Britain's cheapest house

Britain's cheapest house is up for sale — at just £1,000.

The reserve price was put at rock-bottom because that’s where the buyer could soon find themselves. For the three-bed semi is built on top of a thousand-foot deep mine shaft which threatens to open up at any time.

Owners Martin and Susan Legg put it up for auction after a survey found the old tin workings under their feet. The Leggs’ granite-built Victorian house in Redruth, Cornwall, has a neat back garden and would normally fetch well over £100,000.

But the couple — who bought it for an estimated £5,000 in 1989 — are offering it with a reserve price of just £1,000 at auction on Wednesday.

Auctioneer Graham Barton said it is very rare to put such a small reserve price on to a well-kept property.

He said: “It means the sellers want the house to go quickly. There are certain mining features causing issues in the area. When buying any house in Cornwall you are taking a chance as many areas are riddled with mines and tunnels.”

The Leggs, who live at 4, Wheal Harmony, paid £2,000 for the survey which included drilling metal poles and dropping cameras into the ground around their house.There is a history of gardens disappearing suddenly around Redruth.

In 2002 elderly Len and Winnie Semmens, who live 600 yards from the Leggs, woke to find a 200ft hole in their garden after torrential rain softened earth which caved in. Another house in the street was demolished a few years ago because the owner knew there was a shaft nearby.

There are 5,000 shafts around Redruth which have been capped with concrete — but many are still unstable.