£150,000 for two lock-ups in Tottenham - the same price as a Spanish villa with pool

For £150,000 you could buy a beautiful barn conversion in the French countryside, a villa with a private pool in Spain – or a pair of lock up garages in Tottenham.

Next month the two garages will go under the hammer with a guide price of “£150,000-plus”.

Auctioneer Auction House London is selling the rather shabby looking garages on Hartham Road at a sale at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, and its particulars emphasise that the site has the “potential to create a two bedroom detached house”.

An artists’ impression has been drawn up to show how that new house might look, complete with large picture windows and modern wood cladding, although anyone wishing to create the property would first need to win planning permission.

“Our client is an individual who owns the unused garages,” explained Andrew Binstock, director and auctioneer, of Auction House London.

“They have had a serious look into the development potential, and they have had a very basic computer generated image done to show what a residential unit would look like.

“The world will decide what it is worth – it certainly ought to go above the guide price. We will start the bidding at £150,000, and we would like it to go for £175,000 to £200,000.

"We have had loads and loads of interest from developers and builders. The area is a very desirable part of London and what people like at auction is a way to add value.”

The sale illustrates just how hot the property market in London’s suburbs has become in the last 12 months as more and more buyers are driven into previously unfashionable corners of zones three and four in search of relatively affordable homes and investors scramble to buy property before the three per cent hike in Stamp Duty on buy to let homes is introduced in April.

The garages are in the borough of Haringey where average prices have risen by seven per cent in the last year to £535,433 according to the latest Land Registry data.

If £150,000 for the garages is beyond your price range then a 400 sq ft basement beneath a Victorian house in New Eltham is also for sale at the same auction, for £25,000.

Subject to planning permission it would be possible to dig steps down to the basement and insert a lightwell to create windows, and turn it into a studio flat.

If planning consent is not forthcoming, however, the basement’s new owner will find themselves in possession of a very expensive white elephant, since without permission to build steps and a door it is not possible to access the space at all.

“It is an opportunity,” said Mr Binstock. “You have to get all the planning to develop it, excavate it, and off you go. It is at a low value because there are no guarantees you will get planning. You are buying a very complicated deal; this is not one for the faint hearted.”