A man who quit the UK to buy a house in Italy for just 85p was forced to sell it again as renovations could not be completed in time.
Danny McCubbin, 58, bought the house in Mussomeli, Sicily, where a 'Case 1 Euro' campaign was launched to encourage foreigners to the area.
Drawn by the area’s sheer beauty, the Australian thought the offer was too good to turn down.
However his dream slowly died as he was unable to meet the condition which insisted buyers had to renovate the house within three years of purchase to have complete ownership.
As a result he sold it back to the agency who sold it on again.
However he has since earned Italian residency and now calls the pretty town home.
He told Yahoo: “The €1 home scheme was what brought me to the town in the first place.
“That was part of the dream for me – to move somewhere where the cost of living wasn’t as high.”
“I could never do this in London.”
The setback did not deter him however as he managed to turn his hand to buying another cheap house for £6,700 (€8,000) which required less work.
In addition, he was able to find two construction workers to do a week of work for him, with the smaller fixes setting him back £4,200 (€5,000).
This has now allowed him to settle into the home and he has now opened a community kitchen to make and deliver free meals to vulnerable families.
He added: "I moved here at the end of December 2020, because I wanted to live in Italy when Brexit happened.
“I’ve always wanted to live in Sicily, my parents loved the countryside. So I asked myself what was missing in Mussomeli and I came up with the idea of The Good Kitchen.”
The labour shortage has promoted Mussomeli’s deputy to try and reduce the pressure on homeowners who are in desperate need of builders to help renovate their houses.
And mayor Toti Nigrelli has since promised to alleviate the labour shortage for others hoping to purchase a cheap house at a reduced rate.
He said: “Local enterprises, which are busy with renovations until 2024, are forced to turn down new contracts, but soon there will be an influx of new builders from abroad to help out.”
