Jo and Mark Bushby Britain's Empty Homes

Across the country, empty 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 along the way, we'll be following the property detectives,

who track down the owners of these forgotten houses

and help breathe new life into the communities blighted by them.

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 preserving

and reinventing Britain's Empty Homes.

Renovating an empty home can be a life-changing experience.

You'll probably be out of your comfort zone.

It'll push you to your limits. So you'll need to be brave.

But the benefits of taking on one of these buildings

can be truly rewarding.

On today's show, I'll be meeting a couple

who recently bought a derelict cottage in Devon

which they hope will become their dream retirement home.

-It's hard work.

-Yeah.

There's a lot of stress initially

till you sort out what you're going to do.

I'll be visiting a building

very important to Liverpool's social history

which is hopefully about to be saved from ruin.

What we have to remember is this is our heritage

and we need to preserve this.

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

working to change the fortunes of some of the UK's abandoned homes.

We really do need to get those windows secured

and look after this property.

Having spent 26 years in their family home,

Jo and Mark Bushby felt it was time to move on

and create their dream retirement home.

And when they found this disused cottage, they knew it was for them.

It's a nice, quaint, characterful cottage

in a very pleasant area to retire to.

When we looked around, it looked perfectly fine.

It's once we decided to do a little bit of this,

we found you had to do a little bit of that as well.

The wallpaper was hiding horrendous things, really -

damp, the woodwork was absolutely pickled in woodworm.

I'd just never seen anything like it,

the rot and all the rest of it.

But there's potential to make it into the property that we want.

And that potential led Jo and Mark to spend £306,000

when they bought the end-of-terrace cob and stone cottage in 2011.

To keep their budget in check,

Jo plans to do as much of the work herself as she can

and she's already got started.

I think it'd be really useful to get some inspiration,

some ideas from other people that have been there and done it

and it'll give us better ideas of how to go forwards as well.

Although Jo and Mark have already started work on their place,

they've quickly realised it's a much bigger job than anticipated.

I'm meeting them at the 300-year-old cottage

to hear about what they've done

and just how they'll go forward with the renovation.

Now, this is actually pretty idyllic, isn't it?

-I can hear birds singing, amazing view, you've got a trickling stream down there...

-Yeah.

So, apart from the location, what is it about this place?

How does it sort of suit your needs?

We were looking for somewhere to retire to

and this one just fitted the bill.

It's exactly what we were looking for,

it has the potential to extend if we can get the planning permission.

And we can get it to how we want it.

It has been a bit of a love-hate relationship

with some of the things that you find behind the wallpaper

and what have you, but it will be fantastic when it's done.

OK. Let's go inside and have a look, shall we?

-And then you can show me around.

-OK.

-OK.

-So, after you.

-Yeah.

Now, work has clearly started here.

So were you optimistic, did you think you'd just strip wallpaper and that would be it,

and then you were surprised by what you found behind?

We thought decoration, you know, perhaps the odd bit of plaster.

But we never really envisaged having to replace beams and rafters

and things like that.

-Did I see there's a sort of an outbuilding? What's on the side of the property?

-Yeah, there's a...

What they termed as a workshop, which is actually quite large.

And, hopefully, we would like to extend that into a kitchen-diner eventually.

-OK. So that's quite a big plan, then?

-It is, yes.

The couple hope to renovate the cottage step by step

so they can move into the house as quickly as possible.

We'd like to eventually move the staircase

-so we gain a little bit more room downstairs and upstairs.

-Ah, OK.

And make the bathroom a little bit bigger.

I see, so there's going to be three stages in total. So, first stage, getting the house habitable.

Stage two, extending off the side.

And then stage three would be to move this staircase

-from the middle of the house up to the back, extending on to the back slightly.

-Yes.

-Shall we go and have a look upstairs and see what you've been doing there?

-Yeah.

-Lead the way.

So here we are upstairs. Now, tell me about this room.

This is, presumably, the master bedroom.

-It is, but it wasn't originally.

-Oh, OK.

This was actually two rooms and a corridor, believe it or not.

-Really? In this space?

-In this space.

When we first saw it, we saw it as it was

and we liked it, it was charming.

But, after a while, we started to realise

that maybe it would be better if we just moved it into one room.

Well, I have to say, for me, it works really, really well,

I think it's been a great decision to open it up and give yourselves an extra bit of space.

Let's talk about the budget. I know you've been working on it a bit, you've had builders involved

and now, you need to do quite a lot yourselves. So what is the budget?

We initially sort of allocated about 35,000

for making the cottage habitable

and then, later on, when we apply for planning permission

on the buildings next door,

we hope to sell our other property to fund that bit.

-Are you still on targets?

-I think it'll be very tight, don't you?

-I think it's going to be a bit on the tight side.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

You know, you always know that everybody goes over their budget,

but we don't really have that contingency to do that.

So, looking ahead then, what worries do you have about this project?

There's a worry that in making larger rooms, trying to modernise it,

you might just lose the character.

-It's hard work.

-Yeah.

-And there's a lot of stress initially

till you sort out what you're going to do and, you know...

-As you pin it down. Yeah. But it's a huge challenge to pin down.

-It is.

Well, I really like this cottage.

It has loads of history and I think, here,

Jo and Mark have found the perfect home for them for many, many years to come.

However I just wonder if they're going to store up

more problems and cost than they realise.

It'll be good for them to meet someone who's been through all of this before,

can share some helpful advice and experience

and also provide that little bit of extra inspiration.

Up and down the UK,

many communities are blighted by disused and abandoned buildings.

Often unsightly and known to attract unwanted attention,

the buildings can become a real cause for concern for local residents.

However, many local councils have taken the first step

to getting these houses back into the community

by employing local empty property officers

whose job it is to track down the owners and restore these buildings.

Sue Li does just that in the Amber Valley region of Derbyshire.

I'm off to see a property now that I've received new complaints about.

It used to be a pub, which isn't something I'd normally deal with.

But it's got planning permission to be converted into nine flats,

so I'm interested.

The pub has been empty for three years.

A developer recently bought the property and began doing it up.

However, neighbours have complained that work has been very slow

and so the building continues to be an eyesore.

Now, I have had correspondence with the owner in the past

and know all about their plans to convert it to a number of flats.

But we have to balance between residents' concerns

and what the owner wants to achieve.

One thing that residents have mentioned they are concerned about

is broken glass from windows.

I can see these windows are smashed

and although there's no glass on the floor,

it may well have been cleaned up

or there may be some around the side of the building.

So we'll need to take a look elsewhere as well.

To get a fuller picture of the problem,

Sue has asked local resident Anne White to meet her.

-Hi.

-Hi, nice to meet you.

Could you tell me a bit more about the effect this building is having on local residents?

There's a lot of safety issues with it and, if you've noticed,

the roof is new, but there's nothing else being done to the property and that was about two years ago.

So, really, if you could help me and give me some answers

on what will be happening with the building.

OK, Anne, so let's go and take a closer look at the building

and we'll see what else we can find.

Yeah, you can certainly get in here,

although I wouldn't recommend it.

The ceiling is coming down.

I'm really concerned that people can just get in through this window.

We're very concerned about the building.

Is there anything that we can do to make it safe?

What I'll do first is serve notice to get that window boarded.

Everything else, regarding rubbish clearance and addressing the overall appearance of the building,

I'll write to the owner and ask them to do it voluntarily.

If they then fail to do that, the council has powers

to either prosecute or clear the rubbish and do the work themselves

-and recharge that back to the owner.

-That sounds really good.

Yeah, I'm sure the local residents will be very pleased

with that response from Amber Valley.

I have had correspondence with the owner in the past,

they have been responsive before,

so what I'll do is I'll approach them about these concerns that we have now

and try and get them to do something about it.

And what I'd really like to be able to do

is help them realise their ambitions

to turn this building into a number of flats.

I think it would be a great project

and it will look fabulous when it's finished.

Sue has since spoken to the owner,

who says they now plan to sell the property,

but, in the meantime, will continue to maintain it.

So Sue is hoping someone else will snap up this great opportunity

and turn the pub into much-needed homes.

When a property stands derelict and abandoned,

not only is it a complete waste of a building

but ultimately, it can lead to demolition.

However, thankfully, there are people out there

willing to take on these empty homes

and give them a chance to shine again.

On the Isle of Wight,

David and Jean Firmstone found the ruins of a building

they knew would provide them with the perfect space and location to build their dream home.

We travelled around the island for two days looking for a site overlooking the sea.

And we were just about to give up when we came down this road

and spotted this piece of land for sale.

We were just so amazed and we stood on this box

and we saw the view we were going to have

and I realised what a magnificent house it would make.

I felt it was very important to actually be near to the sea,

because my work as an artist deals with both landscape and seascape.

It was just fantastic, wasn't it? We fell in love with it.

A Victorian House built in 1860 once stood on the plot of land,

but the building had been empty for a hundred years

when the couple spent £250,000 buying what was left of it.

The property was built by a chap called Spindler,

and some time later, maybe at about 1910, he died

and the property then remained empty.

And nobody had wanted to take it on.

And I could not understand that,

because it was such an amazing place!

The plot was so overgrown and derelict that from 1951 onwards

it disappeared from the ordinance survey.

Until, that is, the couple took it on

and turned it into this idyllic space.

What was actually left was just the floor space

of the original Orchid House.

There was no glass, it was just the cellars.

The original cellars provided a fantastic opportunity

to put a studio under the house.

It's something we've always wanted.

I wanted to design a garden that was green all year round,

that fits in with the green landscape outside.

That's why I've designed a palm garden.

Every time I look at it, I think it's lovely.

The couple tailored the renovation to their exact wants and needs

and, 18 months after they started, their dreams were realised.

My favourite space is my work space,

which has got a lot of the original features of the Orchid House.

We've got this pool, which reflects light into the studio.

We've travelled quite a bit

and one of the things I like our home to express

is the places that we've been to.

The paintings and the sculpture that we picked up across the world

very much dominate the decor in the house.

The house now features artistic spaces, beautiful gardens,

a sea view and two acres of land.

So now, the three-year wait to get planning permission

seems like a lifetime ago.

We've got a property which is unique to the area,

it fits exactly what we want

and we've had fantastic satisfaction from it.

We just love living here.

And it's just a gorgeous place to be. It really is, very special.

There's nothing new about the need for more housing in the UK.

The Government and local authorities have been dealing with this for centuries.

In Liverpool, during the 1800s,

they opted to build multiple occupancy accommodation,

where many families lived side by side.

Well, this incredible building

is the last remaining original-style tenement block in the city.

It's Grade II listed, which just shows it's a recognised piece

of Liverpool's architectural heritage.

But it's been left to go to rack and ruin

and it's become a landmark, really, for all the wrong reasons.

And now, it's in danger of being lost for ever.

Local resident Mike Quinn was born and bred

in the Vauxhall area of Liverpool.

In recent years,

the building has been subjected to arson and squatters,

but he remembers a time when Eldon Grove was a bustling family hub.

So, Mike, you used to come here as a kid.

I mean, tell me about this place in its heyday.

I think I first started coming down here mid to late '60s.

There was always something going on down here,

so you could come down and get a game of football.

It's changed completely.

It sounds like it was buzzing with life, full of people,

and the flats, I presume, full of families.

In its day, you know, the people who moved in here,

they couldn't believe their luck.

There were quite a few blocks similar to this -

tenements called the Tennies.

They sprang up at the time for people who predominantly worked on the docks.

It was a massive step forward.

Obviously, this is now a shadow of what it once used to be, but the area itself hasn't changed.

At the area now, there's a lot of new housing just over the roads,

but I think what we have to remember is this is our heritage

and we need to preserve this.

Certainly, over the last ten or 15 years,

there've been all kinds of promises at redeveloping this site

-and it just seems to be one promise after another.

-Yeah.

And nothing seems to happen.

Every now and again, it looks like work starts

and then, just as quickly, it gets shelved.

What would it mean to the community

to see this place busy and lived in once again?

The vast majority of people in the area would be overjoyed

if we got the poor families back in there.

And that could soon be a reality,

as local developers have taken over the lease for Eldon Grove from the council.

Rob Cooper is in charge of the regeneration.

We're really excited about the project.

We've acquired it some six months ago now

with a view to redeveloping the original building into 34 apartments.

Within the grounds of the property, we are proposing to introduce some new builds,

which will be a mixture of new starter homes and some town houses.

I mean, it's a shame, really, cos the building's been left

to deteriorate probably over the last five, ten years,

and I think it's important for most

to reinstate it and reinvigorate it and, you know,

bring it back to its former glory, if we could do that.

I think a lot of other developers have tried and failed over the years.

But I think what sets us apart

is that we've got this real can-do attitude.

I do believe that if we all pull in the right direction

we'll deliver well-needed housing within the local area.

This building is a complete one-off

and bringing it back from the brink isn't going to be easy.

But, hopefully, this time it can be different,

so this place can provide good, affordable housing for local people

and once again be a landmark for all the right reasons.

Back in the West Country, I'm with Jo and Mark Bushby,

who've already bought a disused cottage they plan to custom renovate

to create their dream retirement home.

I'm going to introduce them

to a lady who took on a similar cottage renovation

and overcame the many hurdles associated with such old and unique buildings.

-God, this is gorgeous!

-Very nice.

It's lovely, isn't it? Very attractive. Originally a farmhouse,

hasn't been a farmhouse for a long time.

Now, this was in a very run-down state, quite similar to yours.

It'd just gradually been neglected over many, many years

so it had to be stripped back, had to have everything done to it again,

gutting and starting again.

Here, let me show you, is how it looked from the front.

Now, actually, it looks in an OK condition,

-but when you look at it from the back...

-Oh, my goodness!

-..You realise how nature had sort of taken hold.

-Yes.

When Angee Fooks-Bale and her husband bought the place,

it was very run-down,

most of it was uninhabitable and its sole remaining tenant,

an elderly lady, was in the process of moving out.

As we saw the property, it had a kind of magic to it.

There was just so much potential. It was completely derelict.

The land was really reclaiming the property,

because there was a lot of vegetation inside as well as outside.

And it probably would have been much easier to let the place fall down and start again,

but I couldn't let that happen.

Angee bought the run-down farmhouse,

which was originally built in the 1800s, for £392,000

and embarked on a full-scale, yet sympathetic renovation.

But the process has been something of a roller coaster.

Shortly after we began the renovation,

we put a new roof on the small annex

and we were looking forward to moving into and being on site,

we had vandals come in overnight and strip the lead off the roof

and really mess up everything that we'd done so far.

It really was a low point that I didn't know how we were going to go on from.

Despite such devastating setbacks,

Angee sees the experience in a positive light.

It was a terrific challenge,

and I think it is the most important thing I've ever done in my life

and I'm pleased we've both come out at the end of it.

So, look at this, I'm immediately struck by the similarities with your sitting room, yeah.

So, generally, what was the plan?

I wanted to retain as many features as there were.

We needed to extend the kitchen to make it a decent size family kitchen

and upstairs, the bedrooms were a complete mess.

These guys are tackling their project in one big first stage,

but then with two possible other stages after.

Did you tackle this all in one go

or am I right in thinking you actually, you had two stages to your plan?

We needed to get into the property and live here,

mainly from a practical point of view and a financial point of view.

The other phase, we had considered doing the existing property as it stood,

but we wanted to extend a single-storey extension

and in the end we decided to go straight ahead with it,

because everybody said, "You won't want to do it again."

And once you've been in a mess for a long time,

it's an awful big thing to then say, "That's it, you've got to knock a hole in that wall."

I can see that being actually quite horrendous to start again.

I know you've thought through these options, but, I mean, how is it now that you've been here?

Well, it does sort of make you think perhaps we should be putting in

for plans to go into the kitchen earlier than we'd anticipated.

-OK, well, lovely to see your sitting room. Shall we continue the tour?

-Sure.

-After you.

-Follow me.

So, Angee, tell me about the kitchen, what did you do here?

We added a single-storey extension,

which gave us space for a dinning table

and plenty of space to use the kitchen.

Now that, again, sounds very similar to your plans, that you'd like to extend your kitchen.

We'll have something similar to this but slightly, different way round, really.

With hindsight, looking back, is there any area you'd think,

"We could have saved money there if we'd done it slightly differently"?

Any kind of advice along those lines?

I think you need to think about every step of your build.

I think I was well advised to get on and do this, knocking through.

You wouldn't have gone back and said,

-"I'd have done the extension later."

-No.

-You're happy you did it at once.

Anything else, guys, you want to ask while we're here?

-Above your windows and the doors, you've got the oak lintel.

-Yes.

Now, was that there before or have you reclaimed it and put it there?

Reclaimed it and put it there,

because in actual fact we had to put more structural things in

to make all the window surrounds viable, and then those are really decorative.

It's a nice idea, I like it.

Well, thank you very much. It's been a joy to look around,

and thank you for sharing so much great advice as well.

-It's been a pleasure having you here. I wish you all the luck with your project.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Back in Amber Valley, Derbyshire,

Sue Li is on her way to check up on a property she's been dealing with for some time.

She previously issued the owner of the house with a notice letter

requesting them to clean up the site

and board up the windows by a specified date.

That time has been and gone and Sue is now checking up on the progress.

Well, the owner hasn't done anything that we've asked.

The land hasn't been tidied,

the windows haven't been boarded or painted

and the guttering is still defective,

and I have noticed we've got pigeons now.

We really do need to get those windows secured

and look after this property.

Sue has arranged to meet council contractor Chris Beale,

who will carry out the maintenance work

to make the house safe and secure.

I have concerns about these open windows.

Obviously, some have been smashed through anti-social behaviour

but the ones up there, they're open to the weather.

We can board those over the exterior,

we'll seal that so that no damp can get in.

That will also keep the pigeons out

and prevent any more anti-social behaviour.

All right. Thank you.

I had asked the owner to remove a mattress and a sofa that were here,

but it looks like it's just been burnt,

so we need all of this rubbish...

Yeah, we'll remove all that, take it away,

it'll stop anybody making more fires

which could put the property at risk.

It would appear that vandals have been on the property

and the garden is clearly overgrown, but those aren't the only issues.

You've actually got Japanese knotweed on this site.

If it gets too near the property, it can cause structural damage.

What we'll do is we'll leave that alone for the time being,

-let it start to grow and then we can treat it.

-OK.

We will need to come back throughout the year and keep retreating it

-to ensure that we do eventually kill that off.

-OK.

As you can see, one of the drainpipes has been removed,

it looks like more anti-social behaviour.

Well, we'll replace that as part of the job, so we'll get that down into the connection there,

so the water drains away and you're not getting damp going back into that property.

-And hopefully, it'll stop further anti-social behaviour in the future.

-Yes.

Thanks for coming today, Chris.

So what's your next step for me now?

We'll go back to the office, work out some timescale for you

and we will be on this job as soon as possible,

to get this job made safe and tided up for you.

I can't wait to see this become a family home for someone.

Judging by the state of the garden and house,

Sue has called in the contractors in the nick of time.

It's always disheartening when you turn up at an empty property

and the owner hasn't done the work that you've requested in the notice.

But the good thing is we'll get the place tidied and boarded,

we'll address the neighbours' concerns

and we'll just have to bill the owner for the work that we've done.

What happens after that very much depends

upon whether the owner decides to pay that bill or not.

I've been with Jo and Mark,

who bought a disused cottage they plan to renovate and extend.

They've been getting some useful advice from Angee,

who successfully completed her own cottage renovation.

-It's quite a place.

-Yeah.

How do you feel now having had a good look around?

-Quite optimistic, really.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, we've seen quite a few things that were really good.

-And if ours turns out half as nice as that, I'd be really pleased, yeah.

-Fantastic.

Now, of course, whether you do your project in the stages you've laid out

or whether you think, "We should do the kitchen extension at the same time as the house,"

is a big decision.

But, hopefully, today has at least enlightened you as to a few of the options

-and, hopefully, it's helped hearing another person's perspective on it.

-It has.

It's really, really beneficial.

Well, guys, what a marvellous cottage you have.

-Thank you.

-I know it's a lot of work, but I'm very excited for you

-and I really do wish you the best with it, so good luck.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Well, I'm so pleased that Mark and Jo could come and see this farmhouse today.

It's so similar to their little cottage in many, many ways.

It really helps them visualise the way forward for their project.

Yes, they don't have all the answers yet

and they've got some big decisions ahead,

but hopefully, their visit here today will show them the options available to them

so that, before long, they'll be in that little cottage

and enjoying those fantastic views.

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