Families sleeping in cars for weeks to ensure they’re first to buy new home

Prospective house buyers have been sleeping in their cars in hopes of bagging a home on a new development in Rochdale.

Families have been doing ‘shifts’ outside the Gleeson Homes sales office, bringing hot water bottles, sleeping bags and even ordering pizza to their vehicles.

Most are hoping to purchase a new home at the sought-after Hill Top Park development, the site of a former primary school where the BBC filmed drama Waterloo Road.

But the properties can only be bought on a ‘first come first served’ basis, and those waiting in their cars have stuck signs in the window that indicate their place in the ‘queue’.

Gleeson Homes doesn’t list any prices on their website, but those in line claim three-bed properties can be bought for around £160,000.

But they are yet to release the homes for purchasing, with those waiting prepared to stay put for as long as it takes.

One mother told Manchester Evening News that her family had so far spent three nights in car – with several relatives, including her husband, all taking shifts.

She said: ‘It’s going to be next week or the week after. They are not telling us when they will be released. I’m hoping it will probably be next week.’

Calling the line ‘the worst procedure’, she added: ‘Why don’t they just release all the houses so people can come and reserve a plot they want rather than people queuing up in a car?’

One woman has put a sign in her car that says she is ‘first in the queue’ and is waiting for the house she wants to reach, ‘stage four’, when the foundations have been dug and the first two rows of bricks have been laid.

It is thought she and other family members have already slept in the car for nine nights.

Nearby residents have said they aren’t happy with the line of vehicles, but have tried to help by topping up their hot water bottles.

One neighbour said: ‘I don’t particularly like that they are sleeping outside my house, but there’s nothing I can do.’

She continued: ‘We didn’t have to do that when we got our house. We called and put down a reserve. We were the first ones in.’

Gleeson Homes said they tried to operate a ticketing system, but that it didn’t work.

A statement from Gleeson read: ‘We have a huge demand for our homes on many of our sites because it is usually cheaper to buy a Gleeson home than to rent one locally.

‘The problem that we have is that someone is always disappointed in not achieving what would otherwise be a very positive life-changing experience.

‘We cannot stop people sleeping in cars and we have previously tried a ticketing system, but who gets the first ticket and how?

‘We sincerely wish that we could provide a house to everyone who wants one and we are sorry if any of our potential customers are disappointed.’