'I sold my house to the DfT 8 years ago - it's still empty'

More than 400 homes bought by the government for HS2 now sit unoccupied amid a housing crisis.

- Alex Ross

A woman who sold her £4m home to the government eight years ago because of HS2 says the 10-bedroom property still lies empty despite a national housing crisis.

Rachel Halvorsen cut the multimillion-pound deal with the Department for Transport (DfT) to sell the property, in Brackley in Northamptonshire, which her family converted from a barn back in 1915. The agreement was struck for the purchase of the farmhouse, along with a bungalow and a cottage, because the HS2 line from London to Birmingham will cut through 25 per cent of the estate's 40 acres.

Yet despite the residential properties being located 300 metres from the line, and eight years having passed since the sale, only the cottage has been rented back out by HS2. The farmhouse and bungalow lie empty, said Ms Halvorsen, the swimming pool has been filled in, and a ceiling in the main house is believed to have fallen through.

The empty house and the bungalow, which Ms Halvorsen used to rent out for £1,000 a month, are among 402 homes that sit unoccupied along the HS2 routes, including along the axed lines to Manchester and Leeds. The DfT bought 1,475 homes, then passed them to HS2, which aimed to rent them out to deliver value for money and avoid empty properties in communities but 27 per cent lie empty, The Independent can reveal.

It comes as Labour attempts to tackle the housing crisis, with deputy prime minister Angela Rayner this week doubling down on her pledge to build 1.5 million new homes.