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Housing minister Sally Keeble was shown a rundown terraced house which had been brought back on to the market using the council's Enforced Sales Procedure.

The two-bedroomed house had been empty since 1994 and has caused numerous complaints from nearby neighbours but has now become home to a young couple and their children.

Under the Enforced Sales Procedure, the house was acquired and sold at auction with the council's costs of more than ?4,000, including improvement work, being taken out of the sale price along with other debts.

Manchester City Council has pioneered this method of tackling housing blight and has now produced a unique 'how to' guide which dozens of local authorities are lining up to buy.

The minister, who was in Manchester to deliver the keynote speech at an Empty Homes Agency conference, praised the scheme as 'excellent'.

She said: "I think this is an excellent scheme. It is designed to deal with a specific problem where you have one or two properties in a street and where you need to act quickly before the whole street goes down."

Manchester City Council's housing officer Eamonn Boylan, who also spoke at the conference, said: "We are delighted with the interest the minister has shown in our scheme. It is attracting nationwide attention and we are proud of the results.

"The house in Moston seen by Sally Keeble would still be empty and a blight on its surroundings if it weren't for our enforced sales procedure."