Amy Linley Britain's Empty Homes

Up and down the country, there are empty properties just waiting to be brought to life.

I'll be discovering why and how you can turn a diamonds in the rough

into a gem of a home.

We'll be following the empty property officers

whose job it is to track down the owners of these forgotten houses

and get them back into use.

And I'll be finding out more about more about our housing stock,

our history and why we should be both be preserving and reinventing Britain's Empty Homes.

With nearly a million empty properties lying abandoned in the UK

there's never been a better time to go in search of a run-down home.

Now the fantastic thing about taking on a vacant property is you can create your ideal living space,

so whether it's a luxury family pad or a spacious family home,

you really can create something unique to your needs.

'On today's show I'll be meeting someone who's taken the plunge

'and bought an empty property but she's in need of some help

'and advice when it comes to renovating it.'

-Is this your first property?

-Yeah, it's my first property.

-How exciting.

-Shall we have a look inside?

-Yeah.

'I'll be finding out about what's being done to clamp down on metal theft from abandoned buildings...'

For this sort of offence, it's going to be zero tolerance.

People are going to get arrested and put in front of courts for it.

'..and we'll be following one of Britain's empty property officers

'tasked with getting disused dwellings lived in.'

You can see here where the wood has come away when the squatters broke in,

this is probably the point of entry.

'25-year-old Amy Linley has taken her first step

'onto the property ladder and has become the proud owner

'of a three-bedroom terrace house in West Yorkshire.'

I never really liked the newer-style properties.

I came across this empty, old-style property

and I just feel like I made the right choice.

'Amy bought this run-down Victorian place for £65,000.

'The house has stood empty since April 2011,

'and prior to that was tenanted, so needs a complete overhaul.'

I'm hoping that I can do the cosmetic side of the house myself.

So that should keep my costs down.

'This is Amy's first renovation,

'and although she's made a start on the work she wants help

'with tackling the overall transformation of her empty house.'

Any renovation job is not as easy as it looks,

unless you know what you're doing and that's what I want to learn.

I want to pick things off other people

and learn as I go along.

'I'm meeting up with Amy to see just how much work she's taken on

'and what she has planned.'

-How are you?

-I'm all right, thank you.

-This is your place?

-Yeah.

How long's it been empty for? How long have you had it?

I've had it about a month and it's been empty for a year.

Really? OK. What attracted you to this place?

There's a lot of potential there.

-Are you a first-time buyer, is this your first property?

-Yes, it's my first property.

-How exciting. Shall we have a look inside?

-Yes.

The first room, the lounge.

-Very nice.

-Yeah, big window to let the light through.

-Yeah.

High ceilings and the fireplace, which I don't like.

I lot of people do like it but I'm not too keen fussed about it

but there is the chimney breast there, so...

-Yeah, so you've got options.

-Yeah.

-Very good.

Have you plans for the kitchen - do you know what you're going to do?

Yeah, it'll probably one of my last rooms I'll come down to do.

I just want a couple of units along here.

I've come across this Victorian sink, I can't afford the proper Belfast,

-but you can get the equivalent for a cheaper price.

-Yeah.

Maybe, when I come into some money, an Aga or range just over here.

What's the vision - what do you want to do with the house?

Obviously, it's going to take some time, but I'd like to do a room, one by one.

I've got work on the roof to do and once that's done,

I'll get stuck in.

So what's the deal with the roof?

When I was buying the property I had a survey done

and there's potential there for it to leak, so I just want to make sure that I get that done

before I start work anywhere else.

That's your priority, making sure it's watertight and secure because if you get water in,

you get damp in, the amount of other problems it leads to isn't worth thinking about.

You're very sensible to target that first of all. Have you started some of the work yourself?

I've had a go at the bathroom.

It's quite difficult getting those tiles off.

If you know what you're doing, it's an easy job.

-I think I'll feel better once they off.

-Yeah, OK.

-Let's go and have a look upstairs and see what you've been up to, shall we?

-Yeah.

The small exterior of this house is quite deceptive. Inside there's a large cellar

and room in the attic.

This is the back bedroom.

-which is a bit of a bombshell at the moment.

-Yeah, very good.

-This is then the front bedroom.

-Yes, this is the main bedroom.

-Wow, so you've started in here. What's this?

-There's a house clearance place, just down the road.

I found it in there and fell in love with it straightaway.

I did measure the hole but obviously we've done something wrong somewhere

because it doesn't fit! We'll have to do a bit of work to make it fit but we should get it in.

Are you going to try chiselling away at that

because that sounds a little bit dodgy to me?

Yeah, I'm getting a bit of help, as well.

I'll have to knock a couple of bricks out

and put a lintel in. We're going to leave that in

for about a week to settle and then do the rest of the work on it.

-Yeah, you've got a lintel in at the moment, but it's not wide enough.

-No.

The key thing to remember is that chimney breasts can be major supporting structures.

That's what I've said, yeah. I know that if anything comes away and drops, that's it.

I'm going to be very careful.

I've got a builder that's going to have a look and make sure we're not going to damage anything.

The property we're going to take you to later is Edwardian,

it's not Victorian but it's very similar in period style.

I think they'll be loads of inspiration you can take away. How does that sound?

Yeah, it sounds good. I'd like to ask them a few questions and see how they've done it

and the timescales they set themselves, as well.

-So, yeah.

-Perfect. Then that is what we shall do.

I think Amy's got herself a good empty home here.

It's a great size and you can see she's really keen to get stuck in.

I like her plans to put all the period features back in.

I think it's going to be good for her to meet a couple

who've been through all this and they can, hopefully, answer some of her questions.

'Many local councils now employ a specialist to track down the owners of vacant homes

'and bring them back into use.

'These people are known as Empty Property Officers.

'In Enfield, North London, Dave Carter is charged with

'bringing derelict and abandoned houses back into use.

'Today he's on his way to a particular problem case on his books -

'a flat that's been reported as empty for the past five years.'

I've tried to trace the owner, sent numerous letters, I've had no response.

I have recently been informed by one neighbours

that the flat has just been squatted.

Luckily they have agreed to let me into the flat,

to give it a quick inspection.

'With any empty property like this it's standard procedure

'for Dave to assess the condition and safety of the flat

'and see what needs to be done to start the process of getting it lived in again.'

This is quite interesting. You can see here where the wood has come away

when the squatters first broke in. This is probably the point of entry.

Dave Carter, Enfield Council.

Hello?

One of the reasons I'm here today is just to check the safety of the flat itself.

I need to check that there is a heating system.

It looks safe enough.

I would assume it hasn't been serviced in the time that the squatters have been here.

Clearly the electricity is working.

All the light switches and sockets seem pretty safe.

I'm quite pleasantly surprised, really.

I can see that it's occupied by quite a few people,

possibly three or four, but it's not in a bad condition.

'Dave continues his investigation and spots a potential problem.'

Yeah, this room is the one that's caused me a little bit of concern.

There's a damp patch all over this one wall.

Here we are in the bathroom. I need to check that the toilets are working OK.

We don't want a build-up of sewage. It sounds a little bit ropey but flushing OK.

'At the back, it's clear to Dave that there are further issues with the flat.'

This is the first time I've managed to get into the back of the property.

I can see it's very overgrown.

The slabs are coming up, the weeds are starting to grow.

There's a few problems with the brickwork up there.

The guttering could do with a clean, the rendering on the chimney is a bit ropey.

There's big gaps there.

Water will get in there eventually if it's not maintained.

'This has been a trying case for Dave

'and one which could take some time to resolve.'

We ought to think of a plan B, if I don't find the owner, what are we going to do?

At the moment it's compulsory purchase action.

The house isn't occupied legitimately and we need to think of a long term plan.

'Dave has now tracked down the owner, who's removed the squatters

'and has agreed to get the house back into use.'

Finding an empty property that suits your budget is just half the battle.

Renovating an abandoned building can become all-consuming

with long days and nights working extremely hard.

But if you've the tenacity and the skills to see it through,

you may just create a place that you never want to leave.

'Tony Gilpin and Jane Walker took on this disused Victorian village school in Yorkshire in 2008.

'It was built in 1846 and had lain empty for 15 years

'when they came across it by chance.'

Hello! magazine and we were looking through the back in the adverts

and this is three miles from where we were before. We came for a nosey.

We had no intention of starting doing anything.

The price in the magazine was actually wrong. It was a lot less,

so we thought, "Oh, that looks like a bargain,"

and it turned out to be a lot more money

but we'd fallen in love with it.

They set about a renovation that would take them three years

and got stuck in working on the project together.

When we first came in, it was quite dingy actually.

It wasn't actually very inviting, so we just took the floors out, took the rooms out,

and then went, "Start again."

By doing the majority of the work themselves,

they were able to keep a tight hold on the budget.

We tended to use people and, bless them, they didn't mind us picking their brains.

So we'd pay them to work with them and then go, "I've got the gist of this."

And do the rest ourselves. We saved a lot of money on man hours that way.

All in all, I think we did about 80% of the work ourselves.

There's still a few things we've not done, but most of it took us about two and a half years.

One of the things we've learnt from this is that it is achievable,

you don't have to have pots of money saved up.

And we've actually done nearly everything just off our wages each month.

We bought if for £160,000 and you budgeted £40,000,

nd we're bang on at just under £37,000.

Taking on an abandoned building has paid off handsomely

and has allowed Tony and Jane to get a much more spacious home than they could otherwise have afforded.

It's improved our standard of living in terms of how much space we've got.

Being able to have more people around than we could have got in our last tiny little place.

It has made a big difference to everything, really.

When properties are left empty,

they are not only vulnerable to the elements but they can also be targeted for theft.

Now, with metal prices rising in recent years,

criminal opportunists have been breaking into empty homes

and stealing copper piping and making themselves some fast cash.

And the damage done by these burglaries

can send already dilapidated buildings into further decline.

I've come to Langley Mill in Derbyshire,

a place where they are clamping down on metal theft, to meet PC Chad Critchley.

-Hi, Chad. Nice to meet you.

-And you.

Tell me, how big is the problem of metal theft in the area?

It's increased, specifically over the last 12-18 months,

especially in relation to copper.

One of the main problems has been properties waiting to be rented out.

-Also commercial premises, new builds before they've been occupied.

-Uh-huh.

As soon as the copper's gone in, it's been taken out again.

Am I right in thinking there's somewhere that's been targeted nearby?

Yes. A number of properties were targeted in a short period of time.

-OK. Shall we go and have a look inside?

-Yeah. Definitely.

Metal theft is on the up and the cost to the economy each year is estimated at £700 million.

It seems empty properties are an easy target.

OK. You can see the glass scattered about everywhere where they've broke the windows to get in.

See where they've ripped out the sink to take all the copper piping down from under there.

-It's amazing! The sink's on the floor.

-They're not bothered about damage caused.

It's brutal, isn't it?

And as you come through here, you can see bits of plaster from the ceiling.

Up here you can see where the floorboards are hanging down where they've ripped the copper out.

Isn't that incredible?!

I'm not sure what I expected, but the pipework is laid by craftsmen

-and it's ripped out by the opposite type of people. This is vandalism.

-They don't care how they get it out.

Any idea how much copper they would have got from this, in terms of money?

-£100-£200.

-And yet thousands now to fix it.

-Yeah, it will cost thousands

to replace the copper but also for the damage you can see.

-And it's throughout the house.

-Throughout the house.

Any room that's got any from of copper has been attacked.

OK. Shall we have a look upstairs, then?

The bathroom is quite a good example of, er...

to what lengths they'll go to.

Oh, wow! Look at that. That's stark, isn't it?

Incredible! So that's just been ripped out and it's ruined the sink and everything else.

-What's the penalty for doing this?

-You can get up to 14 years in prison.

And as far as this job goes, do you have any suspects?

Yes. Through fingerprints and DNA, the offenders were arrested.

For this sort of offence it's going to be zero tolerance.

-People will get arrested and put in front of courts for it.

-That's good to hear.

I think everyone who sees this mindless thuggery for a few quid

are right behind you and what your colleagues are doing.

Yeah, let's hope so.

It really is unnerving to think that for a relatively small amount of money

thieves get from ripping the copper piping out of properties,

they can cause thousands of pounds of damage.

It's reassuring the police are taking this seriously and actively fighting metal theft.

In this case arrests have been made.

Hopefully action like this can help stop already dilapidated buildings from falling further into decline.

Back in West Yorkshire, I'm taking Amy Linley to meet a couple who took on their own abandoned house

and created a beautiful home.

Amy, this is the property. It's an Edwardian house, it's semi-detached.

Don't be put off by the difference in scale, the point is there's loads of inspiration here.

You can visualise what you want to do with your place.

And also the guys we'll meet have been through this.

So, hopefully, they'll have some really good advice as well.

When Ben and Emily Farrar

stumbled upon the dilapidated Edwardian semi-detached that was to be their home,

they both felt excited and daunted.

I was very intimidated by it. I opened the door and thought, "Oh, my word!

"Look at the amount of work to do!"

It was dark, dingy, curtains were coming off, it was messy.

Sometimes it's hard to see beyond that.

The property wasn't on the market,

so the couple had to do some detective work to track down the owner and convince them to sell.

We found out through the Land Registry the owner's name, found him living in Holland

and just rang him out of the blue.

He said he hadn't thought at all about selling the house.

So it took a couple of weeks and he came back to us and said, "OK, yeah, I'll accept an offer."

And he came over and gave us the keys and let us have a look round.

Eventually they bought the house for £305,000

and set out on a renovation that took them nearly two years,

allowing them to achieve their ideal family home.

Things just come out of the woodwork,

so we had a couple of funnies we weren't expecting,

which delayed the project but also added quite a bit of cost on.

So you have to have an element of flexibility

and understanding when you're going into these projects.

Ben and Emily should have some great advice and tips for Amy to help with her renovation.

-Emily, Ben, this is Amy.

-Hi.

Now, let's start at the beginning, I assume this wasn't always this way.

So tell us how long the property had been empty for and what it was like when you first came here?

It had been empty for nearly two years.

And it was pretty derelict. You couldn't imagine living in it really.

That must be one of the attractions of an empty property,

clearing everything out and doing it the way you wanted it.

The advantage of going somewhere where it is in such a state of disrepair,

you've kind of got a blank canvas, so you can make it how you want it to look.

What did you do in here? Was it always this open space?

No, this was three rooms.

This dining area was pretty much as it was. There was a big fireplace here which unfortunately had to go.

And this was two rooms.

A tiny kitchen, you couldn't really call it a kitchen, but it was the kitchen and a pantry room here.

-It's quite a room now.

-It's beautiful.

-What do you make of it?

-I think it's amazing!

It's a bigger scale than my kitchen but like they said,

they've knocked stuff through, they've made it bigger,

made it how they wanted it.

It's a little different to how I'd like mine

but I do like that the Aga's in there, it's really nice is that.

And I think they've done a really good job of it, yeah.

You've got to be bold, haven't you to take out a fireplace?

You said that was here. You've got to really know what you want.

How did you strike a balance between modern, comfortable living

but also some of the period features here?

We kept what we could and put back in what we could as well.

The lovely high skirting boards are still there and the door architraves

haven't been fiddled with so we knew that we wanted to keep

-things like that.

-Ben and Emily have restored many of the original

features in this house just as Amy is planning to do in her place.

-Our bedroom.

-What do you think, Amy?

-I love it.

It's really nice.

Although I was looking at having the original floorboards put in,

seeing carpet down it makes it feel an awful lot warmer and it's really nice.

Also I've noticed the fireplace -

was it was your intention to have no fireplace there?

They were left empty with a view to us having time to go

and source a nice fireplace that fitted the room properly

but actually I quite like it as it is now so I'll probably leave it.

I think actually it works -

a really good, clean simple, I suppose, quite cheap,

design feature. Really nice.

Emily and Ben have created a truly stunning family home

with an inspiring mix of contemporary and period details.

Right, this is cosy.

So what was this front room like before when you first moved in?

It was probably the room that was in the least state of disrepair

in the whole house apart from the fireplace.

-It was pretty much as it looks now.

-What did you do to the fireplace?

Took it out and replaced it with something

we thought was a bit more fitting to the room.

That must ring quite a few bells for you?

That sounds exactly like your front room.

Yes, I don't like the fireplace in there. It's just a gas fire.

There's a nice surround round it

but I want similar to what you've got.

Having been through it all,

what advice would you give to someone who has it all ahead of them?

You need to get advice on the important things,

like structural issues or gas and electricity, but the rest of it,

you know, that's all down to your own subjective taste.

Don't get stressed if deadlines shift and enjoy it.

It's been amazing looking around your place today.

Thank you and I hope there's been inspiration.

Yeah, I'm really grateful for you letting us

come round and have a look and I'll take a lot away

and hopefully within a year, I might be a step closer to being finished.

I'm sure you will. Thank you very much, guys. Great stuff.

Back in Enfield in North London, Empty Property Officer

Dave Carter is heading to one of his success stories.

The house he's visiting has been disused

since the previous owner passed away.

There was then a problem with rats and the house

was in a terrible state with the garden completely overgrown.

Today I'm going to visit a property which has been

empty for approximately four years.

Since then the property has been sold at auction.

I need to get back in there,

meet the new owner and see what progress they've made and hopefully

it's ready for occupation by a family and can be put back into use again.

The owner has completely transformed the place

and it's now back on the market, so everything is looking very positive.

-Dave Carter from the council.

-Lovely to see you. Come in.

-All right, I'm looking forward to this.

-Oh, good!

Wow, I can see it's really transformed.

You've done a lovely job here. Those windows are beautiful, aren't they?

You've really brought them up well. Big job, was it?

It was a big job actually

because the windows were in a really terrible condition.

And the builders spend hours, days, on restoring it, really.

-This floor as well, it's amazing, isn't it?

-This floor, I love it.

This probably took hours as well.

Actually this wasn't a difficult job.

It was in quite good condition so we sand it down and varnished it.

-Come up beautiful.

-I think so.

Yeah, it's nice to keep original features where we can, I think.

-OK, show me what else you've done.

-Yes!

This looks a lovely, light, airy room that you've done. Beautiful!

-I suppose this was in a complete state, was it?

-It was.

When I first came into this room there was a wheelchair,

it was very sad.

And there was a wall there which I knocked down to make it open

and light but it was really dark and sad state.

But it had some kind of original feature that made me

think, actually this can be a really lovely home.

The house has undergone a complete makeover.

Upstairs, the two bedrooms and bathroom have been updated

and downstairs there's a new kitchen.

-So, do you like the skylight?

-It's beautiful.

-I think this was a bit of a lean-to?

-An old lean-to.

It was so old you couldn't open the garden

and there was a toilet in the corner, an outside toilet.

-Outside loo?

-And two walls between lean-to to the kitchen,

to the dining room

and I took two walls out to bring in the light to this room.

-So you've really transformed this garden, I see.

-Yes, thank you!

It was literally up to here.

I had the complaints of rats and the brambles were overgrown,

but no longer.

I couldn't see the side of the garden even.

The new fence, that must have been almost falling down, I suppose?

Yes, they were falling down, yes. Needed to change everything, really.

-An excellent job.

-Thank you.

-I think you should be very proud of yourself.

-Thank you.

Really pleased with that.

The house has been completely transformed, everything new,

a really light, airy feel.

It's loved again and I'm sure she'll have no trouble selling it

and a family will be moving in within a few months.

Since Dave's visit, the house has had a number of viewings

and two offers have been made. Hopefully there'll be a sale soon.

I've been with Amy who's just bought an empty property

and has been getting some hints and tips from a couple

who have just experienced a house renovation.

Amy, how have you found it? A bit of inspiration there for you?

Yeah, I've definitely enjoyed it even though it's my house

on a much bigger scale, I can take a lot away from it.

I did think I wanted the original floorboards showing.

I think there'd be quite a bit of work to do there.

And seeing Ben and Amy's house carpeted changed my view as well.

-Has it?

-Yeah, I think it makes it feel a lot warmer and cosy, although

I don't think...I'd hope I can keep it as clean and tidy as they have.

Here they've got a blend of period features,

yet a very contemporary feel.

Do you like that, is it something you could see yourself doing

with the fireplace and things like that?

Yeah, I mean in my bedroom I'd still like to stick to period features

in the living room but elsewhere,

I do like the fact you can add a bit of contemporary touch

without ruining the period look in the house, so I'll definitely

look at having a bit of a challenge and try and do that myself.

OK, actually, often the period stuff stands out

when everything else round it is quite clean and simple.

I've noticed that in Ben and Emily's house. The stuff that sticks

out are the high skirting boards, the high ceilings, lighting, doors,

the windows - they've done everything perfectly.

Seeing what Ben and Emily have done to their property does give me

some determination to do it myself.

I'm pleased you've seen it and taken so much from it

and I know you'll do a great job. It's a lovely house, it really is.

Huge potential and I'm sure you'll make a great job of it

-so good luck.

-Thank you.

I think today has been a real eye-opener for Amy.

It's so great to get that kind of inspiration at the beginning

of the journey she's on. I know she'll take loads from today,

particularly how you can combine contemporary and period features.

With all that behind her,

I've no doubt she'll make a great job of creating her dream home.

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