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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask who the hell owns all the..

223 replies

OftenHangry · 04/12/2018 15:15

... empty properties?

There is over 200 000 empty properties in England only.
200 000!
There is a housing crisis yet lots of people leave houses to rot and instead new ones have to be built (and they are much dearer to buy).

There is a house near mine which I suspect is empty, so I checked google and this number came up. 200 000....

Gobsmacked. Why would someone just let a house sit empty?

OP posts:
Shitlandpony · 04/12/2018 16:26

*protestors are those living in twenty year old houses built on farmers fields.

DeeStopia · 04/12/2018 16:33

I live in a holiday home hotspot and it's heartbreaking. The next village to mine is a gorgeous harbour village, and is crazy busy in August, but is completely dead for nine months of every year. The house prices mean that local people can't buy, making the problem worse. Tje local school has shut, the businesses shut up shop in the winter. It has lost all soul and it's awful. Holiday homes are immoral.

PoisonousSmurf · 04/12/2018 16:34

Annington, they are the biggest housing owners in the UK.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 04/12/2018 16:34

Shitland I'd invite you to come and see why this NIMBY is complaining.

Flooded main roads because there is no longer enough green space for run off. They are extending road side ditches, which moves the water into different homes, some that, in a flood plain, have not flooded in 500 years!

2 hour traffic jams, daily, because the road was already too full in rush hour - and no, they can't build more cos geography.

The locals would LOVE more social housing, if the new developments included more of it there might be LESS complaints out here.

NIMBY's round here tend to be n the edge of the larger urban areas... the ones living on the edge of what used to be the land separating urban areas. Or people living in ancient villages that are now surrounded by huge estates and a ring road... that kill off the local shops, depressing the local economy.

MartaHallard · 04/12/2018 16:35

There’s a house on our street that has been empty for a few years ... I discovered that no-one knows who owns it...

Sounds bloody daft to me, just give it to the council

Who do you think should give it?

PoisonousSmurf · 04/12/2018 16:36

Holiday homes should be banned in a country that hasn't got enough housing stock!

Gaspodethetalkingdog · 04/12/2018 16:39

A big problem is that most of the many expensive flats in London are built for overseas investors. Many of them will be left empty because they are bolt holes for dictators, army generals etc in case of coups in their countries. Many are owned by offshore companies and the real ownership is hidden.

The law around be changed so foreigners cannot buy U.K. property as is done in New Zealand.

Also with 274,000 immigrants still flooding in where do suppose they all live?

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 04/12/2018 16:39

Don't think that's accurate, so many Married Quarter estates were sold to Annington Homes and then sold privately

It is accurate. Or at least in the City near where I live which, I suspect, PP may have been referring to. Annington did indeed auction off a lot, the bid being won by a (more money to spend) London Borough and not the local authority, leaving 2,500 local families on the housing list still unable to be rehomed locally. However, the MOD held on to a proportion of them here and have completely refused to engage with the local authority in regard to using them for families desparate for local accommodation. The houses have been left to go to pot, being vandalised in the process. The previous London residents have been vocal in their disgust that this is being allowed to happen by the MOD, as have local councillors, stating that they must be used for local families currently waiting, years in some cases, for a family home. The vandalisation and general lack of maintenance making it deeply unpleasant for the London residents living there. No one is winning with these houses being left to dereliction. Annington have suggested there may be a possibility of the houses being handed to them in March of next year and the local authority hopes to be able to purchase them but of course, by then, it’s going to cost them a hell of a lot more to make them habitable. If it’s happening here I can easily imagine the same thing happening elsewhere.

drspouse · 04/12/2018 16:40

Who do you think should give it?

Doesn't unclaimed inheritance go to the Crown?

Holiday homes should be banned in a country that hasn't got enough housing stock!

Many people prefer to holiday in a cottage not in a hotel (and hotels would also be empty 9 months of the year). This is partly as you get more space for your money in a cottage, but also you get more privacy.

So banning holiday homes (by which I mean banning all cottages rented out, rather than banning second homes) would mean that people would no longer holiday in the UK.

drspouse · 04/12/2018 16:41

Judas I imagine that as with other housing stock, the Married Quarters are also not in the parts of the country where service families need them. So even if service families need MQ, they can't get them where they need them.

Badbadbunny · 04/12/2018 16:49

Holiday homes should be banned

Depends on what you mean. Do you mean "second homes" where people live in them the occasion weekend or week and leave them empty the rest of the time, or do you mean "rented homes" where people pay to stay for holidays, short breaks, etc?

For the former, rather than banning them, how about a massive council tax charge on "unoccupied" homes, i.e. where there's no one on the voters register and where it's not occupied for over half the year - something like 10 times the usual council tax charge as a disincentive to leave homes empty and so the amount raised can be put towards local amenities etc.

For the latter, leave alone as the local economy will be benefitting from visitors coming to the area, spending money, etc. Maybe, again, a council tax hike if it's not let out enough, i.e. maybe if let for under 180 days of the year - perhaps a council tax charge of 5 times if not let out enough, again as an incentive to encourage owners to let it out more.

MilkyCuppa · 04/12/2018 16:49

There are a number of empty houses in my parents’ town. I was looking to buy in 2016 so I inquired about them.

  1. Bought as an investment, owner doesn’t have the cash to do it up but also doesn’t want to forego the profit that can be made from renovation. So he’s sitting on it until he can make the profit he wants.
  1. Owner died and left house to granddaughter who’s only about 12 and still lives with her parents. So the house is sitting empty waiting for her to grow up.
  1. Owner is staying with a sick relative as a long term carer. Won’t sell because he needs to move back when the relative eventually dies.
  1. Owner is in a care home and hasn’t yet burned through his cash savings. Family said they’d let me know if it reached the point where he had to sell to pay care fees. They were hoping it wouldn’t come to that as they wanted to keep the house.
  1. Owner died, house is the subject of a protracted legal battle between multiple people who think they should inherit.
  1. Owner lives with his girlfriend, won’t sell because if he receives a cash lump sum they’ll stop his benefits.
  1. Owner bought his council cottage then moved away. He’s renting and won’t sell until 2019 otherwise he’ll have to pay back part of the discount he received.

That was two years ago and only no.5 has come on the market since then. The rest are still empty as far as I know.

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 04/12/2018 16:53

drspouse the particular housing I’m referring to is part of a barracks that has long since closed down so none of the accommodation is needed not just the MQ by the MOD. In fact there’s a triangle of three barracks closed in and around this particular area and the associated housing could have all been used far more sensibly for local homeless individuals and families than it has so far been.

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 04/12/2018 16:57

Incidentally, not entirely unrelated, a not insignificant number of the homeless on the streets of the city in question are ex forces and had been based at said closed down barracks in the past. Just generally an all round awful situation.

DGRossetti · 04/12/2018 17:00

Holiday homes should be banned

Telling people how they can - and cannot - spend their money is a tad ... authoritarian ? (It's also unlikely to resolve anything).

mothertruck3r · 04/12/2018 17:00

Rich Tories!

Caprisunorange · 04/12/2018 17:00

My parents have one. They’re refurbishing it. It’s taken 5 years so far though

MilkyCuppa · 04/12/2018 17:00

Re. new build housing estates - in my area we need affordable 2 bed houses for young people and families. Developers are applying to build 4 bed executive houses which are too expensive to be first homes and will be sold to people from other areas who are already on the housing ladder.

Also they want to build on greenfield because they have less expenses and therefore make more profit. If they build on brownfield they have to pay to clean the site up first. So you end up with a doughnut town where the central brownfield is derelict and new homes are being built in an ever expanding ring around the perimeter.

And as a pp said, they’re building houses but not improving infrastructure. No additional roads, schools or doctors. No consideration for causing flooding in neighbouring areas due to rainwater run-off. Etc.

Fooferella · 04/12/2018 17:03

My MIL. She has a home in a very random town in England (NOT a holiday destination) that she visits for 2 months a year. She won't rent it out because it needs work doing to it and she refuses to have workmen she doesn't know in her properties.
She is proper bonkers.

Caprisunorange · 04/12/2018 17:05

It’s a really difficult situation milky because government grant for housebuilding is barely available anymore, so the profit on the open market sales (the 4 bed executive homes) have to fund the building of the affordable housing (rental and shared ownership) nearly all local authorities will specify that some affordble has to be built on the site, but the developer has to fund. That can lead to quite a dysfunctional portfolio, because you need high profit units to fund the affordable which is low or no profit.

MarklahMarklah · 04/12/2018 17:08

Trying to sell a flat in N London. It's been on the market 6 weeks and apparently not one viewing...

ReanimatedSGB · 04/12/2018 17:09

Proposals that it 'ought' to be the case that councils can simply take over empty properties would need to be drawn up very carefully, though. We should always be wary of anything that could just be used to override someone's wishes because someone else 'knows best', whether that's compulsory purchase/confiscation, assisted dying or sexual behaviours. If someone owns a house that they do not maintain but do not wish to sell, that's still their property and up to them. If the owners of an empty house can't be traced, there would need to be a lot of ringfencing and procedures (such as depositing a sum of money somewhere to be paid to the owner should this person be traced) before anyone else just takes it over.

DGRossetti · 04/12/2018 17:09

The lack of accessible housing is also a scandal. As I said, they aren't even trying.

sonlypuppyfat · 04/12/2018 17:10

Over twenty years ago in my town a whole block of apartments were built and no one has ever lived in them

Andro · 04/12/2018 17:11

I own 3 that are empty - not an intentional move, I inherited them recently - they'd been empty for several years before they came to me. They will remain empty until they have been made fit for human habitation, so probably for several months as there is a lot of work needs doing.

Then I'll decide whether to rent them out or sell them.