Get paid for showing off your new home

Barratt is offering a tantalising lease-back deal to buyers who are happy to wait for up to 24 months for the property to become available.

The deal is on offer at several developments across London (including at Putney Square, right), and applies to flats and houses. Buyers have to pay up front for the property but they receive a guaranteed six per cent return on their investment - considerably better than the interest they would earn if they left the cash in a bank savings account.

Barratt offers a six month renewable contract for a period of up to two years. Furniture and furnishings are included in the price, and even the garden may be landscaped.

Show homes are a potent marketing tool for builders - hugely popular with buyers but usually the last property a developer wants to sell. Now there is a happy compromise.

Buy-to-let investors will be tempted by the offer, and also home buyers who want to plan their property move. For an investor, the advantage is an immediate income, with no risk of voids. There are no maintenance worries, and the property could well be worth more when handed over for occupation.

Often lease-back deals are done on an ad-hoc basis and buyers have to haggle over the details, though buyers may find it harder to get a price discount than they could with a “routine” property. If there is no specific handover date agreed, buyers could be obliged to take possession much earlier than expected.

Several Barratt developments have more than one show flat for sale. Two at the newlylaunched Putney Square scheme in south west London are priced at £394,000 and £530,000. Townhouses at a scheme called Arena in Hayes, cost £299,000.

Barratt is soon to launch a big new Docklands development - Waterside Park close to Canary Wharf. For more details of this and show homes for sale, visit barratt.co.uk.