Episode 13 Britain's Empty Homes Revisited

'Over the years, Britain's Empty Homes have been

'on a mission to show what can be done to revitalise

'and transform some of the UK's estimated

'one million empty properties.'

Hello, how are you?

Good, thank you.

'In this series, I'll be catching up with some of the people

'who took the plunge and staked everything

'on turning unloved houses into bespoke family homes.'

Today, we'll catch up with a couple from an earlier series

who were inspired to take on

an abandoned property after we showed them

some of Britain's empty homes.

What is it? What have you done?

It's my wife, the driving force.

'We'll also catch up with the empty property officers

'who dedicate themselves to turning abandoned abodes

'back into usable homes.'

It's bright as a button compared to the last time I saw it.

So a lot different.

'And we'll be in Hull, where a housing association

'has come up with an ingenious plan

'to rescue empty properties.'

This is a brilliant canvas for first-time buyers,

so they can put their own stamp on this.

Back in series two, Jules Hudson

met Steve and Tracey Jones from Lincolnshire.

Despite having no renovation experience,

the couple bought a derelict barn on the spur of the moment

and planned to overhaul it themselves.

Steve and Tracey bought this abandoned barn

with two acres of land for £145,000.

It came with full planning permission to transform it

and the outbuildings into a five-bedroom modern home.

When we first saw the barns, it was just literally, "Wow!"

It was love at first sight and I had to have it.

The reason we bought the barn was a complete

lifestyle change, more peaceful.

Just the semi-rural,

the quietness,

it's just a nicer environment to bring our son up in.

They had also found

old plans for a conversion that never happened,

which Steve and Tracey used as a template for their own ideas.

And from the bedroom,

glass balcony.

But it was all uncharted territory.

We've got no experience in this.

We've got project managers to help us,

but a lot of the work will have to be done ourselves,

because of budget constraints.

I've given up my job

for hopefully about six months.

My plans are to be there every day,

labouring and helping out and doing what I can.

Taking on the project was not only a huge

financial commitment for the family,

it also meant they had to live in a caravan

for the entire renovation.

Choose your bedroom.

I AM terrified.

Nothing will go smoothly.

It scares me to death,

but if I don't do it,

it's an opportunity in ten years' time I'll look back

and think I should have done it.

A project like this would have been a major challenge

for a professional developer,

let alone a couple with limited experience and a modest

total budget of £110,000.

Back in 2010, Jules Hudson met up with Steve and Tracey

at their Lincolnshire barn

to hear about their exciting plans.

-Hi, Jules.

-Nice to see you.

-Hello, Tracey, nice to meet you.

-You, too.

This is, um, quite something, isn't it?

You've jumped in with both feet here.

So now you have the fun bit of trying to figure out

how you'll turn this into your dream home.

Absolutely.

So you've never done it before?

I've done slight renovations on...

Nothing to this scale,

but I've done little things up in the past.

But what can you do?

Are you a plasterer, a bricklayer?

-No, no.

-A plumber, an electrician?

No, we've got family, family and friends.

To many people,

this is a classic black hole.

-BOTH:

-Yeah.

If you're not careful how you budget and plan this,

you could find yourselves in a world of trouble.

It was clear they'd taken on

a mammoth project,

but they had the enthusiasm and determination

that such a renovation needed.

This is the main entrance.

Oh, my goodness.

This is phase one, then?

This is going to be home to phase one, yes.

The original idea is,

all the ground will be open-plan,

we'll have the kitchen over the back,

a dining area looking out through the views.

-And you'll keep it vaulted like that?

-Yes.

That's part of the character of the building.

You do need to see it.

Yes. It will be very bright.

We'll have lovely white walls.

Lovely big wood burner.

They had planned to live in the completed barn

and remortgage it to finance converting the courtyard

of animal shelters into more living accommodation.

Later we'll see what happened when Steve and Tracey

met a couple who'd taken on

a large-scale renovation,

turning a derelict building into a stunning home.

Throughout Britain, it's not just private buyers like Steve and Tracey

rising to the challenge of turning deserted properties

into functioning family homes.

Local council empty property officers

work tirelessly to track down the owners of these abandoned houses

and do everything within their power to get them back

into circulation.

Dave Carter is one of Enfield Council's most senior EPOs.

When I come across an empty house,

I don't just see the bricks and mortar.

What I see is a potential family house.

Just over a year ago,

Dave was planning to take drastic action

on a long-term empty home.

This morning I'll be visiting a property

to serve a compulsory purchase order.

This means the Secretary of State

has given permission for the council

to take possession of this long-term empty house.

We've been forced into this

as the owner has refused to negotiate with us.

There's rodent infestations,

the rear kitchen has collapsed,

and it is internally one of the worst properties I've seen

for a long time.

But before he could head out to the house,

Dave got a surprise phone call from the owner.

Obviously I'd like to meet you today.

You can't meet me today.

When would be a good time to meet?

The owner is obviously aware that I intend

to visit the property and affix the notice to the house.

He's not happy,

but he wants to meet me

and talk about a possible way round it.

I'll meet with him next week

and we can thrash this out

and hopefully come to some amenable solution.

Even though Dave had spoken with the owner,

legally, he still had to serve notice of the compulsory purchase order in person.

He knows I'll stick the notice on the door.

It's something that has to be done.

I'm keeping my eyes peeled in case the owner does decide

to pop up here. I know that he works only a couple of minutes away.

But if he does, it gives me a chance to have a chat with him

about the process I'm going through.

With the notice firmly fixed on the door,

Dave informed the neighbours

of the council's plans for the abandoned home.

-Hello, Mr Lal.

-Hi.

I'm Mr Carter from Enfield Council.

Just to let you know

that the empty house next door, the council have obtained

a compulsory purchase order

and as part of the legal process we have to fix a notice

to the door.

So we can potentially look forward to a new neighbour soon?

Hopefully, and the new neighbour,

whoever they may be, will get the place renovated

and you won't have to live next door to a wreck.

Look forward to it.

Hopefully, Dave could then get this place back into use a family home.

So the notice has now been served.

I am hoping to meet with the owner next week.

But he will have to come up with firm proposals and a firm timeline.

Without that, the council have no choice

but to move forward to take full possession,

so here's hoping.

A year later, and Dave's long battle to rescue

the worst property on his books

is almost won.

In 2012, the property was snapped up at auction

by a developer who was all set to blitz the house

and then to rent it out.

It's a lot different from the last time I was here.

It's a total transformation.

The windows are nice and sparkling.

Repainted.

The garden was completely up to the first-floor windows.

I'm actually looking forward

to getting in and seeing the rest of the house

is up to this standard.

Today, Dave has come to meet

the new owner, Caroline Robbins,

who's certainly had her work cut out.

-Hello.

-Hi, Dave.

Nice to meet you again.

It looks bright as a button now, compared to the last time

I saw it.

A lot different, isn't it?

-We've cleared it all out and paved it over.

-Looking good.

The windows, we've had to keep original,

because of the conservation area.

They're looking good!

-Would you like to see inside?

-Yes, please.

There was so much rubbish to clear in the house and garden

that seven skips were filled.

A lot different from the last time I was here.

You've obviously spent a few hours sorting this room out.

There was papers, rubbish,

clothes...

And it stank as well.

It was still stinking when you took it over.

It's nice and bright now

and all cleaned out.

Just a few months ago, this kitchen had a collapsed ceiling

and was in a horrendous state.

There's your garden.

I had no idea what was beyond there before.

You couldn't see - it was all overgrown.

Just like the front room, it brings so much light

-into the house.

-Yes.

Obviously I need to check the rest of the house has all been done up

-to standard...

-OK.

..and that I won't get any future complaints

from anybody else who lives here.

Follow me, then, and we'll have a look round.

Dave must be assured that soon this home will be lived in once again

and no longer be the eyesore on the street.

That's where the old bathroom was.

Caroline and her husband

have totally transformed the property in just three months.

All that ivy was coming in here.

There was no window.

They've installed a bathroom downstairs, leaving room upstairs for three bedrooms,

which should appeal to families.

The house is almost unrecognisable.

Well done.

Can't really find any fault with it,

which I'm pleased to see.

Just a few tiny things to finish off...

-Yeah. The estate agent's coming round this afternoon...

-Good.

-..and that's it.

-I'm sure you'll have no problem letting it, just let me know...

-Will do.

-..and then we can sign it off.

OK, lovely, thank you.

Bringing this house back into use is wonderful news,

not just for Dave, but the neighbours as well.

We just wanted someone in and wanted it tidying up.

If it had not been for Dave coming,

this wouldn't have happened. It seems to me

he's dealt with it in exemplary fashion,

as has the council.

A fantastic result, really.

Converting any property can be a tough task

and the pains, stresses and costs can all mount up,

particularly with an old, abandoned building.

However, when you speak to people who've been through it,

they'll tell you the long hours, the sleepless nights,

the hard work are all worth it in the end.

That's exactly how Carole Layfield felt

when she and her family took on this derelict barn in Nottinghamshire.

When I first walked in,

the whole of both rooms were knee-deep in

all sorts of animal rubbish and old hutches, old bits of wire,

but we didn't really notice any of that, to be honest.

We came and looked and said, "Oh, what lovely beams.

"Oh, it's nice and high here, we could do this and this."

But it was a huge job. It took about a month to clear it.

The barn had been empty for several years

before the Layfields paid £275,000 for it.

But not everyone was convinced it was such a good idea.

A lot of our friends thought we were bonkers,

and I don't think very many people

understood what we saw,

and I don't really know why we saw it.

We're not terribly creative in that way.

We've never done anything like this before,

and it didn't really daunt us terribly.

We just thought, "We could use this for this

"and do that for that." And we just plunged in.

One year later,

the family had a home most people only dream of,

with six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a beautiful open-plan kitchen-diner

and even a room for their teenage sons.

Keeping the budget under control can be a full-time job in itself

but the Layfields managed to pull off what many find impossible.

We had a budget of 300,000,

and we stayed in budget, which was amazing.

I don't really know how we did that,

because managing the budget was not easy.

The builder and I sat in the kitchen for hours on end,

writing endless lists of where the money was going,

but it was all very vague, really,

because everything that's expensive that goes

into doing a building like this gets hidden

under the floor or in the walls, so that when

you come to the end of the building, there's very little left

for all the pretty bits, and probably

that's what we didn't take into account enough -

that you have to be careful that your budget doesn't run out.

Perhaps one of the reasons

the couple had such a successful renovation

was that they were aware of their weaknesses

and made sure they hired the right people.

The key thing is to have a good builder

and a good project manager.

Because we didn't know enough.

We didn't know how things fit together,

which order to do things in.

So that was extremely important,

but I also think that he couldn't have done it

without us being here, either,

because nobody's ideas are your ideas,

and there were quite a few things where the builder would say,

"I've asked the chap to come and

"do the doors, and we've got eight panels in that door,"

and we'd say, "No, I just want a big piece of glass, please."

And so they were only small things,

but I think most of the day-to-day progress of the building

will have hinged on having a good builder.

And now that the paint has dried and life is back

to normal, the house suits the Layfields perfectly.

Certainly, we're really pleased with

the way it's all turned out as a family house,

and we can all live here and live in

our own space and we can all get on with

what we're doing with enough room around us, really.

And I love that.

Earlier, we saw novice renovators Tracey and Steve Jones,

who, in the spur of the moment,

spent £145,000 on a deserted barn.

They'd taken on an exciting yet daunting task

and had big plans

to modernise the whole site.

To inspire Steve and Tracey,

Jules took them to meet a couple

who'd completely renovated an abandoned building,

with magnificent results.

When Richard and Janine Johnson first saw

what remained of this former 22-roomed Georgian country house,

they knew, even though it had been on the brink of collapse,

that it was destined to be their next home.

This house represents everything I've ever wanted in a house.

When I first saw the house, I just knew

that Richard would be able to turn it into something beautiful.

In the early 1800s they really did get their proportions

spot on in my opinion.

So restoring something like that is a dream for me.

Empty since the 1960s,

Richard and Janine were able to buy

what was left of this place for £220,000, back in 2002.

Jules Hudson brought Steve and Tracey to meet the owners

of this beautiful property.

Hi, Richard! Nice to see you.

-How are you?

-Nice to see you.

-Hi, Janine. Let me introduce you to Steve and Tracey.

-Hello.

Hello, Tracey. Hi.

Hi, Richard, nice to meet you.

We've been marvelling at the extraordinary transformation

this building has undergone.

This place looks amazing.

It shows if you can put your heart and soul into it,

look at what you can have.

Wow! This is beautiful!

Stunning!

This is a hallway with a real statement about it.

-It is, yeah.

-What d'you think of that, Tracey?

Isn't that just beautiful?

-Yeah?

-Love the colours.

Again, when we first looked through the front door, this...

There wasn't a floorboard and all you could see was down into the cellar.

The story goes that in the '50s, it was used as a motorcycle repair shop.

Right from the start,

Richard and Janine were aware that the original building was listed,

so they had to preserve whatever they could.

With no records to draw on, they relied on historical research

to recreate the interior of the house.

One of my primary concerns is,

I'm going to be doing a lot of the work myself.

Well, I'm somebody who gets his hands dirty,

but I recognise that I have limitations and my view is

that if I can employ somebody who will do it better than I can,

then I will employ them.

And we found an enormously beneficial group of people

who really, really worked together well.

If they know each other, they won't let each other down,

and that's the way it works best from my point of view.

They spent £750,000 on careful reconstruction

and the property had an estimated value of £1.4 million.

Oh, this is lovely!

Stunning. Absolutely beautiful.

Now, on the picture that we saw of this place

before you have so lovingly restored it,

this is just an empty space.

We just basically took the perimeter wall and rebuilt it,

but we didn't mimic the internal structure

because we felt that seven or eight little rooms was not what we wanted

in the modern world, so we just made it an open canvas, really.

We often sit out there, pinch ourselves

and wonder how the heck we managed to do it,

and it can be tough, but there are some fun times in it as well.

-And you have proved admirably that it can be done!

-It can.

So congratulations, guys. Well done.

Time now to find out how a housing scheme

which aims to help first-time buyers get on the property ladder

is getting on.

Across the country, empty homes are a big issue for councils

and in some inner-city areas, whole streets face demolition.

With a bit of TLC,

these houses would be perfect for first-time buyers,

but getting onto the property ladder is becoming increasingly difficult.

The Riverside Housing Association in Liverpool launched an initiative

to address this and to give first-time buyers the opportunity

to purchase an affordable home

via their scheme called Ownplace.

Just over a year ago, I went to meet Tom Maguire,

the director of Riverside, to find out more.

Tom, this scheme, Ownplace, how did it come about?

We had a lot of empty properties in some very challenged inner-city areas

and it was our hope that we could use some of those empty properties

that were unpopular, difficult to let,

and to make properties accessible to first-time buyers

who were increasingly, evidently, unable to access home ownership.

So who was eligible? Did it have to be a first-time buyer?

Did it have to be someone who was going to live there?

It's a first-time buyer project.

Ownplace is geared towards first-time buyers

who've got some other commitment to the neighbourhood

but people who will demonstrate a commitment to their street,

the property, their neighbourhood, the community.

This arrangement kept Riverside's average house price at just £45,000,

which was achievable for many first-time buyers.

'I was keen to see how Riverside were giving both first-time buyers

'and empty houses a chance.'

-Hello, Leanne?

-Hello, yes.

-Hello, I'm Joe.

-Hi.

'Leanne Woods had recently bought her home in Bootle through Riverside

'and was overjoyed by the opportunity it gave her.'

So how have you managed to do this?

What was the house valued at and what did you pay for it?

The house was valued at 50,000. We got a mortgage.

The grant was given to us and we got the mortgage for 37,500.

Brilliant. So you had a bit of a budget when you came in

to put a few new things in, did you?

That's right, yeah, because my nan passed away last year

and left a few thousand,

which I've been using to get the house up to scratch.

-To make it feel like your home.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

Would that money you had, that few thousand,

-have been enough to have a deposit for somewhere else?

-Never. Never.

There's no way we could have owned a house if it wasn't for this scheme.

So when you do come home now, and you sit here

and think, "Blimey, this is my house," how does that feel?

Absolutely brilliant. Love it.

A year on, and Riverside's Ownplace scheme

has gone from strength to strength -

so much so, it's been extended to another city.

Director Tom Maguire has come to Hull

to see how the Ownplace scheme is being rolled out

in the North Bransholme estate, which, like Liverpool,

struggles with large numbers of empty properties.

Liverpool was a resounding success.

250 properties sold through Ownplace

and it's a product we want to see work in Hull.

Tom's meeting the Hull project manager Carlos Joseph

to see the first few completed homes.

-Carlos, how are you doing?

-Hello, Tom.

-Good to see you.

Thank you.

The Riverside team have salvaged these once sad-looking houses,

put in new kitchens, bathrooms and done basic renovations,

and in doing so, have got these places back on their feet again.

This is a brilliant canvas for first-time buyers

-so that they can put their own stamp on this.

-Yeah.

We've not advertised publicly.

We're pretty much using word of mouth

because we want to get the local people to buy into this

and the take-up has been excellent.

It seems to me you've made a real success of it here.

And it looks like they won't be on the market for long.

It's about people saying, "This place is going to work for me.

"I'm going to live here. I'm going to bring my family up here."

The properties that we've actually done already under Ownplace in Hull,

just in the last six months, have all now gone under offer

and that's a real success,

and we think it's going to contribute to the regeneration of this estate.

When we first saw novice renovators Steve and Tracey Jones,

they'd bought an abandoned barn for £145,000

and were keen to get work under way.

Amazingly, it took Steve and Tracey

just eight months to turn that completely derelict barn

into the family home of their dreams.

And when we last saw the couple on Britain's Empty Homes,

they showed us the results of all of their hard work.

Our original plans changed quite dramatically.

We were going to be doing the big barn first

and concentrating on this side of things later on,

but when we thought about it,

we realised that this would be able to provide us

with more accommodation with the budget that we had.

Steve and Tracey ambitiously converted both the cart shed

and the adjoining barn to create a modern, open-plan family space.

But this mammoth project wasn't over yet.

There was still the third and largest barn to transform.

Clearly, Steve and Tracey weren't finished there,

so I've come back to Lincolnshire to find out what's been going on

since my last visit - and just looking at the place from the front,

it's clear there's been another big change.

The Jones' converted barn is set in breathtaking countryside,

surrounded by woodland.

However, access to the property was always an issue,

but not any more.

Hey, guys. Good to see you. Steve. Luke, how are you?

-Hi.

-Tracey, nice to see you.

-Big change here.

-Yeah.

What a transformation from the front.

'They had to demolish one of the barns to open it up

'and create an entrance courtyard.'

There was a wood here before,

and that's quite an achievement to put a driveway through the middle!

It was probably easier than what I expected it to be.

It did involve taking up about 25 trees,

excavating all the soil

and the sub road put in and the gravel on top.

And how nice is that now, Tracey,

seeing the front of your pride and joy as you sort of come home?

-It's just finished, so it's just given us that wow factor now.

-Yeah.

Just amazing, absolutely wonderful.

It opened the place up, so that it really does give it that edge

when you come down the drive and see the house.

I noticed the new gates are in, you finished off the wall -

all these finishing touches, you've had an excuse to bring about.

-Yeah, it's all coming together nicely.

-Yeah? I'm impressed.

With the main part of the house done and dusted,

it's given the couple a chance to address the exterior of the property

and add all the finishing touches.

And they're about to embark on the final stage

of their ambitious project.

Plans have been drawn up for the remaining enormous barn.

What would happen inside this barn?

Well, inside, we'd have

a mezzanine going about two-thirds of the way across

with two bedrooms and a glass balcony

looking onto an open-plan lounge area and kitchen at that end

with, again, the views of the castle.

You seem to have endless drive.

You seem to have buckets of enthusiasm for this.

Has that diminished at all or are you still raring to go?

-It's... Finances have diminished a little bit.

-Right.

But in terms of what we want to achieve,

no, I think that's still there.

It's just little by little, now.

It's a shame we couldn't go full-on and get it finished and all done,

but we'll get there eventually.

Many people start things, they can't finish them.

Very few make this kind of progress in the amount of time you've had.

What is it? What have you done?

It's my wife! The driving force.

-Does it come down to you, then, Tracey?

-Absolutely.

-When I want something done, I need it done yesterday.

-Very good.

It's incredible what Steve and Tracey have been able to achieve here.

When you think about what they started with, in many ways,

the odds were against them. People thought they must have been mad,

but it's been a real privilege and a pleasure to see their progression

over the years on this programme,

and with their drive and determination and dedication,

look where they are now. They have the most fantastic family home.

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