PROPERTY entrepreneur Nathan Baws has plastered a �189,000 house in Whittlesey with ‘for sale’ signs in a novel offer that bypasses banks and estate agents.

Mr Baws is trying to popularise a “rent-to-buy” system in Britain as a way of selling homes which he says is common place in his native Australia.

The 37-year-old health consultant says there is no catch to buying the four- bedroom home in Ford Close which can be secured for a �9,000 deposit and weekly payments to him of �217. He owns the home with his partner.

Mr Baws said: “As far as we’re aware this will be the first house to be sold in Fenland in this way.

“We bought this house as an investment when everything was booming in 2007 and now like a lot of home owners we’re stuck with properties that we can’t get rid of.

“It’s a win-win situation. The buyer who could never get a mortgage gets on the market and a seller who is stuck with a property has the chance to get rid of it.”

Solicitors will agree the deal with Mr Baws effectively becoming the ‘banker’. The buyer can re-finance any time through a conventional bank or redeem their ‘mortgage’ when they sell.

He added: “Banks are controlling the system and blocking people from getting on the ladder

“I’m just showing people that there is a different way to selling properties in this terrible market.”

Last year Mr Baws took to the streets of London with a friend wearing sandwich boards to advertise a �600,000 flat using the same method.

He says he has now sold three homes in the UK using the ‘rent-to-buy’ method which he has also used back home in Australia.