,000 after fierce bidding at auction

A visionary buyer has paid almost £700,000 in cash for an “unmortgageable” three-bedroom house in west London following a fierce bidding war.

The anonymous bidder shelled out £691,000 for the seriously neglected semi-detached property on Murray Road in Ealing despite its terrible condition.

Images show an uneven path to the property’s boarded-up front door, and external woodwork seemingly in dire need of replacement. Inside things only get worse.

The dining room has a huge patch of black mould on one wall along with what looks like scorch marks above a gutted fireplace.

Heavily-stained wallpaper hangs loosely in the kitchen, where tiles appear to be missing from above a dirty sink.

The bathroom is in desperate condition while damage can be seen to floorboards in all three bedrooms. Significant strip out and refurbishment would seem to be required to make the place liveable.

Back outside, the long, narrow rear garden is overgrown to the extent that it seems to be blocking exit through the back door.

Auctioneer Hammer Price Homes sold the property “as seen” with no return of the additional three per cent reservation fee even for any “structural” concerns. It accepted cash only as it said the property was deemed unmortgageable.

Nonetheless, a competitive auction saw 115 bids logged, ratcheting the price up by almost £200,000 in little over 48 hours.

The final cost of the purchase will of course be inflated by the project to refurbish the rundown house.

Renis Gjoka, director at renovation specialists Design and Build London, estimated a budget of £480,000 would be required to bring it up to scratch.

The 90 square metre house lies just north of the A4 Chiswick flyover and Brentford station, and to the south of Northfields Piccadilly Line station. Boston Manor Park is nearby.

Last bought in the 1970s, the home doesn’t appear to have had much love in the decades since.

The average price of a home in the same postcode in the last year is £700,000, according to Rightmove, while an adjacent property sold for £675,000 five years ago.