Yass manor Old Linton still on the market after almost a decade

If you’ve ever wanted to live in a heritage-listed, eight-bedroom house on 5.14 acres of land, you’re in luck – the Old Linton is still on the market after eight years.

Stephe and Karina Jitts bought the manor, at 22 Glebe Street, Yass, in 2006 and say they had their eye on it much earlier.

“We first saw it in The Canberra Times in 1996 and we just fell in love with it,” Mrs Jitts said. “It was already on the market but we lost out on that particular purchase because it went out to tender. Nine years later we convinced those people to sell it to us.”

The federation-style property in Yass is an hour’s drive from Canberra and sits on heritage listed grounds, including a rose garden and glasshouse.

The main house has four suites, each with its own ensuite and dressing room. Its dining hall can sit up to 30 people and there is also a ballroom which can seat up to 100 people and where Mr Jitts said “half of Yass has been married”.

It was originally the home of legendary sheep baron Arthur Bryant Triggs. It was built in 1857 and was considerably extended in the 1920s. Over the years it has operated as a war veterans’ home, a wedding venue and a private home.

The Yass homestead featured in an episode of the Lifestyle Channel’s Selling Houses Australia

After spending years restoring the house, the couple decided it was time to put it on the market – that was almost 10 years ago.

“We’re retiring, I’m old and it’s bloody hard work and I love it, but it’s a lot of work,” Mr Jitts said.

“It’s not a young person’s house obviously, but it’s not an old person’s house either and unfortunately I’m on the doorstep of being old.”

It went to auction in 2010 but returned no bids, and again in 2017.

“We’re just staggered because you know it’s a stunning house – it’s a dream for the right person,” Mrs Jitts said.

“It’s a house that’s perfectly situated, it’s in the wine industry, it’s on the main road to Melbourne and it’s just three hours to Sydney and an hour to Canberra.”

LJ Hooker Gungahlin agent Naish Stormon said he believed people were frightened by the size of the house.

“It was initially marketed as a 10 or so bedroom property, which is not the true representation of what it is,” Mr Stormon said.

“With the four suites, there’s a separate wing of bedrooms and a bathroom and there’s also a three-bedroom cottage which can be income earning.”

Mr Stormon said the property included a parcel of land zoned B6, which hallowed a range of commercial and residential developments with no minimum block size set for housing.

“The people who are going to buy this house are going to be people who have resources and can spend money on this place,” he said.

“One, because they want a grand country residence, two, they can see the development potential that’s there and three, they have the spare cash to be able to do it.

“That’s the person we’re looking for and that person is not easy to find.”