Advice about an empty property you own

Empty property you own - did you know?

An empty property costs its owner thousands of pounds a year in maintenance, utilities charges, lost rent, council tax bills and reduced value if it is deteriorating or in an area where house prices are falling. It can cost even more if it causes a problem to neighbours.

An empty property is an asset that is at risk, and could have the following problems:

increased insurance premiums or companies refusing cover
ongoing Council Tax payments
risk of squatters and legal fees to remove them
no rent
dilapidation whilst empty
increased risk of vandalism
increased risk of fire
boarding up costs
unnoticed leaks and damp penetration
ongoing security costs
ongoing neighbour complaints
the value of empty properties depreciates rapidly, and there is a huge demand for housing

See more about the cost of an empty home.

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So what are your options?

There are a number of options open to you, these include:

Sell it

You can sell through an estate agent, at an auction, or by advertising the property yourself.

Get your property valued by a professional property surveyor or estate agent.

Set an asking price, but decide how flexible you will be as potential buyers may try to negotiate the price.

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Rent it out

If your home is ready to move into, you can rent it out. You could do that yourself or use an agency.

Renting through an agency can take out some of the hassle and responsibility, although you have to pay for the service.

If you are confident in being a landlord we can help you find tenants through our 'Opening Doors Letting Agency', and provide you with template legal documents, this is a free service.

See: Opening Doors Letting Agency section below ...

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Opening Doors Letting Agency

Run by Adur & Worthing Councils, Opening Doors Letting Agency is a free local residential letting service.

If you're a landlord looking to rent out your property, we will find you a suitable tenant, collect the rent and manage all the paperwork - all at no cost to you.

See:

Opening Doors Letting Agency - find out more ...

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Empty Property Assistance Programme

We may be able to help you fund the repairs to your empty property. We have a flexible financing programme to help with repairs and renovations up to £10,000.

At the end of the process, you would be required to let the property through the:

Opening Doors Letting Agency.

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What if it needs a lot of work?

You may need to refurbish or repair the property before you can sell it or rent it out. Get the work done as soon as possible so you can start to recover the costs. If you need a builder, look for one approved by an organisation such as:

Get more than one quote for the work, and get references from other people if you can.

There's a reduced VAT rate for the cost of renovating an empty property that's been empty for two years or more. You pay just five per cent instead of 20 per cent. The VAT rate is 0% if the property has been empty for over ten years, however you would need to sell the property once the renovations were complete.

For more information please see:

If you can't afford the work, or it's difficult to organise (because you live a long way away for instance), talk to us about how we can help you.

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What if you leave it empty?

By law you must keep your property and its surrounding land up to a minimum standard. Making it look occupied can help to deter criminals, anti-social behaviour and squatters.

We can advise you about selling, renting and refurbishing the property, but if the property becomes an eyesore, a nuisance to the local community, or remains empty for a long period we can take legal action to make you correct it. This could cost you even more money than leaving it empty.

See:

Enforcement options - what powers do we have?

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The cost of leaving your property empty

Leaving your property empty could be losing you more than you think. On average in Adur and Worthing it's over £9,000 a year! And it may cost you even more if you have to repair damage caused by vandalism or break-in.

Outgoings: Your empty property will be costing you:

around £1,000 to £3,500 in Council Tax (100%) - see:
- Council Tax bands and charges
utilities standing charges
minimum insurance (where obtainable)
maintenance, damage and repairs

Loss of value: The biggest factor is that the value of empty properties depreciates by over £7,000 a year.

Rent earnings: Now add the rent you could be earning if someone lived in it, based on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rents, see:

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates

You can see that bringing an empty property back into use is not only good for the increasing the local housing supply and the surrounding community, it's good for your pocket too.

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