Jayalal Madde, 48, is the first applicant to be allocated a house under the city council’s pilot scheme to sell 20 of its properties for just £1.

The programme is designed to encourage local people to refurbish vacant homes.

Madde is a self-employed taxi driver who has lived for a number of years in Toxteth with his wife and two daughters, aged 10 and 12.

Having put the finances in place for the refurbishment works – including raising some of the money through his local credit union – he can now start work on bringing the house up to Decent Homes Standard over the next 12 months, so he and his family can move in.

He is one of an initial 10 people who are being contacted by the city council this week to confirm that they have been successful in getting a home for a pound.

It follows an overwhelming response to the plans, with more than 1,000 people applying for one of the 20 properties in the Granby Four Streets, Arnside Road and Webster Triangle East areas of the city.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “We’ve had an amazing response to this scheme and have been absolutely inundated with applications, so to already be in a position to allocate the first 10 homes is fantastic.

“Everything we are doing is about building a sustainable future for our neighbourhoods – and we’ve placed that at the heart of the decisions we’ve made when looking at the applications.

“It mustn’t be forgotten that bringing these houses up to a decent standard will be a real challenge. Those who are successful in obtaining a house will have to put in a lot of hard work, as well as their own finances. But we’ll be there to support them in any way we can.

“This pilot scheme forms part of my commitment to bring 1,000 empty properties back into use, across the city, and help as many local people as possible get onto the property ladder.”