Man slammed for selling former ‘council house’ for £3.5m – despite £1.4million of renovations

A man who was slammed for selling his modest former ‘council house’ for £3.5 million has defended the huge asking price.

Neighbours and potential buyers were shocked to discover the four-bed semi, located in Canonbury, London, was selling for three times the amount it was originally purchased for. The property’s vendor says the price is justified because he spent £1.4 million renovating it.

Accountant Lukov Nikolov said: “I spent £1.4million renovating the house after I bought it… I don’t know if it will sell, but we will see.”

The property, built in the late 50s, was part of a council house and wider publicly-funded building initiative. While it wasn’t leased to regular council tenants, it was used by police officers relocating to work in London for the Met – but in style and size, it’s equivalent to nearby council housing.

Miroslav Nikolov purchased the property in 2015 for £1.2million before renovating and extending it with his wife Srebrina. The pair – who own another house in the same street – dug down to create a spacious basement ‘flooded with natural light’, increasing the properties square footage by a third.

The four-floor property now spans over 3650sq ft of interior space and boasts its own cinema room. Mr Nikolov believes this justifies the £2.3million value increase. The pair’s second property was purchased for £878,000 and is currently being renovated, though it is not clear what their plans entail.

According to Rightmove, terraced properties in the area sold for an average price of £1,659,972, while semi-detached properties fetched £3,873,333 in the last year – which means the property currently for sale is slightly below average.

But while house prices have soared over the last year, Mr Nikolov’s neighbours believe he’s being too optimistic. One told MailOnline that if Nikolov’s house sells for that price, he too would consider putting his even larger property on the market.

He said: “That can’t be right! If that sells for £3.5million, I will put my house on the market for £5million the next day. It won’t sell for that much in a million years. They’ll never get that, even with a basement put into it. His other property on the road is very nice, he put a lot of effort into the renovations. But £3 million will be silly. Most of the little houses along here range from £1.3-1.8million depending on what they have done to them.”

Another neighbour agreed, saying: “That’s not worth it for the price. They are smoking crack if they think they will get that amount!”

But some of Mr Nikolov and Srebrina’s friends think the couple may be onto a winner. One said: “He’s a nice guy and is always joking with people. I think it will sell for the price. People love this road, it doesn’t feel like you live in London when you’re here. Some of the houses along this road go for about £5million, so it’s not the most expensive place here. If you renovate properly, you can easily double the value of your home here.”

Another agreed, saying: “It’s savvy from him. If you increase the square foot of a property here, a £2million rise in nine years isn’t out of the question.”

Many on social media on the hand were less impressed by the home’s bog-standard exterior and said you can get beautiful sprawling mansions for the less the price elsewhere in Britain. Buyers could snap up a six bed home in Durham – or a 13 bedroom mansion more akin to a castle, in rural Scotland for almost half the price of the London property.

One person said: “London prices compared to the rest of the country is crazy”, while another added, “utterly bonkers, I’ll never get the fascination with wanting to live near London.” Another said: “Who’s paying £3.5 million for a four bed semi-detached? It’s absurd.”

The north London property is described on RightMove as a ‘beautiful family home’ in ‘the final stages of a full renovation’. The floor plan shows a lower ground area, ‘flooded with natural light’ a kitchen-dining area, and three double bedrooms, each with their own ensuite.