Sarah Mazloom and Claire Howell Britain's Empty Homes

Across the country, properties that could be homes

are just waiting to be brought back into use.

I'll be finding out why and what you need to do to rescue a house for yourself.

And I'll be doing some digging of my own,

to find out more about our housing stock, our heritage and why

we should be both be reinventing and preserving

Britain's empty homes.

There's a massive housing shortage in the UK today

and yet there's nearly a million properties lying empty

and abandoned. Of course, it's a pretty daunting prospect to take on

a house in a state of disrepair,

but beyond the peeling paintwork and boarded-up windows

is potentially a beautiful home, just waiting to be brought back to life.

On today's show, I'll be meeting up with a woman

who's looking to take on her first renovation.

Oh! Fantastic! I didn't expect that.

I'll be finding out what's being done

to address the nationwide housing crisis.

How many lives could be better if they had a home to live in?

What must they feel like when they see something like this empty?

And we'll be following the property detectives who track down

the owners of forgotten homes and bring the buildings back to life.

There is actually holes in the glass there,

as if someone's thrown something through it.

Karen Cartwright is about to make a big move from Devon back to

her birthplace of Swinley on the outskirts of Wigan.

Her eldest children have settled here and now Karen

and youngest son Bradley are set to join them.

I moved down to Devon 25 years ago,

enjoyed myself down there, got myself some lovely friends.

But now I'd like to move back to be near my family.

My house in Devon, I really, really love.

Ideally, I would like to put it in a box

and just transport it to Swinley.

Leaving her dream house behind, Karen's now set her heart

on finding an empty home that she can make her own.

I look at new properties, but they don't mean anything to me.

They leave me cold. There's no character to them.

Karen plans to do a lot of the work herself

and to live on site during the build to cut costs.

Renovating a property is a really exciting prospect to me.

I have thought about it for about four years

and I can't wait to get my hands on one

and just renovate it, put my stamp on it,

and when it's done, just look at it and think, "I've done it."

'I've arranged to meet up with Karen in Swinley to help her with her search.'

-What is it you're looking for?

-A semi-detached house

in a quiet area, three bedrooms,

bit of a garden or a bit of an area at the back

that I can put my stamp on as well.

Sure. Well this is a property that I want to show you. 1920s or early 1930s,

semi-detached, does have three bedrooms,

does have a bit of a garden space and is also on a nice, quiet cul-de-sac.

Ticks a lot of the boxes. Let's go inside and have a look round, shall we?

This house is on the market for £145,000

and Karen has 170,000 to both buy and carry out the renovations.

So, this is obviously the front room.

The things that stand out in here for me are a few of the features.

You've got these rounded, brick edges to things, that's '30s,

stained glass in the window, it is not original, but...

in keeping with the style of the property.

-Quite a bright feel to it.

-Lovely. Yeah, I like the big windows.

-Yeah, it's really nice.

-You've got a gas fire here, as well.

Yeah... I'd have to find out if the chimney's working,

-because I would like a log burner.

-OK.

-The eco-friendly burning...

kind of materials. Really warm. Absolutely lovely. That's what I'd like.

The 1930s semi is in need of modernisation,

but the good news is that it seems to be habitable.

Poke your head in here. Can you tell what it is?

-Oh, right, it's a kitchen.

-A kitchen.

-The positioning of the door,

I thought it was an under stairs cloakroom,

a toilet and a basin, but I didn't think they'd fit a kitchen in here.

They have! A compact kitchen, it is, too.

Could you work in a kitchen like this, or is this too small?

It's too enclosed for me. I'd have to think of what we could do

to open it up a bit, and I do like Agas,

so I think an Aga would take up nearly this full wall.

This would be the Aga room and not much else.

Bear this in mind as we go through to the next room at the back, there.

Again, it's a kind of reception room, so, I suppose, given what

we've seen in the kitchen, you have the option of knocking through.

Is that something you'd considered?

You get that whole space as well, added onto the big open plan rooms.

Didn't think of that.

Outside, I'm hoping the purpose built garage might provide

some useful extra space for Karen and her son.

Fantastic! I didn't expect that.

That's my son's drumming room. No noise, now, in the house.

That is a good plus point, that.

I think you've got room, if you wanted, room to extend.

-Definitely.

-That kitchen could go out the other way.

-What do you think?

-It could even come this way,

-with this, if I want to extend there, as well.

-And lots of light.

There's nothing built up in that space,

so if you'd any glass panelling or roofing, you'd bring a lot of light in.

Definitely, I'd make sure I had a glass roof to get the light in.

-I like the look of that. Quite promising. Lots of potential there.

-Yes, definitely.

Yeah, really excited now.

It's been really good for Karen to have a look at this place,

not just because it's in the right area and fulfils many of her criteria,

but it's a good opportunity to visualise how she would use an empty home like this.

Later, I'll take her to meet a couple who have

completed a renovation very much in line with her aspirations,

and I think they'll have some really good advice about how

to make the whole process as painless as possible.

Up and down the country, our streets are blighted by empty properties.

But throughout the UK, a team of men and women are working to ensure

these derelict houses become homes, once again.

Steve Reed works for Cardiff Council

and is dedicated to getting the city's vacant homes lived in.

It does become more than a job,

because you find on your days off when you're out and about,

driving around, you spot these empty properties a mile off

and think, "I could do something with that."

In his nine years on the job, he's saved over 700 houses from ruin.

When I finally see an empty property occupied,

it's a great sense of satisfaction, that you've actually played

a major part in getting it back to this occupied state.

Steve has received reports that a building

he dealt with over six years ago, has been left empty again.

What I am going to be doing today,

is having a little look around the property,

to see if we can confirm whether there's someone living in there.

The letterbox is open, but there's a curtain behind it

so I can't see inside but it doesn't look like there's anyone there.

We've got a light on.

That's probably just been left on to make it appear as if there's someone in there.

It's clear the house is showing signs of neglect and deterioration.

Just looking at this step, here, there's a huge crack across the top.

The tiles are all loose, and then looking up,

there's some sort of black staining which looks like water damage

across the top of the door as well, so it's not being maintained at all.

The condition of the bay windows is also a big concern for Steve.

It's almost open. The latch is hardly holding it shut.

The glass has been pushed in. There's actually holes in the glass, there,

and there, as if someone's thrown something through it.

Whilst there's no sign of life in the house, it seems to be a different story in the garden.

The grass has been cut,

so obviously someone's been here, fairly recently.

It looks fairly recently cut because it's still green.

Just check the bin.

There you go. There's all the grass cuttings,

so obviously the bins are collected weekly,

so it's been less than a week since someone's been here and done this.

You do get lots of properties where owners just keep them

looking like there's someone in them, when there isn't.

Eager to solve the mystery of who's been at the property,

Steve decides to try and speak with the neighbours.

I've spoken to a few of the neighbours.

They have confirmed that there's nobody living here

and there hasn't been for about a year.

They also confirmed that a couple of days ago, somebody turned up,

a couple of them turned up, cut the grass, put the light on and left,

so there's definitely nobody here.

So now I'll go to the office and start our procedure on this property

and get in touch with the owner, find out exactly what's going on.

Since Steve has reopened the case,

he's been in contact with the owners,

who have said they're planning to develop the site for flats.

It takes courage, commitment and determination

to take on an empty home.

All too often, the years of neglect have taken their toll,

and the problems can be challenging and costly.

However, rarely are they insurmountable,

and the benefits can be huge.

You give a house a new lease of life, and in return

the house gives you the chance to create your dream home.

Mark and Jo Turner were riding their horses

when they first set eyes on Crockmore Farm.

I think the first thing that we liked about the place

was that it had a lot of character and had room, land for horses.

Situated on a 50-acre plot near Henley-upon-Thames,

some of the structures date back to the 17th century.

The farm lay empty for ten years before Mark and Jo spotted it

and saw its huge potential.

Every building - and there were a lot of them - were falling down.

The house itself had holes going through the floors.

-We couldn't walk upstairs.

-You couldn't. It was dangerous.

We just thought, "I don't know if we're up to this."

I think it took us about six months of coming back and keep looking

and thinking, "Well, you know, it could be something spectacular,"

and I think that's when we eventually decided to go for it.

The couple paid £1.5 million for it back in 1999,

and due to the size of the project, they employed a planning consultant,

architect and project manager for the four-year renovation.

We wanted one project manager to report to us

so that we didn't have to have the concern

of dealing with things we didn't know about.

It did make things a lot easier.

The couple have transformed the Grade II listed farmhouse

into a beautiful five-bedroom family home

and converted the adjoining barns into a state-of-the-art games room

and a multifunctional entertainment space.

The house has sort of emerged as we've lived here.

We've got a feel for how we feel it would work.

We tend to use the old house as the snug part of the house.

It's where we sleep. The bedrooms are above there.

It has sort of our "den", where we hang out as a family,

and it's much cosier in the very cold winter nights.

The old owner has been over,

and he's delighted that it's back together again.

It's nice that it is back together in one piece

and hopefully for another few generations!

In recent years, waiting lists for housing have soared to record levels

and despite 4.5 million people needing homes,

there are almost a million properties

standing empty across the UK.

This is a country in the grip

of a housing crisis which needs to be addressed nationwide.

The Government recently announced a fund of £50 million

to help regenerate areas losing the fight against empty properties.

So I've come to London to meet David Ireland of the Empty Homes Agency

to find out just what a difference this money can or will make.

-David, how are you doing?

-Good to see you.

How mad does it make you when you see

just the amount of empty properties in this country?

Well, it does, and I just think,

how many people's lives could be better

if they had a home to live in?

What must they feel like when they see these houses empty

-and they haven't got a home for themselves at all?

-Yeah.

Let's talk empty properties and government funding.

£100 million was made available to tackle empty properties,

now another additional 50 million.

What's the thinking behind this extra pot of cash?

Well, this money is specifically aimed

at areas where there are a lot of empty homes and the market is weak.

Regeneration is trying to get areas that are run down

back and going again, getting the housing market going.

I suppose once decline sets in on a whole area,

street upon street empty,

it's very difficult to turn that around, isn't it?

It is. You need something to break the log jam,

and sometimes funding can do just that.

It seems to me this is about kick-starting, this is a spark

to try and turn areas around,

and once they're moving and going in the right direction,

it's hoped that individuals or developers come in

and sort of jump on the bandwagon.

Absolutely. I think that it's the direction

that areas are going in which is critical,

and if areas are going down, then nobody's going to invest.

If you can get areas going up,

even if they're still in quite a poor shape,

then people see it's worth putting their money in,

and then areas begin to take off again.

Finally, there is some money being made available now,

first the 100 million, now this extra pot of 50 million

for regeneration of empty properties in specific areas.

How encouraging is that for you,

that there's some hope, some attention, some money on this problem?

At a time when it's difficult to get public money,

it's amazing that we've got this, and I'm very pleased that it's there.

It's not enough to solve the whole problem, but it's a very good start.

Tackling the problem of empty homes is clearly on the government agenda.

Money is being made available, which is great news.

Of course, it can't be solved overnight,

it does require a long-term commitment,

but investing in vacant properties today

helps create and maintain our communities of tomorrow.

'Earlier, I met Karen Cartwright,

'who plans to take on her first renovation

'in her home town of Swinley in Wigan.

'To help her realise the potential of an empty property,

'I'm taking her to meet a couple

'who have successfully completed a stunning restoration of their own.'

Well, Karen, this is the house I want you to see.

This property was built in 1911, so it's late Edwardian.

It's an arts and crafts house.

It was empty for a while, before these guys bought it,

so a bit like the house you saw earlier.

Can't wait to see the similarities or what they've been doing inside.

Yeah. I think what they've done inside will appeal to you.

-Shall we go and say hello?

-Yeah. Looking forward to it.

-Great. Go on.

When Kit and Ellie Knowles spotted this late Edwardian arts and crafts semi in Chorltonville,

Manchester's garden city,

it was love at first sight.

When we first looked around the property I think we were both really excited.

We'd been here about five minutes and we were like, "This is the one."

None of the rooms had had any work done

in any shape or form for 30 years,

but, at the same time, had the most beautiful shell we could work with.

It had all the original features, the lovely, charming staircase,

and the stained-glass windows, and the fireplaces

and many more that we found along the way when we were, sort of, hacking off the old plaster.

The renovation took 14 months in total

and by the time they'd finished, Kit and Ellie had reduced the carbon footprint of the house by 60%,

making their home ecologically sound

was something very close to the couple's hearts.

It's a representation of our personalities, it's...

it's exactly what we wanted because of the fact that we designed it,

created it, built it, it's just us.

Crikey, look at this! This is lovely.

-We had, first of all, a wood burner.

-Right.

-That's something you mentioned earlier and...

-Yeah, I haven't seen one of those before.

It's a bit of a different one, this one, this is German technology.

So, we brought this over cos it's got very high efficiency,

but it also looks fabulous and at Christmas time, you know,

you have the seats, but everybody seems to be sat on the rug in front of the fire so that's really nice.

How much of the work did you do yourselves, guys?

The original intention was to get our hands dirty and really do a lot,

but as it went on we realised that builders are far more skilled at building than we are.

What would take me days would take them minutes, literally,

I mean, it's exponentially quicker being done by a builder

and we just worked this out price for price.

It wasn't worth us getting involved.

It was much quicker and cheaper to just get the builders in there

and the finish was just, it was just gorgeous.

I've heard the advice, people say, "Stick to what YOU know,"

cos that's going to pay for the work to happen,

rather than giving up a week to do what someone else can do in an hour.

-Yes, it is.

-A difference to bear in mind,

but, of course, I assume it you helped gut the place as well.

When it comes to pulling down plasterboard or things like that,

-that's where you can get stuck in.

-Yeah, the destruction bit,

-it's good fun to get involved in!

-Right, yes.

-It really is.

You get, you really get with the crowbar and ripping stuff off, it was fun, but...

But as soon as, soon as you need some skill in something,

that's when it's best left to the professionals.

Just looking at what they've done with this

and how they've brought life back to an ageing building, really,

that had been neglected for years...

-And keeping the original features as well.

-Yeah, do you like that?

-Is that something that you would do?

-Yes, I'd like to have a contemporary feel,

but keep the nice features of an older property.

The entire rear of the property was removed

to make way for a timber framed glazed extension,

which now houses a light and contemporary kitchen diner.

Tell us, guys, what size was your kitchen before you extended and where was it?

-We wouldn't be fitting in it right now.

-No.

-If you stepped a little bit further this way, maybe.

-Yeah.

-Sort of, pretty much as you come there, across and just behind you, Joe.

-From about here.

-Right.

Yep, so that, it was originally a very small L-shaped kitchen

from the days when cooking wasn't really to be seen

and they, sort of, brought the food through,

but we wanted to create a space where I'd be cooking and I'd be able to interact with everyone else.

There's quite a few similarities here to the property we saw earlier.

-What I quite like about this is you've got the sense of opening up...

-Right, yes.

-..going to the side, which you could do...

-Yes, which I was against.

-With a backroom,

-but maybe with an island or finding a way to use the space cleverly.

-Yes.

Also, maybe pushing out a little bit.

-There was room for that at that property.

-Definitely.

-It just gives you that scope, as you got here.

-Yes.

-What you think of the glass? Do like the glass?

-Yes, it's just...

how I'd envisage mine to be.

It's the most expensive element by a mile.

If you're looking at wall versus glass, it's around ten times more expensive to fit.

The best advice I can give you is control the glazing,

make sure it's bringing in enough light to give you that, kind of, healthy feel,

but not too much, cos you're going to start to pay for it.

The back of the house opens out onto a good-sized garden,

where Kit and Ellie have continued their environmentally friendly approach to the renovation.

So, it's a conservation area you're in here,

so I guess you have to be very careful about how you extended

and you've kept a similar brick look in garden as well.

Actually, this is not just similar,

these bricks were the materials that came out of the back of the house.

-So, these are 100-year-old Chorltonville bricks that you're looking at.

-Fantastic.

Well, guys, thank you so much for showing us round your home, it's been incredible.

I don't think I've been in quite such an efficient place, certainly!

It'ss also very beautiful and aesthetically pleasing as well,

so thank you very much and hopefully lots to take away there, Karen?

-Lots, yes, yes, and some brilliant advice as well.

-Thank you.

Back on the streets of Cardiff, empty property officer Steve Reid

is fighting to save Britain's forgotten homes.

Today Steve is in the district of Roath

to visit a home that was originally left empty when the previous owner became ill and passed away.

Due to, sort of, problems with probate and clearing the house,

the present owner's had it for about four years

and has taken this long to get to this stage.

When the new owner took on he property back in 2006,

it was in need of some serious TLC.

Finally, we're at a stage, now, where it's ready to be rented out,

so we're here this morning just to confirm that it is ready

and have a little look around.

-Hello, Mr Welsh.

-Good morning, Steve, yes.

-That's it, Cardiff County Council, how are you?

-I'm very well, thank you.

So, I can see you've made quite a lot of progress.

Yes, absolutely, I mean, since those days,

all of the possessions that the late owner left in the house,

that's all been cleared.

Building work has been undertaken.

I can see, as well, you've kept some of the original features in there.

-It's got some lovely features.

-Yes.

Some beautiful architraves round the doors

-and you can see the cornice in the ceiling.

-And these are all original, are they?

-That's absolutely right.

He's worked hard to preserve the original character,

whilst updating it with plenty of mod cons.

Originally there was no bathroom in the house

and at the back of the house, here, was just an outside toilet.

-Oh, right.

-All that's been taken down and this modern extension built.

The once overgrown garden has been tidied up

and is now a functional outside space.

I remember this garden well!

I think, looking over from next door, it was virtually the height of that wall, right the way across.

All that has been, as you see, taken away

-and the garden completely redeveloped.

-Is that a new roof as well?

The roof has been completely replaced with new slates.

Renovation complete, all that is left to do now is to get tenants in.

What are your, sort of, plans for getting it occupied now?

The hope here, for everybody, is that people move in as soon as possible

and the property is back in use.

Hopefully, in the future, this house will not be regarded as some kind of special case.

It will be just another house in the street, just like any other house.

I just wish there were a few more owners, like yourselves,

who are this, sort of, active in bringing it back into use.

So, I wish you luck and I'm sure it won't be long before it's actually occupied.

Another one off the books, hopefully, very soon.

There's tenants almost lined up, so...

back to the office and on to the next one!

Back in Chorltonville, Karen has been visiting a completed renovation

to gain advice and inspiration.

How are you feeling about taking on an empty property now?

Erm, yes, I still want to do it.

Doing some of the things myself, I'll rethink that

and maybe leave it to the professionals.

OK, and the property we saw earlier, is there an interest there?

Definitely interested.

Wow, and if you do take it on,

lots of ideas here about how you can open up the space,

you can bring light in, you can make it as modern as you want.

Yes, and still taking into consideration how it could affect the heat,

the bills, the utility bills as well,

which I'd never even thought of before.

-You seem raring to go now.

-I am raring to go, yes,

I can't wait to leave here and go and start planning.

-Fantastic! Well, all the best.

-OK, thank you.

Sometimes when you see an empty property that is quite dated,

with '60s or '70s wallpaper and carpet,

it can be quite hard to visualise how it can become a modern family home,

but hopefully bringing Karen here today to see the extension,

to see the modern materials they've used,

the open plan space with lots of air and light,

will give her that energy, that passion to now go out there,

find an empty property and convert it into her dream home.

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