Residents living in Swindon have hit out a property owner whose eyesore derelict home they believe is putting people off buying homes on the street and affecting their business
Angry neighbours have slammed a derelict house which has been left abandoned on the town’s “most prestigious” street for the past two decades.
Residents in Swindon, Wilts, have finally had enough of looking at the “bombsite” eyesore and called for its landlord to finally sell it off. They have also called for urgent repairs to be made to the crumbling property – number 57, Oxford House – and for it to be taken over by the local authority after complaints the owner isn’t doing anything with it.
Chris Evans lives a few doors down from the home which has been shuttered, graffitied and burnt, as well as a bus stop directly outside, along one of the town’s “premier streets”. He believes it is putting people off buying homes around the area and affecting his business.
Mr Evans said: “This is one of the most prestigious roads in Swindon and for the council to allow that to happen is pretty disgraceful. A bus load of passengers look at this every day and shake their heads in disbelief. I can’t believe it’s allowed to happen.”
But that’s not the only property which is suffering from a lack of TLC from its owner. The neighbouring house behind – number 59 – is owned by the same person shows the torrid state the house is in, including a large carter in the garden and first-floor doors opening into thin air.
Another nearby resident, Agne, who has lived close to the property for the past 10 years, added: “It has become some sort of like freakish attraction for people to have a laugh and point at. You don’t know if you are going to be attacked walking home. If that house goes on fire, straight away it will spread into our house. This house needs to be knocked down. The council needs to get involved.”
A representative from Chalkhills Swindon Ltd, which owns number 60, said: “It’s been left in a sorry state and I don’t understand what his long-term goal is as his investment is devaluing. In all the years that he’s had it, he hasn’t benefited from any rental income really. He needs to get it sorted out or sell it.”
Minaz Moledina owns both the dilapidated number 57, Oxford House, and the next-door 59, which the images show the rear of. Latest pictures show an empty former garage, a large hole that fills with water, and smashed windows and internal brickwork left exposed.
The garden and house were left in this state after an extension was demolished, work which also caused “awful smelling” raw sewage and gas to leak from the house, according to the representative. An internal wall was also left exposed, allowing damp to seep through which was only repaired at the neighbour’s expense.
Number 57 has been described as a fire risk, an “eyesore” and a waste of valuable accommodation during a national shortage. Squatters, fires lit, drug dens and vandalism have all been reported – which have left their visible marks on the house. The Chalkhills representative said: “This is the point. It’s the impact it has on other people. If it’s not for him anymore, that’s fine, things change. But I do not feel that it is for the taxpayers of Swindon to subsidise his business.”
He was referring to a section 215 order from Swindon Borough Council, which means Moledina must fix the house or else the council will do it for him. The chief executive of the council, Samantha Mowbray, has admitted that Swindon Borough Council does not have enough money to do the work itself and so saw working with Moledina as the best option.
Moledina is a senior partner at a chartered accountancy firm based in Corsham. He was contacted but refused to comment.
