Help! I Bought It at Auction with Sarah Beeny
Every year, thousands of properties are sold at auction, ranging from modest two-up, two-downs to multi-million-pound, waterfront mansions. But they often have some nasty surprises hidden beneath the floorboards and need a bit of love and affection to turn them into a dream home. Cue Sarah Beeny. She’s been buying, building and transforming properties for thirty-five years and she’s fascinated by the world of auctions. In this series she’ll be offering a dose of realism as brave new owners try and take their auction buys from derelict to diamond.
Episodes
The property expert charts the experiences of people who have bought homes at auction. In Guildford, she meets Alison and Michael, who were forced to sell their old home when the interest rate shot up. But will their auction buy, with its unanticipated pitfalls, give them the financial freedom they're looking for? She also meets a couple tackling a creaky seven-bedroom B&B in Cornwall and visits an old council loo in Newport, south Wales, that's been transformed into a unique performance space by local resident Janet.
In Nottinghamshire, Laura has snapped up a 100-year-old abandoned bungalow with ivy growing under the wallpaper. Mortgage-free in her mid-thirties, she's determined to create her dream home. But funds are tight, so she has to roll up her sleeves and tackle much of the renovation herself. In Stoke-on-Trent, Tariq has taken ownership of a local landmark - the former Minton Library. To fund the restoration of its historic tiles, he plans to transform the upper floors into an events venue. The pressure's on, as he has just eight weeks until he hosts his first wedding, but spiralling costs and looming deadlines threaten to derail everything. Plus, behind the scenes at the East Anglia Auction House where a tiny plot of land sparks a bidding frenzy, and the new owners of what locals call 'Norfolk's creepiest house' face a big decision - demolish or restore?
Sarah Beeny meets Michelle and Derek, who have bought a cosy cottage in the South Downs National Park. The only problem is, it needs a lot of work and a lack of spare cash means they have to do most of the work themselves. Sarah also follows Archie and Lauren who have grand plans to add value to their Somerset home by building a large outdoor kitchen, and reveals more secrets of the trade at a Devon auction house.
In Herne Bay, Leezac has bought a derelict end-of-terrace and is hoping to create a modern home. However, with a modest budget of £25k, a house stripped back to bare brick, and a steel beam that's causing a problem, Sarah's worried that his budget won't get him close. In Somerset, Alice has bought a classic townhouse built out of local Blue Lias stone. What seemed like a straightforward conversion turns out to be much more complicated when a gable wall is examined more closely.
On the Cornish coast, Danny and Danielle take on a multimillion-pound mansion with spectacular views - and spectacular problems. A storm batters the sea wall, emergency repairs mount up and before work can even begin, they must find £40,000 to rehome the resident bats. In north Wales, the clock is ticking for Aled and Sarah. They want to move in together before their wedding in just a few months, but with the renovation funded by their monthly income, they're doing the hard graft themselves.
Sarah meets Christy and Matt, who poured their savings into a seven-bedroom south London terraced house, paying more than £1million for a property that's in serious need of restoration. With no spare money, they need to do all the work themselves - a task that becomes even more complex when they discover rotten beams. The programme also features Heather and Dave, who bought converted stables in Derbyshire a year ago but have still not moved in, and architect Ian, whose purchase of an old radar training centre overlooking Morecambe Bay has turned out to be a problematic buy.
