A SHABBY disused public toilet block has been sold at auction for a staggering £50,000.
The successful mystery bidder was left feeling flush after bagging the small derelict lavatory based in a run down suburb of Birmingham, which fetched £20,000 over its guide price.
The buyer stumped up the eye-watering fee for the former Birmingham City Council owned building in the Hockley area of the city.
Many bidders had been willing to spend their pennies on the former toilet which, according to the buyer guide, had had “all sanitary fittings removed”.
The new owners were wooed by the building’s potential which included, according to the sale particulars, “a number of alternative uses including retail or office use”.
Council finance chief councillor Randal Brew said: “We take a responsible approach to the management of our assets and only want to keep sites which will be of benefit to taxpayers.
“Receipts from sales are ploughed back into new projects and it is always pleasing to see buildings that are in disrepair or no longer of use to the council being turned into hubs of activity under new ownership.
“We have some very interesting properties for sale, which offer developers a host of options, and I expect there will be strong interest in all of our sites.
Cllr Randal Brew, Cabinet Member for Finance at Birmingham City Council, said: “When a property has no chain, it’s always more desirable – we had no problem in flushing out potential buyers, who were clearly interested in spending more than a penny on this site.”
Along with the former public convenience, nine other city council lots were also offered up by the authority in a move to rake in cash from unwanted assets.
A total of £1.5 million was made from the auction despite a 1960s school building in Sycamore Road, Aston, failing to reach the reserve price of £350,000 and remaining on the shelf.
The surprise sale of the day came after a furious bidding battle for a single-storey office building on Regent Park Road, Small Heath.
Described as a modern 1980s purpose-built office, it raked in £351,000 from a guide price of just £140,000.
A former Lloyds TSB branch in Villa Road, Handsworth, also attracted a bank-breaking £410,000 from a guide price of £150,000.
