Literary Society anxious to buy author’s birthplace

Biblio

I’ve been running a quiet literary society forum on the Internet for quite a few years, but now we’re all very anxious to set up an international appeal fund as quickly as possible to try and purchase the house in the UK where the author was born, as the owners have just given us first option whenever they decide to sell.

Sorry to be a bit short on detail but as this is all brand new territory would very much appreciate any simple jargon free advice as to how best to go about this as economically and red tape free as possible.

Many thanks in advance….

paddyrg

Have a clear business plan - what will happen once you've bought the house? Will you rent it out for someone to live in, create a museum, etc? How is it financially viable? Think beyond the immediate purchase and the bigger picture will set the pace for you.

Biblio

Thanks for your reply. It's a small Victorian end of terrace redbrick cottage, asking price is about £100 k odd but although it still retains the all important Victorian atmosphere it will still need a lot of sympathetic restoration first. Financial viability is of course very important but the difficult part with this is although she was very popular in her heyday few have heard of her these days, so I guess it comes down to how much one values one's heritage. Whether at the top end with say The National Trust's properties or at the lower end such as here and why all we can think of is an Appeal Fund.

It would be such a shame and loss if it were to be demolished because of its condition and replaced, albeit with the same facade, with yet another soulless modern box....

paddyrg

I think you'll have to prove its worth to the community/history to be honest. If you have a group of enthusiasts that's a start - I think you all need to get vocal and raise support. Buying the place is one thing, but the cost price is just the start of things, turning it into a self-sustaining facility is a stretch beyond - fitting it as a museum, buying exhibits, paying staff, advertising it.

I don't know the author, or at least don't know if I know the author, but be prepared for it to not necessarily be viable. Jane Austen is a big name, there is a visitors centre in a house in Bath, they have a few exhibits and the place certainly seems to be viable - but that's Jane Austen. If your author is relatively unknown, I can't see your business plan realistically getting hundreds of Americans through the door to pay the bills. I hope I'm wrong, but it sounds like a huge ask.

Someone somewhere has to splash some cash, get a lawyer and business advisor together, and find a viable business model. Maybe you let out 2 floors as period-style holiday lets and 2 floors as a museum, maybe you get a local developer interested in sponsoring the project in exchange for publicity and tax write-offs, who knows? I'd suggest you need to at least form a trust to manage the transactions. All I can suggest is that it's a big undertaking, one I wouldn't want to approach without a serious commitment as it'll be all-enveloping for a couple of years and you need to live in the meantime...

lincroft1710

Thanks, paddy, you've put into words what I was thinking (and struggling to put "on paper").

There are many long deceased, well known writers, but offhand I can only think of Dylan Thomas, Wordsworth, the Brontes, Dickens, Jane Austen and Shakespeare whose homes have been acquired and are open to the public.

I just don't see this as viable, unless the author has a very rich fan! Raising £120K plus (purchase, fees, restoration costs) is not easy, especially for an unknown non-charitable cause.

colino

Why not contact someone in a similar position? Look up Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust and maybe one of their enthusiasts can help you get going.

Biblio

Thank you everyone ! Whilst we've covered much the same ground especially costs as well there's a couple of interesting ideas, developer tax write-offs for one, which I'll certainly put to the others. Wish we could find someone to splash some cash too, unfortunately it's a pretty deprived area already and why to be honest I'm posting this on here as a last resort as time's running out. Incidentally it's still basically a loft, two up and two down with a small kitchen and cellar, with a modern extension at the back.

How would the trust idea work .... ?

paddyrg

You'd need it in trust as somebody has to own it, and if that's a person then it makes no sense to club together to buy a house for a person! A trust would act as a person to legally own the property and raise and handle the money, etc., not in the name of an individual but in the name of the trust. The accounts are harder to plunder and trusts don't get ill or die, so suit long term holdings like this.

But If timescales are short and you haven't got any money nor a meaningful fan base, you might also consider letting go and just buying a blue plaque instead. Shame, I know, but we're talking about a pretty huge mountain to climb, and £120k is a lot of money.

How about this... Would the owner rent it out to you whilst you raise the money? You could give up your current home for a while and move there, using being in situ to help raise interest in the project? If the sale price is £100k the rent won't be outrageous.

Biblio

Thanks for all the advice !

Unfortunately I can’t see the trust idea working as none of us can afford it or know someone who would or could, and yes good point about the blue plaque which if it has to be is the final sad option on our list.

A slight problem with the owner renting it out though as the nearest member lives about 200 miles away, so commuting might be a bit of a problem not only for him but for all of us, especially with kids at school locally and mortgages to pay....!

Going back to the appeal fund again one of the members asked last night why don’t we become a charity to give ourselves more credibility and a chance of a more sympathetic hearing locally, rather than as we are at the moment just a group of distant but well meaning individuals ? If this route were possible would it be possible to then include some form of a commercial arm like I think Oxfam already does ?

Unfortunately I daren’t risk saying who the author is or where the property is in case somebody else buys it and then asks even more.

Atidi

If it's a terraced house in a residential street, it's unlikely to be knocked down. It would need planning permission for that to happen, as would the change of use of a residential property to some other use, and unlikely to be granted without good reason.

If there is a demolition order (or similar) on the property (unlikely on such a property that's in poor condition valued at £100k ) then it will probably be knocked down whoever owns it.

paddyrg

Trust isn't expensive, and very similar to charity except as opposed to being a company or human owner, it's a trust.

As for someone buying it and upping the price, if the current owner is looking to offload then that's going to happen at some point. If you can ask them for a memorandum of understanding that until x date your rust has first refusal at y price then you can mitigate that risk. You could even see about 'optioning' the property and borrowing from the film industry. Basically you put down a percentage against the right to buy at a fixed price at any time in the next 2 years or so. If you don't raise the money, you lose the deposit/option amount, if you do raise it you pay the balance. I doubt the current owner would offer the same terms for an individual as a trust, so another incentive.