Nick Wisniewski was offered £35k to leave his flat and two years’ free rent somewhere new
A retired bank worker is literally the last man standing on his street after refusing to move from a block of flats that is due to be knocked down.
Nick Wisniewski is living on what has been dubbed ‘Britain’s loneliest street’, as he has no neighbours. The last of the 200 residents of the 128 flats around Nick on Stanhope Place, in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, moved out in December.
Despite being offered £35,000 for his flat by the local council and two years’ rent free somewhere else, the 66-year-old has stayed put.
The eight blocks of flats and other homes on Stanhope Place are all scheduled for demolition as the local council wants to redevelop the area.
The flats, which Nick said used to be buzzing with 200 people, now lie abandoned and overgrown with empty properties boarded up.
The former TSB bank worker said the area is “like a ghost town now”.
“It’s so quiet and strange being the only person living here,” he said.
“I’m used to it now, but it can get lonely, there is no one to speak to.”
Each of the eight blocks, Nick explains, has 16 flats in them, and previously “you would struggle to get a parking space. Now I am the only one left.”
Nick bought his flat in 2017 under the Right to Buy scheme which helped council tenants buy their homes at a discounted price.
Nick claims North Lanarkshire Council’s payout offer would not be enough to buy somewhere else and he’s too old to get a mortgage.
“I am not prepared to start paying rent again and £35,000 is not enough to buy somewhere new,” he said.
“You’re talking £80,000 to £100,000 to get somewhere new.”
But despite rejecting the offer, Nick is worried, as he doesn’t know where he will end up living next.
“I didn’t work all my life to have my home taken from me when I am too old to get a mortgage on something else.
“It would be so hard to leave my home.”
Nick, who retired last year, said when the other residents left their flats they just dumped what they didn’t want – “old cookers, mattresses, washing machine outside, it was a mess”, and he claims the council just left the flats lying empty.
“There is no security and people could get into the empty flats and lots of windows have been broken.
“Thankfully I haven’t had any trouble. The grass is badly overgrown, it’s ridiculous. I think the council are leaving it unkept to annoy me or in the hope I get fed up and leave,” Nick claimed.
A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council said: “We fully understand this is a sensitive issue and are working closely with the resident.
“It would not be appropriate to discuss the specific financial details, but we are working in accordance with our policies to ensure the resident receives a fair deal and to support him so that he finds suitable alternative accommodation.”
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