Make Money Spotting Empty Properties Using youspotproperty.com

London has a housing problem. Prices have risen far faster than wages and are out of reach for many people on typical incomes. One reason is a shortage of homes, yet tens of thousands of properties in the capital sit empty.

In 2025, there were 47,287 long-term empty homes in London, meaning homes empty for more than six months. That’s up 138% from 19,845 in 2016 (London Assembly). Across England, more than 303,000 homes were long-term empty.

You can earn money by helping to bring some of them back into use.

Why do homes stay empty?

Many people assume most empty homes belong to overseas investors. In reality, there are many everyday reasons:

• The owner has moved into care or moved away.
• Children have inherited the home and haven’t decided what to do with it.
• The owner is emotionally attached to the property or can’t afford to repair it.

Despite good intentions, these homes can stay empty for years and fall into disrepair.

Councils are trying to change this. In England, councils can charge up to double the normal council tax on homes that have been empty and mostly unfurnished for a year or more, rising to triple after five years and four times after 10 years.

How you can earn money spotting empty homes

Some property companies find empty homes, buy them, renovate them and then sell or rent them out. To find them, they pay people to report empty properties.

One example is YouSpotProperty, a company that has run since 2014. Its website says:

• For each report: you get a £20 gift voucher if the property meets its criteria.
• If it buys the property: you get 1% of the purchase price, up to £10,000.
• Track record: it says it has paid more than £1 million to spotters since 2014.

To report a property, you send a photo and the address. Check the full terms on its website before you submit, as the criteria and rewards can change.

Example: if a property you report is bought for £500,000, you’d receive £5,000.

Real examples

In one case reported in the media, a spotter called Ms Hutton reported a home that had been largely untouched since the 1950s. It was bought for £350,000, earning her £3,500.

Most reports won’t lead to a purchase, so don’t expect big payouts often. But if you walk or drive around London regularly, it costs nothing to report a home that looks empty.

Tips for spotting empty homes

Signs a property may be empty include:

• Overgrown gardens and piles of post or leaflets behind the door
• Boarded-up or broken windows
• Curtains that never move and no lights in the evening

Never enter a property or go onto private land to check. Take your photo from the street.

You can also report empty homes to your local council, which may be able to work with the owner to bring the property back into use, although councils don’t usually pay a reward.

So next time you spot a home that looks abandoned, report it. You could help bring a home back into use and earn some money along the way.