From the outside, Main Lodge has the appearance of a fairytale fortress with its castellated tower, gables and turret sitting majestically amid almost two acres of mature grounds. Inside, the sandstone house requires a delicate hand to turn it into a comfortable family home.
Owned by Scottish Water, is category B-listed, and sits on the edge of Lintrathen reservoir, with spectacular views towards the Angus Hills.
A deal to sell it was agreed last year, but it fell through, and the property will be auctioned in Glasgow this week.
The property, lot 37 in the sale, was built in the style of a small baronial lodge by the Dundee Water Commissioners in 1873 as the rather plush three-bedroom home of the keeper of the reservoir. It has since been used as staff accommodation and still houses the company boardroom, an imposing 23ft x 15ft room on the first floor.
The house needs modernisation but most of the original features remain, including an ornate fireplace in the principal reception room, a stone spiral staircase, detailed cornicework and an enclosed courtyard.
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Bruce Osborne of the selling agent Bidwells expects bidders to pay between £350,000 and £400,000 for Main Lodge, but predicts that it will be worth substantially more once it has been refurbished.
The estimated cost of renovation is about £100,000 although on a building of this scale and complexity, there is scope for this figure to rise.
“We marketed the property for Scottish Water last year and received lots of offers but the sale was not finalised, which is why it’s going to auction again,” says Osborne.
“It can be difficult to price these country properties as people can fall in love with them and the bids can flow. But by the time someone refurbishes it, I would have thought they would have a home worth around £650,000.”
He adds: “It resembles a castle in miniature so if someone is seeking the lifestyle of a castle without the enormous bills of living in one, it could be the property for them. It is structurally sound but, like all older properties, it needs some work.”
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Entering the auction room can be a daunting prospect but Shaun Vigers, a director of SVA auctioneers and the man who will bring down the hammer on Main Lodge, believes if bidders get their finances in order and do their homework on the properties that interest them — including carrying out surveys — before walking into the salesroom, they can bid with confidence.
“One of the key points of an auction is that everyone is bidding on a level playing field,” he says. “When the hammer falls you are under a binding unconditional contract and you are signing up to buy a property in a set timescale and under set terms and conditions. With 99.9% of all houses offered at auction, there is no subject to survey or subject to planning consent — you are deemed to have satisfied yourself prior to the auction and to be aware of what you are buying.”
This means that if you find that a property you have bid for is being ravished by dry rot, you have no right to any comeback.
Successful bidders are required to pay a deposit of 10% of the sale price on the day of the auction, paying the balance within 28 days, which is usually the date of entry. However, the main pitfall arises when a buyer is unable to pay the balance in full. If they have not paid within 14 days of the date of entry, the seller has the right to re-market the property, retain the deposit and claim additional costs from the would-be buyer.
Nevertheless, it seems that the auction room is becoming an increasingly attractive place for sellers to market their properties.
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“We get between 600 and 800 people coming to each sale,” says Vigers. “You actually open up the marketplace by selling at auction as there is a big sector of the market who will not enter the closing date system but will happily come to auction.”
Scottish Water will be hoping that Main Lodge attracts such buyers on Wednesday. The house is being sold with some restrictions, one of which states that it is for residential use only and is not to be used for business purposes.
Atholl Duncan, Scottish Water’s head of corporate affairs, says all money raised from the sale will be ploughed back into Scottish Water. “As we are a public body, we have a responsibility to achieve the best returns for any of our redundant assets,” he says.
Main Lodge at Lintrathen, near Alyth, will be auctioned on Wednesday 29 June in the Quality Central Hotel, Glasgow. SVA, 0131 624 6640, www.sva-auctions.co.uk