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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
MilkyCuppa · 04/12/2018 17:11

profit on the open market sales (the 4 bed executive homes) have to fund the building of the affordable housing

So we end up with estates of 80 executive houses and only 8 affordable houses (10%). Despite the fact that the affordable houses are what we need.

SmileAndWavePal · 04/12/2018 17:12

I know people who've moved abroad for a couple of years and didn't want to risk renting. So their house was empty but not available.

Caprisunorange · 04/12/2018 17:13

But who pays for them Milky? The government aren’t, so the developers have to. Or rather, the public who buy the executive homes have to.

dapplegrey · 04/12/2018 17:14

DGRossetti - what do you think is the maximum amount of land that one family should be allowed to own?

MilkyCuppa · 04/12/2018 17:15

Proposals that it 'ought' to be the case that councils can simply take over empty properties would need to be drawn up very carefully

It would be a mess. Eventually an owner would come forward and want the money for the house at current market value, plus compensation for the council having used it for however many years, plus the cost of repairs and wear and tear etc. There would be legal battles and the council would have to pay for representation. It isn’t worth the hassle.

NoSpend19 · 04/12/2018 17:16

There is a whole village near me standing empty. Mod property. Occasionally gets used as a film set...

GnomeDePlume · 04/12/2018 17:18

CuriousaboutSamphire similar in my county (I wonder if we are in the same one)

MilkyCuppa · 04/12/2018 17:19

But who pays for them Milky?
Oh I totally understand the problem. The profit from the expensive houses funds the affordable houses. But we end up with 9 out of 10 houses being expensive houses that we don’t need. The country needs another solution.

MilkyCuppa · 04/12/2018 17:20

@NoSpend19 that sounds fascinating! Shocked it’s empty given how popular mid century mod properties are nowadays.

Missingstreetlife · 04/12/2018 17:22

People buy for investment, especially top of the market. Hope the bubble bursts and they come unstuck. Developers buy places and leave them empty, one near us fell into disrepair while the owner argued with planning about how many rabbit hutches could be squeezed in.

PasDevantLesElephants · 04/12/2018 17:26

The Local Councils do chase up on empty houses and as some said upthread, after a certain amount of time you have to pay council tax on it even if it's empty.

We bought a house to renovate and every month I had to send them pictures to show it was uninhabitable (no kitchen/bathroom) and after 6 months, we had to start paying 1/2 regardless of condition. No idea why you'd want an empty house sitting round costing money.

6freerangeeggs · 04/12/2018 17:29

There are 3 empty flats on my street at the moment. The street is low rise, 2/3 bedroom flats, not new build. Property along the street goes for about 100-120k to buy or £600/month rent. (UK but not England.)

  1. Owned by a single mum who moved in with her new partner, it's for sale and had been for 6+ months.
  2. Not sure who owns it, it's usually rented out but hasn't been for over 6 months. Apparently the owner plans to do it up and sell it.
  3. Is available To Let, but no-one seems interested. Is also owned by a previously single mum who has moved in with a new partner.
bruffin · 04/12/2018 17:29

Someone we lnow worked for galliard homes. They just go to China and sell blocks of flats over there. They converted a block near us and the flats never went on the market

Thanksnext · 04/12/2018 17:34

I live in a seaside town with lots of second homes. The one next door to me has not been visited in seven years. I think it’s disgraceful.

CheshireChat · 04/12/2018 17:41

Also, a 6/12 month period in which to sort out probate and sell really, really isn't a lot or even enough.

My mum's abroad so obviously somewhat different, but it's taken over 2years to sort out the inheritance... And there's no one bloody challenging it.

If you have family arguing who should inherit then it can take a lot longer.

Also, what happens if the property just isn't selling- I can think of at least two properties that were on the market for 5+ years... In good condition as well.

6freerangeeggs · 04/12/2018 18:03

Also, what happens if the property just isn't selling

Then the seller is probably asking too much tbh. I bet the two on my street that are up for 100-110k would sell immediately if they knocked 20k+ off the price.

Caprisunorange · 04/12/2018 18:10

bruffin

Someone we lnow worked for galliard homes. They just go to China and sell blocks of flats over there. They converted a block near us and the flats never went on the market

Unfortunately this is very common. You can go over to Hong Kong and sell all the properties in a few hours at an investors exhibition

JasperRising · 04/12/2018 18:16

It seems to be that part of the problem is that there is no one mass of 'empty homes' to deal with. Just reading this thread there seem to be:

1 - homes that are empty through circumstance (inheritance/relocation/illness) of which some will become lived in relatively easily but others are deteriorating

2- executive flats in London and second homes that are never (or rarely) lived in

3 - empty homes where the legal ownership can't easily be established

4 - empty homes that a body such as the MOD has a right to but is neither using nor maintaining.

The last two categories are problematic as the longer they are left the harder it is to make them inhabitable. It would not be possible to make a single rule that brings all these homes into immediate use as the legal situation and expense is different in each case.

As an aside, I saw somewhere that HarperCollins (I think) are publishing a book next year that looks at who owns England in terms of land.

DGRossetti · 04/12/2018 18:18

DGRossetti - what do you think is the maximum amount of land that one family should be allowed to own?

whatever they want - like I've suggested, it's not really a great place to live where the government tells you what you can and can't spend your money on.

But there is a fundamental issue to be addressed, if you allow a handful of people to own vast tracts of land, while other human beings are forced to sleep rough.

DGRossetti · 04/12/2018 18:19

As an aside, I saw somewhere that HarperCollins (I think) are publishing a book next year that looks at who owns England in terms of land.

Bearing in mind there are vast amounts of land that aren't actually on the land registry - because they've never changed hands.

Mercurial123 · 04/12/2018 18:21

I'm working in the Middle East and hoping to return back to the UK next year but due to medical issues may take longer. My home has been empty for six months due to tenant leaving it in such a mess and not paying rent I had to evict her. No way I'm going to spend thousands on refurbishment and have the same thing happen again.

JasperRising · 04/12/2018 18:24

Bearing in mind there are vast amounts of land that aren't actually on the land registry - because they've never changed hands.

If I remember correctly there was something about it using freedom of information and maybe other sources - presumably to get around the land registry issue. Wish I could remember where I saw it now!

TonTonMacoute · 04/12/2018 18:28

What is happening in Devon, especially around Exeter is unbelievable. There are two new towns already under construction, one outside Plymouth and one at Exeter, and now they want four more new 'garden' towns as well.

There was a report recently which said that far too many houses are being planned, we need about 4300 a year based on official statistics, but they are planning to build over 6000 a year! Green fields are disappearing at an unbelievable rate, quite a lot of it is prime agricultural land.

PPs are right, this building boom is nothing to do with providing homes for people who need them, it is about making money. Housing has become a prime investment opportunity, and that is why George Osborne intervened to make sure house prices didn't plummet in value in 2008. Not to protect home owners, but to make sure that rich foreigners kept investing in the property boom.

Travisandthemonkey · 04/12/2018 18:31

Why not charge massive council tax. Prohibitive amounts after 1 year. houses undergoing probate are given a dispensation.

Oh yeah, but then the housing bubble would burst and everyone who bought in the last 10 years would be in negative equity and it would fuck this country.

This government wants property to go up massively in price, it brings in huge tax revenues, it boosts the economy, does anyone really think they’ll do something so radical for the feckless poor!!??

Badbadbunny · 04/12/2018 18:59

This government wants property to go up massively in price, it brings in huge tax revenues, it boosts the economy, does anyone really think they’ll do something so radical for the feckless poor!!??

Not just "this" government. ALL govts of ALL colours have done this for the last few decades.