The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
‘Yes, I have seven sheds – what’s your problem?’
Homes Under The Hammer’s Martin Roberts tells Dan Moore about his life spent renovating
Martin Roberts has hosted Homes Under the Hammer for 20 years, following new and experienced buyers as they renovate properties bought at auction.
When he’s not scouting dilapidated houses for the BBC, Martin is buying, renovating and letting out properties. His latest is an old pub, the Hendrewen Hotel, in the Rhondda Valley, which he plans to open next Easter.
Father- of- two Roberts, 60, lives with his wife, Kirsty, in an 18th- century house near Bath, Somerset.
‘Like old cars, old properties take much more tinkering with, but they’re beautiful’
HOW DID YOU GET ON LADDER? In 1985, I bought a semi on an ex-council estate in Romiley, Stockport. I paid £23,000 for it. I’ve always been a fan of council properties because they are solid and well-made. I was just starting in the media and not earning much, £25 a week. In that time, I did up the bathroom, kitchen, the whole house. I more than doubled its value.
WHEN DID YOU MOVE INTO YOUR CURRENT HOME?
I was at the Stockport property for two years, then moved to the four- bed semi we now live in. It was a derelict, ramshackle, 18th-century listed house in a village just outside Bath. I undertook extensive renovations, replacing the windows, the roof and so on. Of course, like old cars, old properties take much more tinkering with, but they’re beautiful and worth the effort.
It was a huge challenge, and my first experience of the horrors that lie beneath. I remember one night when we had the roof off, and there was a torrential downpour. I was just standing in the upstairs toilet crying because the rain was pouring in through the floorboards down into the lounge. Everywhere was flooded.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF YOUR HOME?
The garden. It’s not big, but it’s got a pond, seven sheds and I planted lots of trees when I moved in, so it feels woody. They’ve all grown to maturity, and although I’m right in the middle of a village, it’s secluded and there’s always something to look at.
YOU HAVE SEVEN SHEDS? Yeah, what’s your problem? I like sheds. If I had more space, I’d build another. I have a shed for this, a shed for that.
I have quite a few rental properties. Some are longer-term lets, others professional lets. I also have some Airbnbs: some in Devon, including a magical quayside cottage in Dittisham, near Dartmouth. I even have an old haunted farmhouse in the Rhondda Valley.
I’m renovating the Hendrewen Hotel in Blaencwm. It’s a pub-restaurant in a tiny community. We’ve involved local kids, aged 15 to 17 who are disengaged with school. They’re excelling. They have initiative, common sense and a strong work ethic, and they have the chance to get construction industry qualifications at an earlier age.
WHAT’S THE TRICKIEST PART OF BUYING AND SELLING HOUSES? The whole process can be tedious, which is why auctions have become so popular. They’re a bit more clear- cut, the hammer goes down, the property is yours. Normally you have people backing out, changing their mind, financial boxes that have to be ticked.
Every physical thing that’s wrong with a property can be fixed. It just might cost you a lot of money. But some of the legal matters really can’t be. If you’ve got a defective title or restrictive covenant, you can’t throw money at that and expect it to be okay.
I’d think carefully about buying in a problematic neighbourhood. They say “buy the worst house in the best street” and I think that’s still the case.
It takes the same effort and cost to do up a two-bed terrace in an undesirable area or in an up-and-coming one, but your return will be that much greater in the better area.
WHAT’S THE STRANGEST THING YOU’VE UNCOVERED?
We were at a property in Cumbria and the director came out ashen saying there was a corpse in the bedroom. I thought, “that’s a first”, people leave furniture but not dead bodies.
Underneath this white sheet there was a body, which started snoring. We nudged it and this old guy sat bold upright in bed, going, “Where’s me family?” It turned out the completion had happened quickly and there’d been a bit of a scurry that morning. The family had left, and they’d forgotten to take Grandad with them!