BRADFORD Council has raised over £210,000 through the sale of empty houses at an auction.

A number of properties owned by the Council went under the hammer at a Pugh property auction last week, with some selling for well over their guide price.

The Council had obtained the homes, in varying states of repair, either through compulsory purchase orders, by agreement with the owners, or after they were seized from people who have refused to pay Council Tax.

5 Priestly Street in Thornton had a guide price of £30,000, but sold for £42,000 at the auction.

1-3 Priestly Street sold for the guide price of £70,000.

Property and land sale raises over £200k for Council - with one site selling for more than double its guide price

140 Walden Drive, Daisy Hill, sold for £67,000 – above its guide price of £45,000.

And 50 Daisy Street, Great Horton, sold for £32,500 – above the guide price of £25,000.

Two properties failed to sell – 7 Park Road Shipley, which had a guide price of £110,000 and 274 Haworth Road, Chellow Heights – which went under the hammer for £90,000.

The Council says auctioning properties it has purchased is one of the ways it can fill empty homes.