Houses that don't sell and sit empty - what happens?

[Stardan]

Asking because I'm intrigued what the usual outcome is. There's a house on our street that's been for sale for 3 years now. Not reduced once, extremely overpriced. Previous owners have died and the two sons are selling it. One of them now "lives" there (to avoid the additional empty property council tax) but not really. Other than that, it's falling apart. It wasn't in a great state to begin with but it's looking really bad now, garden overgrown etc. The direct neighbours are all getting peeved off because bindweed and horsetail have spread from the jungle garden to theirs. No pests though (yet).

Anyway, what tends to happen in these situations? At some points the sons surely must come down with the price and just shift the damn thing? Or will it just be left to rot until it falls apart? And then what? (Obligatory sorry English isn't my native language and I'm not originally from here, so I'm genuinely not trying to be nosy, just intrigued).

Next door but one to us was empty for 17 years! Family came maybe once, twice a year to air it and tidy garden, but it must have had a fair amount of internal damp smell as these are old houses. It wasn’t up for sale, though (had been their mother’s), and sold fairly quickly when it was.

It just sits there. I guess, eventually, it might be condemned by the local authority, but otherwise it just sits there.

I wonder this as well. A house near me has been on the market for years as well. It's at least 200k overpriced (honestly it's up at a ridiculous price) and it's been empty for years. It intrigues me

A house in my Mums street sat empty for 30 years. It was an absolute hazard & folk were breaking into it to use for drinking etc. The owner finally agreed to sell it. He got a pittance for it. The new owners basically stripped it back to 4 walls & a roof & rebuilt it

Its so good seeing it now as a lived in family home rather than a derelict mess

I know of a plot of business land which has sat empty for 50 years, due to a family feud. Houses could be the same.

They do just sit there.

There's some very expensive houses in London which aren't selling and have been on the market for such a long time.... There was one particular case around Hampstead where the parents died, and their son inherited it and he died, and there was a long trail of trying to find who then was due to inherit.

I think if there are several years passing without the next person being found at some point, the local authority is entitled to take it. I'm not 100% sure though.

If there's any costs associated with the empty property then in theory, whoever inherits should be paying them.

They fall further and further into disrepair and then they either reduce the price and it sells or they just get left to rot and get broken into by squatters like the one round the corner from us.

Oh that's such a shame. I understand it's private property and one can do with that what one likes to do. But given the housing crisis, letting them just fall into disrepair all empty for decades is sad. Also, not loving the idea of having a ruin on my street to be honest. It's a small quiet village, so I hope it doesn't attract (rowdy) squatters but who knows.

So often if it's empty due to death then the new owners will often either drop the price or put it into auction.

There's a lot near me going into auction at the moment.

I did recently buy a house and it had been empty for two years. The owners had rented it out for a long time but no longer could as it needed a new boiler and had leaks so didn't meet standards.

Sometimes they do just rot,

The one on our road never attracted squatters. Or rats. You wouldn’t have known it was unlived in if you were just passing. So I wouldn’t worry too much, OP.

We had a property across the road from us like this. The owner passed away in 2004 and their son wanted to keep the house as a ‘shrine’ where he could visit from time to time as parents had owned it for 60 years and didn’t want to let it go.

The son died a couple of years later and 20 years on, the property still stands completely empty albeit in a very very poor condition.

And the police have had to be called numerous of times due to trespassers accessing the property.

Just wish the council would make a compulsory purchase order and re-develop it…

One near me has been empty and on the market for the whole ten years I’ve lived here. Its about £100k overpriced and it hasn’t been dropped once. The estate agent changes every few months but not the price. I do sometimes think about viewing it to try and get the scoop on it.

Same here .
It is kept maintained but I am constantly apprehensive that one day it will be targeted by squatters

House next door stayed empty for 5 years. We started mowing the lawn in the end