10 September 2009, By Emma Greenhalgh

BARGAIN hunters have the unique opportunity to live in a grand Victorian vicarage for a snip of a price.

The offer of living in a spacious vicarage attached to St Aidan's Church, in Oxford Road, with high ceilings and ornate features for just £40 a week with all bills included, sounds too good to be true.

But this is the credit-crunching offer put forward by Ad Hoc Property Management, a company that puts unusual empty buildings on the rental market in a bid to stop them becoming a target for anti-social behaviour.

St Aidan's Vicarage has not been used for a number of years. It is the first building in Hartlepool to be involved in the scheme.
John Williams was the first to jump at the chance of living in the grand eight-bedroom building after spotting the deal on the internet.

And there is space for four more people to take up the deal to live in the vicarage that dates back to 1903.

John, 29, said: "I'm working in Durham, but it's within the radius to commute and I wanted to live by the sea. I'm trying to get a deposit for my own house. It's low rent and it allows me to have a bit of space."

John, originally from Stoke, moved up to the North-East six months ago.

He is renting two adjoining rooms in the house and does not have to pay any utility or council tax bills.

He said: "It's the perfect solution for me. For what I am paying I would never have got somewhere where I have got so much space.

"It's a short-term solution. I'm not buying into a long-term contract.
All you have to give is two weeks' notice."

Craig Mitchell, new business development manager for Ad Hoc, said the firm started as an anti-squatting business in Holland in the mid-1990s.

He said: "It's essentially just a normal house share situation. Rooms are offered unfurnished and it's just a case of coming and having a look around and deciding which rooms they want to take.

"Having guardians in the property keeps it in use, deters any anti-social behaviour, theft, squatting and deterioration of the fabric."

The company expanded to London two years ago and has recently taken up offices in York.

Ad Hoc works with councils, housing associations and private developers to identify buildings, which are watertight and not dilapidated.

Buildings they operate include libraries, office units, schools and factories.

The owner of the building grants an authorisation agreement for the premises and Ad Hoc then grant a licence to occupy for a unit within the premises to the guardian.

There are four more spaces available in the vicarage and anyone interested should ring (01904) 652594.

Source: North-East Press