It is common knowledge that there is something seriously wrong with London’s housing market. Prices have risen rapidly over the past few years and are now out of reach for the typical working man. One of the reason for rise in property prices is due to supply restriction – they are too many empty houses in the capital. There are hundreds of thousands of vacant, derelict properties sitting idle that could be turned in to homes.
Most people are of the notion that the majority of empty properties are held by overseas buyers. But in reality, this is not the case. The more than 21,000 long-term vacant and derelict properties in London arise due to a number of reasons such as the owner going into care or moving away, children inheriting the home after their parents have passed away and owners emotionally attached to the property and possibly facing financial constraints, they might not have decided what to do with the property. Despite their best intentions, it can remain empty and become dilapidated.
Developers are now taking a stand by finding these empty properties, renovating them and then selling or renting them on. I personally like this initiative as it means that empty houses can now get back into use.
Developers are paying individuals who report unused properties. one website that offers rewards is youspotproperty.com. For each empty property you report on the website, you can get £20. The firm has so far paid more than 2,100 spotters this amount since it launched in 2014.
If youspotproperty actually finds the owner, negotiates a deal and completes, you as a spotter can get 1% of the purchase price.
There was a recent media article about Ms Hutton who had spotted an unused property which had been largely untouched since the 1950’s. He reported it and the property was subsequently purchased for £350,000 which earned Ms Hutton a cool £3,500.
Big wins for punters has come from spotting whole houses in extensive areas of greater London. The largest payment made to a spotter to date is £8,000 as the company bought the house for £800,000.
So the next time you spot an unused property, report it. You could be in for a nice payday.
Pedro is passionate about finance, marketing, and technology. He is a growth manager at several online projects and a former digital marketer for a fintech company.
