Student block back on the market after £1.5m sale falls through

Birmingham’s Londonderry House has gone back up for sale, two months after it was marked as sold for £1.5m and withdrawn from auction.

The 175-bedroom, eight storey tower in the city centre was due to go under the hammer in July, but the listing was withdrawn prior to sale, and the property marked as sold prior.

Now, the building will go back up for sale in October with city-based auctioneers Bond Wolfe, who’ve set a guide price of £850,000 for the 1970s-era Newton Street block, which has been vacant for five years.

The property was cleared in 2021 due to non-compliance with fire regulations.

A planning application lodged in 2022 by PBSA operator Capitol Students said that external cladding on the building is “not compliant with current safety standards”, with a £15m three-storey extension proposed to fund the “significant” re-cladding works required to make the building habitable again.

The scheme was approved by Birmingham City Council but never implemented, and permission has now lapsed.

A leasehold on the property, subject to a peppercorn ground rent, has 72 years left to run on its 96-year term – although the agreement signed with freeholder Birmingham City Council in 2002 contained provisions which could see the deal extended to 154 years, subject to further negotiations.

The property will go up to auction on 22 October, with more details available via Bond Wolfe’s online listing.