I'm a property expert - here's why your home's more grim than you think'

Daily Mirror

24-06-2025

Scarlette and Stuart Douglas are flying to the rescue in Can't Sell, Must Sell as they try to help desperate homeowners get their unsellable homes off the market.
Famed for their presenting on Worst House on the Street, Scarlette and Stuart Douglas are back to help overwhelmed homeowners who are struggling to sell off their properties.
Property development duo Scarlette Douglas and her brother Stuart advise homeowners in unsellable houses in their newest show, Can't Sell, Must Sell. But not many of them were receptive to the pair's feedback.
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'At the beginning, people can be sensitive to hearing comments about their home,' Scarlette says, 'But the property isn't the only thing going through a transformation, so are they.'
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Known for their teamwork on Channel 4 's Worst House On The Street, Scarlette, 38, and Stuart, 47, are now taking on a new challenge – splitting up to help desperate sellers fix up homes that just won't budge on the market.
In each of the six episodes, the siblings are both handed a property that requires major renovation. With the help of a skilled team of carpenters and designers, they work to make each house as sellable as possible.
The show stands out for its emotional element. 'If someone you don't know criticises your house, you're going to feel offended,' Stuart says, 'Prospective buyers don't know the owner.
We have to explain to the homeowners, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable it is, that it's going to be beneficial. It is constructive. All we care about is making your home more attractive to potential buyers.'
He adds that homeowners are often too close to an issue to notice it, saying, 'When you live in the house, you don't see the problem. It takes someone external to point it out.'
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Scarlette, who is known for her appearances in A Place in the Sun, says, 'One lady was very attached to her house and its Victorian style – she has lots of dolls. When you walked in, everything felt oppressive. It was dark, dingy and scary. Even her daughters were trying to get her to sell it. She didn't want to listen.'
Another tough case for Scarlette involved a charming cottage – with dog odour. 'I love dogs, but you can become nose-blind to them. 'One of the properties was a really beautiful cottage but the minute you walked in, it smelled of dog,' she says.
'They were so used to the smell that they couldn't get their head around it. Those are things you're not going to see but they affect a sale.'
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Although the smell was pungent, Stuart found himself particularly moved by the property's backstory. He remembers, 'What made it important for me was how important it was for the owner.
She was a really lovely lady. The transformation of the house itself was amazing but the transformation in her was memorable. She was so grateful.'
Emotions ran high elsewhere, too. One case that hit Scarlette hard took place in Swansea, where they met a widow who had filled her home with china plates and memories.
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'Her husband did the DIY. She couldn't do anything around the house,' Scarlette says. 'She was so grateful at the end, I was an emotional wreck.'
While houses and empathy are at the heart of the show, the hard graft is just as real. 'We're not just walking in, saying our piece and walking out,' Scarlette says, 'We really do get involved, even off-camera.'
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Stuart agrees, 'We had great teams,' he says, 'But we needed lots of hands on deck to complete the transformations. Even the cameraman took things to the skip. Everyone chipped in.'
That level of involvement was essential, given the scale of the jobs – and the tight turnaround. 'It was hard and stressful,' Scarlette says, 'We started around 8am and wouldn't finish until about 11pm. We cover two houses in a week, but the end result made it all worth it.'
Of course, it wouldn't be a Douglas project without a bit of healthy rivalry. 'We are competitive in nature,' says Stuart, 'Scarlette was a professional dancer in the West End, our brother and I played professional football. We are very close, but we're very competitive.'
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He adds, 'The real goal was to help the homeowners, though we both still wanted to have the best house. In our family, we go into things and we do it to be the best.'
Still, their visions don't always align – especially when it comes to bold design. Stuart still shudders at the memory of a stiletto heel chair that Scarlette was desperate to keep on an earlier show.
'It was one of our first developments,' he says, 'Scarlette found the chair and I told her at the time, 'It's not happening.' She went crying to our mum, who gave me a telling-off.'
Years later, the chair made an unexpected comeback in Can't Sell, Must Sell . 'There was a real danger to my sanity,' Stuart jokes. 'I found it during filming. I told Scarlette we weren't going there again.'