How to find unregistered property and land

Turn an unregistered or derelict property into your dream home

Ever dreamed of buying a derelict house for next to nothing and turning it into a beautiful home? Or finding an unregistered property and claiming it as your own?.A pipe-dream maybe, but for some people this is the only way that they can afford to get onto to the property ladder. And with an estimated 900,000 empty or derelict homes in Britain, there are plenty to choose from.

Finding unregistered empty or derelict properties

A house or flat may be left empty for a number of years

The owner:

• may be in hospital, in residential care or in prison, consider making an offer
• may have died and there is a dispute over ownership, walk away
• may have died and the next-of-kin cannot be traced, check to see if it is unregistered
• may have been repossessed, check our database, past sales and current availability
• may be unable to pay to repair the property,financial difficulties, consider making an offer
• may want to leave the property to his / her children to deal with after they have died, walk away

How to tell if a house has been empty for a long time

Although it cannot always be easy to say for certain that a house has been empty for a period of time,

assumptions may be made if:

• the property is boarded up or has metal screens over the doors and windows
• no-one is ever seen entering or leaving the property
• overgrown front and back gardens
• rubbish dumped in the front or back of the property
• pests and vermin in the neighbouring properties
• evidence of squatting or illegal activities
• visual appearance of the house, e.g holes in the roof, broken windows and doors
  

If you know of an empty house that fills any of the above conditions then contact your local council to talk about how they can help you to bring the property back into use. Report it as derelict.

  If you are buying through an auction, make sure you set yourself an upper limit and stick to it. Otherwise you may get carried away and end up paying more than the property is worth.
 Always get a survey carried out before you buy. You should do this before you even start bidding at an auction.
Shop around for the best mortgage rate, and don’t expect to get a rate as good as when buying an ordinarily property. There are specialist lenders who deal with these types of property. We supply a list on the property-partner.
When borrowing, budget for all the renovations costs along the way. Don’t spend more on the renovations than the house will actually be worth on completion. Otherwise if you are forced to sell quickly you could find yourself in negative equity.