Crumbling terrace at centre of squatter stoush resells at $85k loss for vendors

An uninhabitable terrace once at the centre of a squatter dispute and packed with rubbish has resold after the owners abandoned an ambitious reno project.

A reno was started and then abandoned.

An uninhabitable terrace once at the centre of a squatter dispute has sold for $85,000 below the price paid by the vendors, who abandoned a renovation on the property due to soaring building costs.

The property on Elizabeth St went to auction Saturday stripped to a shell of timber beams and parts of ceiling were missing.

The hammer dropped at $1.025 million, well below the $1.11 million price paid by the vendors five years ago, records showed.

Selling agent Mark Foy, the principle of Belle Property Surry Hills, said it was still a strong result considering the challenging building environment, where building and materials costs have soared in recent months.

The inside of the house was once packed with rubbish. Photo: Craig Wilson

“Thirty to 40 per cent of our buyer pool was out the market,” he said.

The vendor themselves were not interested in renovating the property anymore and pulled the plug on the renovation they had started, instead moving to a home that didn’t need work, Mr Foy reported.

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They had a development application approved for a second level extension and the addition of another bedroom.

There were six bidders at the auction, three of whom raised their bidder cards to make offers. All registered parties were builders.

A barrier was erected around the property in 2017 after the squatter incident.

The property pictured in 2022.

The two-bedroom terrace was in the media spotlight in 2017 after a man said to be squatting at the property for 10 years failed in his bid to claim adverse possession.

Images taken at the time showed an interior filled with rubbish and a security cage was later erected over the front door.

The man known as Andrew James said at the time that he was claiming squatters’ rights and intended to seize the property and renovate it in order to rent it out.

This occurred during a legal dispute launched by next door neighbour Gerard Knapp, who was concerned about potential structural damage and a pest infestation after the property had been left to ruin for several years.

There is even an outhouse in the backyard.

The home needs work.

A modern house in this location would be worth $1.8m-$2m.

Mr James lost his bid when the Supreme Court of NSW formally removed him as a defendant after the court heard that the property had been vacated.

Mr Knapp won a court order to have the property sold to recover his costs for what was described as “extensive water damage.”

The original owner before the court order was Chinese-born Australian Paul Fuh, who was alleged to have not been seen or heard from since boarding a flight to Hong Kong in 2007.

Property records show he purchased the terrace in 1991 for $143,000.

Originally published as Crumbling terrace at centre of squatter stoush resells at $85k loss for vendors