A FIRST-time buyer has been left fighting back tears after being told her dream home was going to be demolished.
Hours after popping a champagne cork to celebrate her move, a letter landed on the new doormat of Dr Fabiola Creed.
It alerted her that her home was inside a regeneration zone facing the bulldozer.
Dr Fabiola, an academic researcher, said the bolt from the blue was devastating and has blighted her life since.
“It shattered everything. I wake up with a sense of dread every morning, and it’s always in the back of my mind because I cannot plan ahead.
I thought buying a house would give me certainty and roots; this is a nightmare.”
She is now urging an investigation into why potential housebuyers are kept in the dark about proposals of this magnitude, claiming she was left blindsided.
Fabiola, who recently married, said she had saved for most of her life to be in a position to put down a deposit on a home of her own.
In a heartfelt conversation with BirminghamLive she spoke movingly of the impact on her health and wellbeing, coming as the news did the morning after she had moved in with such high hopes. “I started saving when I was just 14 years old, doing a part time job.
I started saving £50 a month, then as I got older and started earning it was £100, then £200, so really for 16 years I have been saving up for my first home.
Owning a home meant the world to me because I never had a safe home growing up.
“When I found this dream fixer-upper I was delighted.
I was sold by the seller’s stories that the house was a wonderful place to have and raise children.”
The three-bed house in Lighthorne Road, Ladywood, listed for £230,000 had a lot going for it.
“It’s located close to the city centre, and to work, has three bedrooms and a garden, and is in need of quite a bit of work that means we can gradually put our mark on the place – these were all big pluses for us,” said Fabiola.
But news that the local neighbourhood was in line for redevelopment had completely passed her by.
No hints were flagged by her estate agent or the seller, nor did any information emerge from legal checks.
“The first day we moved in, my mum helped us, and we were so excited.
On our wedding day we had been given two expensive bottles of champagne, one to toast the first home, and one for our first child, and it all felt perfect.
The next morning everything changed.”
Landing on the mat was a leaflet from local MP Shabana Mahmood asking for her views on the Ladywood regeneration plans.
Further investigations by a shocked Fabiola revealed the house was inside the development’s ‘red zone’, and earmarked for possible demolition.
“We were devastated. Do we renovate as planned? Do we wait to have children? These were the questions we were asking ourselves.”
The Ladywood project, first revealed last year, is being finalised between the council and Berkeley Homes St Joseph, which intends to flatten most of the area and put up a new series of towers, apartments and homes with new community facilities, parks and schools.
But the deal is not yet signed off, and there have yet to be any planning applications submitted, so it remains a speculative project, despite all parties involved saying it is only a matter of time before the agreement is signed.
In response to our inquiries, Wentworth and Rose estate agents, who sold the property, said: “We regret to learn of Ms. Fabiola’s concerns regarding her recent property purchase, particularly in light of the proposed regeneration plans for Ladywood.
At this stage, we understand that the regeneration initiative remains in the proposal phase and has not yet been formally approved.
“We undertake significant efforts to ensure that any material information provided by sellers, which could impact prospective buyers, is appropriately disclosed during the listing process.
In this instance, it is unfortunate that the buyer’s appointed representatives did not flag this proposal as part of their due diligence review.
We extend our best wishes to Ms. Fabiola as she works towards a satisfactory outcome with her representatives.”
Negotiations between the council and Berkeley Homes are ongoing.
Affected residents whose homes will be earmarked to go will be offered settlement terms and, ultimately, could be subject to a compulsory purchase order.
Compulsory Purchase Orders – what you need to know
Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) allow public bodies to force homeowners to sell up if their property obstructs a regeneration project or it’s for the “greater public good”, says Home Owners Alliance.
When a Compulsory Purchase Order is made, the authority cannot force you to sell.
They are merely applying to a government department for powers to be able to force you to sell.
Depending on what you and others do next, it may take months or years before they secure these powers, if they do at all.
Fabiola hopes the whole project will be reconsidered. She has publicly pleaded with them: “Please don’t gentrify this area! They should focus on improving what is already there.
Add luxury flats if necessary by building on neglected or abandoned areas of the neighbourhood; create more affordable homes too. But don’t pull down decent homes.”
Ladywood is one of the poorest wards in the city, though it is an area of huge contrasts.
Some of the ward has been neglected for decades, with crumbling concrete maisonettes, high rise tower blocks and poorly maintained green spaces in dire need of regeneration.
But other areas are relatively newly built, including cul de sacs of private family homes, located close to the city centre.
The Ladywood Unite campaign group, which is lobbying on behalf of affected residents, says Fabiola is not the only new buyer impacted, with other stories emerging of people moving in unaware of the proposals.
On the flip side, existing residents who want to sell fear the area is already blighted because of the scheme, despite it not yet being formalised.
Paul Langford, Birmingham City Council’s strategic director of city housing, said negotiations were ongoing with Berkeley Homes St Joseph to secure the best deal for the city, including ensuring the project included more affordable and social housing.
The agreement will be signed once those negotiations conclude.
Individual conversations with the hundreds of households affected can then properly begin, he said, adding the redevelopment would run in phases over the next 20 years.
“These are people’s homes and lives and we are absolutely committed to ensuring that if they are impacted they have a full range of options available to them to get the best alternative home for them.
We understand that everyone will have a different need, and want a different outcome, and we need to have those individual conversations.”
If the council forces you to repair or demolish your home
If you own your home, the council can only force you to repair or demolish your home if it’s dangerous or unsafe, says Shelter.
They can give you advice and support to do the work.
If you disagree with them, you can appeal against the order in court.
