Live Smart @ Home, the developer behind the Scandianvian-style BoKlok homes in Gatheshead, has refuted newspaper reports suggesting that the much-praised scheme was struggling to find buyers for its eco-friendly homes.
“While like all developers across the UK, we have inevitably found it more difficult selling homes in the current 'credit crunch' climate, the facts are that we have 26 reservations with most now nearing completion of the legal process,” said Neil Shaefer, head of PR & communications (housing operations) at the Home Group.
“There are 36 flats in phase one of our Gateshead scheme and some of the remaining units will be held back for rent, which was always going to be the case as Live Smart @ Home specialises in homes for rent and we have always intended to retain a major 'stake' in the development,” he added.
The scheme had come in for criticism in the local press because a number of factors had led to only a handful of tenants moving in after building work had been completed. But Mr Shaefer told Timber Building that the ‘move ins’ were now imminent.
“The delay can be put down to a mixture of finalising utility company connections and ensuring the areas around the homes, e.g. the landscaping/street lighting etc, is completed to the quality we expect in all our developments,” he said.
In addition, he said, the processing of mortgages had taken longer to finalise than anticipated but that “this appears to have been the case with all new applications across the UK, and not just this scheme, or for first time buyers”.
As reported previously, Live Smart @ Home is offering potential buyers a Try Before You Buy scheme, in which it will allow people to rent a two-bedroom apartment for six-months before choosing whether to buy it. There are plans also to extend the scheme to the family homes when they are built.
Alan Prole, managing director of Live Smart @ Home, said: “We are confident that once people have tried living in a BoKlok home they will want to go ahead with the purchase and secure that all important foot on the property ladder.”