Whole street to be auctioned off by charity for £1.6m

Tenants of Dock Road in Sharpness, Gloucs, are worried rents will rise and they will be forced to move

A charity has shocked residents with its plans to auction off their street.
Dock Road in Sharpness, Gloucs, will be sold next week by the Canal and River Trust with a guide price of £1.575 million.
But tenants of the street, which has 24 homes, have said they are “shocked and worried” and fear the buyer could put up their rents.
The single lot is described as a “rare unbroken street” by auction house Allsop, which informed residents of the sale in a letter.
There are 12 terrace houses, eight semi-detached and two detached properties. The lot also includes two semi-detached mixed-use buildings, a single-storey workshop, three garages and 1.7 acres of vacant land.
Amanda Cawston, 54, who has lived in her house for almost three years with her husband and son, said she “can’t imagine the rents will stay the same”.
She said: “We thought we would be here forever and now we don’t know what the future holds.
“We have spent a lot of time getting the house the way we like. We might not be able to afford this home in the long term.
“We are not in a position to buy and rents are expensive, we really don’t want to leave if we don’t have to.”
The street currently generates rents of about £168,000 a year for the trust.
Zoe Walker, who moved there in 2006, said: “There is a lot of uncertainty.”
Ashford-Barnes, 42, who has been living on the street for seven years, said the street had just had the broken sewage system fixed.
She said: “If the prices go up so be it. We accept that it is cheaper here and we don’t intend to move anywhere else.”
A spokesman for the trust said: “Our intention is that all the cottages will be sold together as a single lot to a single buyer.
“We understand that a change of ownership might seem unsettling but in practice, while there will be a change of owner there won’t be a change to our resident’s tenancies. Nobody is required to leave their home and the properties will be sold on the same terms as the tenants have in place.
“We’ll keep in touch with our tenants as the sale process progresses.”
Dock Road is due to be auctioned on Nov 7 with a guide price of £1.575 million.