A MAN who built his dream £1million family home is having to sell up – because he can’t get a mortgage.

Colin Baylis spent 18 months creating 46 Woodside, Leigh, and has lived there for about a year-and-a-half with his wife, Vanessa, and son James, 31.

Now the family are having to bid the property farewell, because they can’t get the financial backing to stay. It will be put up for auction next month, with a guide price of £850,000.

Mr Baylis, 54, said: “We would absolutely love to carry on living there. It is our dream home in every single sense, but we simply cannot afford to.

“We have tried every which way with the banks to get a mortgage, but we’ve been refused at every turn. We’ve no choice but to sell.”

The buyer is set to benefit from many features, including a cinema, snooker room, gym and five ensuite bedrooms.

The house also includes a solid oak staircase, a high-tech audio system, an underground garage and underfloor heating over all four storeys, even under the driveway.

Mr Baylis, who built the house through his firm CSF Building Contractors, said: “The council was worried about the sloping drive getting iced up.

“We suggested putting heating under the cobbles, so when it gets cold, it kicks in and keeps the ice and snow off.”

Built with the environment in mind, the property is fitted with a system to catch rainwater for flushing toilets, while motion-activated lights keep the electricity bills down. Outside, the house has 52 metres of landscaped garden, a pagoda and pavilion, plus its own gate into Belfairs woods.

After realising they could not afford to keep the house, the couple decided to sell the property at auction after not one, but three sales fell through.

Mr Baylis said: “My own hands have built it, so I’m very proud of it and what we have put into it.

“We’ve lived there for 18 months and it’s a huge, lovely house. It’s been a difficult time for us.

“It’s cost us a lot of money, but we will overcome it. We came through the last recession and we will do the same now.”

lThe house will be sold by Dedman Gray Auction at a sale, at the Cliffs Pavilion, in Station Road, Westcliff, which starts at 2pm on September 14.