Masons Court goes back on the market
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON'S oldest residential property, Masons Court, has been put on the market by its new owner with the aim of making a large profit.
The Grade II* Listed building was auctioned off back in May by Stratford Town Trust, selling for £520,000.
But the property is being advertised as four separate cottages, ranging in price from £175,000 to £285,000.
The total value of the four entities is put at £925,000 which, if achieved, would mean a quick profit of £405,000 on the original purchase price.
Crucially, considering the Town Trust’s rationale for selling the building being that it could not afford the £1million repairs it required, there is no reference in the advert to the need for highly-skilled and expensive repairs.
The only hint that refurbishment might be needed is provided in a phrase about ‘scope for improvement’.
The new owner of Masons Court, Black Country businessman Gurjit Mahal, confirmed to the Herald earlier this month that he planned to sell the property as four separate entities and that he did not intend to spend £1million on repairs.
Stratford district councillor Jenny Fradgley (Lib Dem, Guildhall) — in whose ward Masons Court is situated — reacted with shock at the news that the building was on the market.
Cllr Fradgley, a fierce critic of the trust’s decision to sell the building by auction, said: “This could have been dealt with far more sensitively to the benefit of the trust and the town.”
She added: “No-one in the town will touch it with a barge-pole because they know how much it will cost to repair. This is a building requiring radical investment.”
Cllr Charles Bates, a Stratford town councillor who recently became a member of the trust’s board again, after previously resigning over the trust’s (now abandoned) development plans for Rowley Fields, said: “It is a sad state of affairs that it has turned out like this.
“We had hoped someone would turn it into a really nice building again. And if it is being sold as four separate properties you wonder how it will be repaired properly.”
It has been argued that Masons Court should have been subject to a tendering process, in which the trust could have chosen the purchaser.
But a spokeswoman for the trust said: “We were advised to sell at auction to get the best possible price for our charity. As we have said before, Masons Court is protected by its Grade II* Listed status, regardless of the owner, and the need for substantial repairs has not gone away.”
The Herald also asked why the trust did not put the £786,000 it received from the recent sale of another of its properties — 4 Chapel Street in Stratford — towards the cost of repairing Masons Court.
The spokeswoman added: “Stratford Town Trust is a grant-giving charity, that is our sole purpose. The trust is not an historic buildings charity.
“Income such as the £786,000 raised through the sale of 4 Chapel Street — an endowed asset — has to be re-invested in another investment to then support our grant-giving. That is how the charity has to operate.”
