Being sold by council
the house was made late last year, and it would be on the market in the next few months.
‘‘As part of this process, we are required to offer any such property back to previous owners and there is a set time scale in which they are allowed to respond.’’
A number of the bespoke components in the house, particularly the solar heating system, had reached the end of their life, he said.
‘‘The costs to carry out this work meant it would not have been prudent to carry it out, even to let it in the short term while we were going through the divestment process.’’
It was also difficult to let to families, he said, as many parents were uncomfortable about having a child sleep in a separate grannyflat at the rear of the house.
The house is valued at $830,000 and proceeds from the sale will be reinvested in the social housing programme.
Martin Hanley, designer of the home and vice-president of the Newtown Residents’ Association, was disappointed it had been left in a state of disrepair.
He had contacted the council about suitable groups to live in the house – including a family of artists – in the past year.
Modern homes were starting to catch up with the eco-house’s design, he said.
‘‘In some places we completely over-insulated for the codes of the day but I think the codes are getting closer to that level now, which is interesting.
‘‘It works really well for a family just because of a number of potential sleeping spaces . . . and then there’s the granny flat, which is a great little student apartment. And they’re going to get low power bills.’’