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A couple who paid £300 (N146,000) for two derelict cottages in east London is selling them as a combined dream home for £1.9million (N925million), DailyMail reports.
The properties were just two of hundreds that local authorities declared too expensive to repair. Locals were given the chance to enter a prize draw as part of the Greater London Council Lottery in 1977.
Jane Alexander and her husband, Gus, entered for the lottery and won the bid for the buildings in Whitechapel.
According to the report, the homes became vacant after they were mysteriously abandoned by their Jewish refugee inhabitants in 1967. As at that time, the buildings were a tangle of weeds with no roof
Those named winner in a draw were then offered each dwelling for a knock-down price of £150; cash Jane and Gus were more than happy to pay £300 which in today’s value is equivalent to £2,000.
The couple invested £30,000 (N14.6million) into the two-year restoration project – which included installing plumbing and replacing the electrics in the run-down property.
More than 44 years later, the property is on the market for £1,899,950.
Jane, a mother of two, said: “We were on honeymoon in Ireland when we found out that we had won.
“We got a letter saying that we had to pay £300 – £150 for each house – and the condition was that we had to turn these two houses into one.
“I had married an architect, and everyone who took up the offer was artistic. Some people [had] refused [the prize] because of the cost and scale of the work that needed to be done.
“The area now is completely different to when we won the lottery in 1977, it has been through amazing changes.
The Grade II-listed house boasts four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large open plan mezzanine level kitchen reception room which leads onto a big garden.