No. | Item | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Question from: County Councillor Lucy Roberts Subject: Disposal of Property
Question: When Powys County Council disposes of any of its property including land and buildings it is in resident’s interest that it achieves the highest price possible. In order to achieve this it is important that the property is widely (and wisely) advertised to maximise interest from potential buyers.
Can I ask Cllr Berriman why it is that Powys County Council’s residential properties and building plots are only advertised on Zoopla’s Commercial pages and not on their Residential site which would appear to be far more appropriate and more likely to be seen by those interested in such properties?
Knowing a building plot in an adjoining ward was for sale I had searched for it on Zoopla and almost missed it as it doesn’t come up unless you specifically search under ‘commercial’ while other building plots appear under ‘residential’. While I was looking, I came across a cottage in my own ward which I thought had been sold in 2020 and which was also advertised only under ‘commercial’. How many others would have missed it? Not only that but this particular property is listed as a farm (which it is not) and although it was advertised at £165,000 in the particulars, a guide price of £112,500 is mentioned. This will hardly encourage potential buyers to make a high offer.
Minutes: Response by the Cabinet Member:
Thank you for your email in respect of concerns about the council receiving ‘best value’ when disposing of its assets. The Property team are required to obtain best value when disposing of assets and it does this in several ways. The use of the PCC website and Zoopla commercial are the primary advertising channels, both of which have proven to be cost effective and provide a high level of enquiries. The team have considered utilising Zoopla residential previously, but the cost of subscription was not affordable based on the volume of sales anticipated at the time. This will of course be reviewed regularly by the team. External Agents are also used to market properties who do utilise various online property sites including Zoopla residential for example.
|