A five-storey property on the Camden street which inspired Alan Bennett’s play The Lady in the Van, will go under the hammer at Savills’ sale on Monday, 26 March.
The property at 34 Gloucester Crescent, Regent’s Park, NW1, is the most expensive lot in the catalogue, with a guide price of £2.35m-plus.
Bennett sold his home at 23 Gloucester Crescent last year following the filming of the screen adaptation of his 1999 play (both of which starred Maggie Smith), which tells the true story of the homeless woman, Miss Shepherd, who lived in a van in Bennett’s front garden from 1974 until her death 15 years later.
The nearby property up for auction is split into three flats and is being sold vacant. It requires modernisation and offers the potential for restoration as period family home.
The 208-strong catalogue also features a number of investments with regulated tenancies in very good residential locations. There are two such properties in Battersea, SW11: a terrace house on Forthbridge Road producing £25,260 per annum from two flats is guided at £800,000; and a terrace house on Garfield Road, also split into two flats, produces £26,832 per annum and is guided at £850,000-plus.
Another is a purpose-built block of four one-bedroom flats in Morden, SM4, which has development potential. It produces £42,480 per annum and is guided at £800,000-plus.
Auctioneer Chris Coleman Smith described them as property “antiques” as they are “not made anymore”.
The sale at the The Marriott, Grosvenor Square, W1, will also offer a number of homes within the London conurbation guided at around £275-350,000.
“To me they offer tremendous future investment value for first-time buyers, owner-occupiers or people wanting to move up the property ladder,” said Coleman Smith.
“When the vast majority of new-build homes in London are flats it stands to reason that over the next 10 years houses should offer far better investment value, just because there are less and less being built and there is a resultant scarcity value.”
To send feedback, e-mail julia.cahill@egi.co.uk or tweet @egjuliac or @estatesgazette
