Steve Kisby, who transformed a ‘death trap’ home into a six-bedroom property for his family, says he is ready to sell the home as he looks for a new challenge in the Cotswolds
A father who transformed a “death trap” home has sadly put it on the market.
Steve Kisby shared he is moving on to his “next challenge” after successfully renovating a “death trap” house after arriving in Liverpool with nothing but a suitcase and the hope of turning the house into a liveable property. Steve and his wife, Sally, had never been in the North of England before buying their Merseyside-based seafront property six years ago.
But Steve, 67, and Sally, 53, decided to make good on a move up North to New Brighton, following in the footsteps of the 67-year-old’s sister. Steve and Sally fell in love with the area when visiting Steve’s sister and purchased a house on the promenade soon after.
Steve, a builder, found the cheap price appealing and the next thing he knew he was in New Brighton with nothing but a suitcase and a plan to renovate the property into his new family home. Steve previously told the ECHO: “At first it was too dangerous for my family to move up here, so I lived here for eight months on my own, I was living in one room.
“It was so dangerous I was frightened to get into the bath because if you filled it up it would have gone through the floor. There was no shower, it was a death trap, the electrics were awful. There was nothing good about the house at this point except the view. Honestly, it was awful but, once you opened the door that overlooks the prom and stepped outside, and saw the 180-degree view – well, it was just sensational, and the view of Liverpool city is sensational.
“At the time it was a £50k house with a £200k view, and that is what sold us on it. It’s impossible to get anything like this anywhere else.” Steve persevered and turned the house into a beautiful family home which has since hit the market in a sad turn of events. The previous owner of the home had been 93 when she sadly died and the house had been left empty for a year before Steve and Sally bought it in 2018.
Over the past six years Steve has spent thousands and thousands of hours renovating the property in an “exhausting” bout of hard work but despite the “idyllic” area and the “private beach just opposite” it seems like the builder is ready for a new challenge.
He said: “We didn’t intend to do any of this but when we moved up here six years ago for the house we had two boys and a girl living at home. But the boys have girlfriends from the south coast so it was always going to be tricky to get them to stay up here. They have gone already.
“And now we have our lovely daughter who is going to university in Chichester and they have all gone so we feel like we’re too far away from them again. On the way back from taking my daughter back to university I decided to drive a different way home and came through the Cotswolds where we bumped into a house up for sale and it looked like my next challenge.
“It’s a detached old courthouse dating back to 1865. It used to be the courthouse for the village. Inside it’s now a commercial property but outside it’s a grade II listed building, so of course it’s right up my street to convert it back. I just find it intriguing. We always thought we would have to downsize at some point, we don’t need six bedrooms anymore, but I didn’t think it would be so soon. We had the offer accepted on the courthouse and we have done more work on the property here, so it’s now up for sale and I suppose we’re in the luck of the gods.”
