Ian and Eleanor Usher 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.

We'll be following the Empty Property Officers

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

and get them brought back into use.

And I'll be doing some digging of my own

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

and why we should be both preserving and re-inventing Britain's empty homes.

On today's show, a couple taking on a run-down period cottage

ins the Shropshire countryside.

That's incredibly bold. I know. May I say?

I think it's a mid-life crisis!

The regeneration of a forgotten malt house in Staffordshire.

We're going to preserve this building going into the future for many years.

So it's great to give it a new, proper lease of life.

And one of Britain's Empty Property Officers

who's on a mission to bring empty properties in Kent back into use.

It's been a few years since anything was carried out on this property.

It's such a shame!

It could be a lovely family home.

When Ian and Eleanor Usher were searching for their dream home,

they never envisaged they'd end up taking on a complete renovation project.

But they've done just that,

having recently bought a dilapidated three-bedroomed period cottage in rural Shropshire.

It's got no central heating. We're going to be freezing.

It's got a downstairs toilet. That's not going to be very convenient,

and the kitchen's horrible!

Yeah, in lots of ways, it didn't tick any boxes that we'd decided on!

"When we move, we're going to have a beautiful four-bed detached house

"with a wonderful kitchen."

We've got a long kitchen! Yeah! But we're working on it.

But we did come away feeling like, "We can do this."

And positive, really. Really. Yeah.

Nearly 100 years old,

the cottage was built by the Duke of Sutherland

to house tenants on his estate.

What we know about the history of the property is that it was built in 1915.

It's a Duke of Sutherland house.

It's had two previous owners.

One owned it for 50 years, and I think he gave it to his son.

And then the previous owner to us, he owned it for 48 years.

But it's been, according to neighbours and the estate agent,

it's been empty most of that time.

Ian and Eleanor won the property at auction for ?220,000.

Forced to bid right up to their limit,

they have nothing to spare for the renovation.

We're going to do a lot of work ourselves.

We've basically spent our money on the property.

And so we're going to do it at a slower pace

to our own convenience.

Ian is a self-employed carpenter.

They're hoping his DIY skills will save the day.

Rather blase. "Oh, it's only like being at work!"

But since we've looked at it again, there's a lot to do here.

The cottage comes with a substantial 150-foot garden,

with a stream running along the boundary.

However, there's a lot of hard work ahead

before it's an idyllic retreat.

The estate agent opened up a tool store at the back of the property,

so I grabbed a rake and I was hacking things down

trying to find where does the garden end?

It's just massive, isn't it?

We were finding sheds in amongst all the greenery out there.

"There's a greenhouse in here!"

I was dead excited!

The couple are letting their current home

in order to buy the cottage.

So despite the seriously run-down state of the place,

they'll have to live in it whilst they do the work.

We're going to be moving in straightaway.

Our two children are moving in with us.

And I think it's going to be a pretty crazy adventure, really!

It's going to be quite exciting.

I think we are... We're a bit concerned about the winter.

Cos there is no central heating in here.

Apart from an Aga.

So we've said it's all onesies and hot water bottles, really.

We're going to be wrapping up and walking around, wondering what we've done, probably!

Yeah. It will be fun. It will be fun.

They've only just got the keys, and the reality of what lies ahead has started to sink in.

Hopefully, I can help them with the next step.

This is yours, now. You've won it at auction.

How do you feel about it at this point?

Really excited, aren't we? Really excited.

We can't wait to move in and just do stuff.

Let's go and see what you're moving in to, shall we?

'The brick and tile cottage is structurally sound,

'but, as a Duke of Sutherland property, it has its own set of unique challenges.

'No insulation, no central heating,

'and now there's damp in the bedrooms and the kitchen.'

Wow, look at this. That's the first thing I'm drawn to as we come in.

Looks a bit old, bit of an antique?

It is an antique, I think, but hopefully it'll work!

Because between that and the two fires, that's the only heating here.

OK. Interesting.

Let's start at the beginning. This is a small room.

Talk me through the layout of this plan. I can see a tiny kitchen there.

Long, but very, very thin.

It's described as a galley kitchen. It's like you get in a submarine!

Amazing!

What state is this place in? What problems are you dealing with?

I would suggest the roof, looking from the outside, is a bit wavy.

So there's a few rafters that are a bit bent or rotten, and something needs...

I would think there's no felt, no insulation.

Do you know how you're going to transform this?

I presume it's not right for you as it is.

No, we don't know how we're going to transform it at the moment.

It's a bit bewildering, really, you know.

We're just going to live in it,

We know it needs to change.

We need to paint it and carpet it. And tidy it up and clean it.

New clean. And then kind of take a breath.

And work out what needs doing first, and prioritise it.

So you are going to move into this place as is.

Yeah. We're going to kind of bring it on!

That's how it goes. That's incredibly bold!

I know!

I think it's a mid-life crisis!

OK, I understand what you're dealing with down here.

Shall we look upstairs?

'Upstairs, it's clear that Ian's concern about the roof is justified.

'Getting it sorted and water-tight is their first priority.'

Immediately here I can see some of the challenges, I guess.

Is this water coming through from the roof?

It looks like it is. We're going to have to take some of the boards off,

strip this side down and investigate what's going on up there.

That's an important job to get done sooner rather than later.

Yeah. And you don't think there's any insulation there, or not much, anyway?

I don't think there's any insulation in there.

How much can you do yourselves here?

The majority of the work is going to be OK.

It's just obviously I need a hand with the sheer scale of the jobs.

We'll work together and plan to get things done.

Rope the kids in as well, you know!

Eleanor, are you practical? Can you work together as a team on this?

No, I'm not!

I'll do whatever Ian asks me to do.

I can lift and carry and stuff, and paint,

but I can't cut in or... Fine.

But you're in this together. You're not saying, "I can't manage this. Ian, you're on your own."

You'll be working as a team. Yes, I'll support Ian.

Is it quite daunting? It is a bit, to be fair.

We're making light of it. We're in the position, so we've kind of got to make it happen.

OK. Let's continue having a look round, shall we? Yeah.

'Looking at the amount of work in store,

'it's understandable that Ian and Eleanor feel overwhelmed

'and a little bewildered by the scale of their project.'

The project is a big one.

It's not a small place and it needs a lot doing to it.

But I think it'll good for you to see another property that's had a full renovation,

and it's a very good match, a very similar property.

And also a similar couple! In some ways, it's a vision of the future.

You are them a few years ago.

You can see what they've done, and hopefully, there'll be some great advice on offer.

Sounds good? Great! Yeah. Excellent.

It's really nice to meet a couple so excited about taking on an empty property.

They really can't wait to get started.

But because of that, I think they're putting a brave face on things.

This is a huge project, full of problems.

Therefore, it'll be great for them to meet a couple who've been through this before,

they've taken on a property very similar to this,

they've lived on site while renovating it,

and they've done it on a very small budget.

And that is the key here.

So hopefully, they'll have some great advice.

Sadly, not all of Britain's forgotten buildings

are rescued and brought back to life.

But local councils are taking action,

and it's the job of Empty Property Officers to track these buildings down

and work to bring them back into the community.

Shepway Empty Property Officer Ian Cobby

is checking up on a three-bed semi-detached house

that's been empty for over seven years.

This property has been a nightmare for many years now.

I don't know what I'm going to find when I get here.

The property is now overgrown.

There's piles of rubbish

and it looks an eyesore.

At the moment, there's not a lot we can do

until such time as probate has been granted on the property.

The legal process of handing over ownership of a house

when a homeowner dies is called a grant of probate.

It can often mean a building is left empty while the new owner is located

and the title transferred.

If someone hasn't left a will, the process can take a number of years.

This house has attracted many complaints from neighbours,

but Ian's been unable to get a resolution.

It's such a shame. This has been a nice property in the past.

As you can see, most of the window frames have rotted away.

Some of the hanging tiles are missing.

Guttering is missing.

It's been a few years since anything was carried out on this property.

The garden is totally overgrown now.

It could prove harbourage to rats and mice.

It's such a shame.

It could be a lovely family home.

Ian knocks on the door of a neighbour to see if he's seen people or pests at the house.

Hello, Mr Cobby. Good afternoon, Malcolm. How are you? Very well, thank you.

Come to sort next door out? Hopefully, yes.

I was just about to ask you if you'd seen anything at all from anybody going in there?

Or any rats and mice that you've seen in the back garden at all.

I've not seen anybody for six months now.

I've seen a couple of rats, but that's what my cats have brought in.

OK. Other than that, nothing.

I'm going to have it test-baited, next door,

just to see if there are any rats or mice.

Obviously I know your cats are probably controlling it,

but I need evidence, obviously, before I can serve notice.

Right. OK. Lovely. Thanks.

No problem. Bye. Yep, all right.

Ian's next step is to find out who will be taking responsibility for the house.

If probate hasn't moved forward,

he'll have to serve a legal notice to get the garden cleared.

Ian calls the deceased owner's daughter to get an update.

I'm just ringing you to ask you how it's going, probate-wise.

It's good news. The daughter is now in a position to sell the house

and Ian doesn't need to serve notice.

He goes back next door to give Malcolm the update.

Hello? Hello?

Got some good news. What's that?

She can actually sell the property.

So that looks pretty good news. Brilliant.

So hang on in there!

Yeah. Brilliant.

I've been working on this property for seven years,

and so this is a conclusion, a hopeful conclusion, at the moment.

I can see a family moving into that within six months.

If you've noticed abandoned properties in your area

and fancy the challenge of taking one on,

try contacting estate agents, neighbourhood watch groups and local shop owners

to see if they have any information.

Or get in touch with your local Empty Property Officer.

In 2010, we visited Richard and Angela

while they were four years into their renovation.

Now, three years later, they've achieved a fantastic family home,

but it's not been without its challenges.

We were looking for something that needed some work

and we could put our own stamp on it.

When we first saw the place, it had been empty for a while.

It needed a lot of work.

Despite no experience, Richard planned and project managed the entire build himself,

much to wife Angela's consternation!

My biggest issue was that I knew Richard wasn't a builder,

had no history of building or interior design or designing.

He was a banker and I thought he should stick with what he knew best!

But immense enthusiasm.

So we did clash on this

because I just thought, "This is not your field."

I was told two kind of rules to building or renovating.

The first one I was told was to plan the build,

and the second was to build to the plan.

And a third one was later added, which was build to budget.

Unfortunately, I didn't follow any of those rules,

and I just went with whatever I thought was suitable at the time.

Richard didn't let Angela's lack of enthusiasm or his lack of know-how

get in the way of his grand designs to double the floor space

to 8,000 square feet.

I actually wanted a swimming pool underneath the house.

But I was persuaded by others that it's not such a great idea.

Probably better to put the pool in the garden and use the space for something else.

So I've built a gymnasium and a wet room and a gym complex as such.

Which is fun!

I felt that I might not complete it on a couple of occasions.

But doggedly just kind of continued.

And, um, the best feeling of it all

was when it was completed

and lying on a pool lounger, just looking up at it, and thinking, "It's nice that it's finished."

After eight years and a substantial amount of money and sacrifice,

the family have achieved an astounding transformation.

It's something that I visualised and thought it's exactly what we needed.

And it is, I can't really fault it now. It's amazing.

I'm really proud of it.

I think the space is second to none, really.

Obviously I enjoy the kitchen. I'm in there all the time.

It's a very sociable house. So for entertaining, anything like that, it's brilliant.

I would do it again, yeah.

Probably bigger, though!

I don't know. I don't know, actually.

But you didn't build it! No, I didn't, but I lived through it, and that's just as bad!

Empty buildings can blight an entire neighbourhood,

so it's very much in the local community's interests to try and get the best out of them.

But places that have been empty can be notoriously tricky to turn around.

It often requires someone with a vision

and plenty of energy to get things going.

There are over 16,000 empty buildings in Staffordshire.

And many are remnants of the county's industrial heyday.

The Maltings in the brewery town of Stone is one such building.

Derelict for decades, it's a local landmark

and is located on one of the town's busiest roads.

But architect Carl Croft is determined it's worth saving.

Carl, tell me about this building.

It looks like a big red brick barn, but it was something to do with the brewing industry, was it?

You'd be surprised how many people think it's a barn or something like that.

But originally it's a maltings building dating back to the 1780s.

So it goes back 230 years or more.

What would have been around here then? Not a main road?

Absolutely not, no.

You've got to remember that a maltings building was a completely agricultural process.

It would have been surrounded by fields.

Let's go and look inside, and see what you're dealing with.

'The Maltings was used for soaking, sprouting and drying grain to create malt,

'a key ingredient in brewing beer.

'It fell into disrepair, lying vacant until the '60s and was scheduled for demolition.

'But a Grade II listing due to its heritage saved it.'

What's the plan for this space? There are a lot of possibilities here.

Yes. What we're proposing to do

is to create two retail units, small shop units, in this space.

Upstairs, we're proposing three duplex apartments

so that families or professionals alike

could live in quite a nice space.

The shop at the end is going to include the kiln area. Yeah.

And that's the reason for the listing, essentially,

that and the fact that, by and large, you can tell that this is still a malting building.

So you have to be really careful to keep those features.

So you can't just open out the kiln area.

If it's going to be part of a shop, it has to be preserved the way it is.

Essentially, the kiln itself is sacrosanct, yes. Yeah.

Let's have a look upstairs, shall we? Great.

'Retaining the historic features is a key reason

'why Carl's vision was approved where others failed.

'And upstairs, the plans for the apartments

'incorporate the unique beams.'

This could be a great space. It's all the rage to have warehouse apartments and that kind of stuff,

but this is the genuine article! Yeah. A lot of history to the building.

What is it about this building you find so attractive?

It's got a real potential to kind of improve the town.

And we're going to preserve this building

going into the future for many years.

So it's great to give it a new, proper lease of life.

You must hope to see this quite soon.

After all your work, it'll be great to see it realised.

We're chomping at the bit to get this one going!

Thank you for showing me round.

Great plans, and very exciting, so I hope it comes off soon.

Brilliant. Thank you.

So it looks like there's finally fresh hope for the maltings.

The difficulty here is being sensitive to the building,

preserving its heritage and its characteristics,

while making it suitable for modern living.

But it looks like these plans do just that,

so let's hope they're put in place soon

so this old building can once again be central to the community here in Stone.

'Back in Shropshire, I'm with Ian and Eleanor,

'who've taken on a dilapidated cottage they want to transform into a family home.

'They're at the very beginning of the project

'and with plans still up in the air, they've got lots of questions.

'I'm going to introduce them to a couple who've done something very similar.'

Right, here we are!

So this is the place I've brought you to see.

Any thoughts? I know it's big, but is it familiar?

Yeah. The little dormer roofs, and it just has a feel similar to ours.

Perhaps it won't surprise you it's also a Duke of Sutherland property?

It's been completely changed by Matt and Christina, who you'll meet in a second.

The thing about these two is they did a lot of the work themselves.

And they lived on site for a lot of the build

which will make them quite interesting to talk to for you guys.

Shall we go and say hello? Yeah. Yeah. Good.

'Matt and Christina took on not one but three run-down cottages.

'They were also former tenants' homes on the Duke of Sutherland's estate.

'Matt immediately saw the potential to create an ideal family home

'and set about convincing his wife, Christina.'

He brought me up one of the days to have a look from the outside.

And I thought how nice it was,

not knowing what it was like on the inside!

The buildings sit on a three-quarters-of-an-acre plot

and despite their neglected state, there was high competition from other buyers.

The person that was selling the property had been left the house in a will.

And she'd come over from Australia. So I took the time to meet her.

She had higher offers than us, but because she knew it was going to be a family house,

she let us have it.

And we're still in touch now. She comes over and visits.

The couple snatched up the cottages for a total of ?300,000.

To save money, the family made the bold decision

to live in the ramshackle cottages whilst the renovation was ongoing,

presenting a number of challenges.

There was no insulation, no damp course.

The insulation was more of an issue with trying to live in it at the time because it was so cold

in the house.

So we would have log burners burning 24/7 to keep heat in.

Half the time we were living in the open air

because although we had the roof above our head, one of the walls would be out.

Matt did the majority of the work by himself.

Progress was slow, and the first winter on site was a real eye-opener.

It was one of the worst winters we've ever had.

It was really, really difficult.

We were sweeping a foot of snow off the scaffolding

to then carry on that day's work.

I fell off the scaffolding the one day twice, or fell off the roof twice, in a day.

I had to climb back on and carry on.

That was a bit difficult.

If we'd had roofers in and carpenters in, it would have taken a couple of weeks.

It took me about four or five months to finish the roof

because I was doing it all myself.

Christina pitched in, saving themselves thousands of pounds

cleaning all the bricks from demolition for re-use.

We couldn't have done it without Christina.

She didn't just clean one or two, she cleaned 10,000 bricks!

She had hands like a navvy by the end of it.

She worked winter, summer, cleaned them in the snow. Everything.

The hard work and sacrifice has paid off.

And four years down the line they've achieved a wonderful family home.

I've forgotten all about it, to be honest. It's funny.

You forget about all the bad things when you get to this stage

because you see it all come together and all that fades into the background.

I'm hoping that meeting Matt and Christina

and seeing just what they've achieved

will help Ian and Eleanor feel less daunted

and more inspired by the journey ahead.

It's lovely to meet you. Thanks for having us in your home.

As you walk in here, what are your first impressions?

It's a pretty big kitchen diner. Yes. Amazing. Wonderful.

What was it like to live here on a building site during that time?

Very cold! Upstairs was particularly bad for us

because we're in such an exposed spot here.

There was no insulation. Because the roof is your ceiling. Yes.

You've got no protection whatsoever.

So we had the gale force winds coming in through the uninsulated windows

and obviously there was no insulation in the roof, so it was very cold.

These guys are having that issue as well.

Because the ceiling's right in the roof,

what do you do? Insulate between the joists?

You use blocks of insulation between the roof joists. 100ml.

And then you use a 75ml block again just underneath.

Then you screw your plasterboard onto that joist as well.

It's a hell of a job, to be honest,

because you're drilling the insulation and holding up the plasterboard. But it's worth it.

OK. The kitchen is absolutely amazing. Can we look at some more?

Yes. Help yourself.

Matt and Christina knocked through the three cottages

and extended upwards to create two properties -

their four-bedroomed family home and a two-bed guest house next door.

This is originally the area that we lived in.

This was our bedroom, my daughter's bedroom, the bathroom and the hallway, all in one!

It was everything! That's now just your bedroom. Yeah. This was the house, basically.

How much of this work did you actually do yourselves?

I'd say about 80% myself

and calling in favours to either do the work for me or show me where I'm going wrong

and then keep coming back to make sure I'm doing it right.

Specialist tools, as well. Hiring equipment and tools.

The cost can escalate so much in scaffolding and professional tools.

Rather than renting them, I was buying them off auction sites.

Had you thought of that? No, not at all. That's a really good idea.

It's a bit of money up-front, but in the long term, it could save money.

And what about materials, as well?

How do you stretch your budget? Were you looking to recycle materials

or asking for people's old materials?

If you spot a building site, a small-scale building site,

that's nearing completion,

there's always a lot of left-over materials.

You can generally meet the site agent and do a deal and buy the left-over materials

rather than them being chucked away.

I suppose if you don't ask, you don't get. That's the principle here.

Any final advice on the order you do things in? Where your priorities are?

The main one is the roof and windows, to make it watertight.

That will allow other trades to follow on.

Then, because you want to live in the house,

you've got to make a bedroom nice and tidy for you to relax.

Somewhere to watch TV, somewhere to cook.

When you went to work on the place, presumably you stripped it out?

Yes, it was all completely cleared out.

It was just an empty property.

So they could just gut it then and get on with what needed to be done.

I think we might have to consider doing that

and kind of transferring furniture around the house.

Definitely something to bear in mind.

Guys, thank you very much for showing us round.

It's been wonderful. It's quite a mammoth project.

You've achieved an awful lot. And thank you for your advice today, as well. It's been great.

Thank you. Our pleasure.

How have you found it today?

Really beneficial. Yes, totally.

It has really been an eye-opener.

I feel like if they can do all of this,

we do stand a chance of being able to do our much smaller project.

Their ideas are really good, really relevant.

They've been really helpful. Totally. Shared... Good money-saving tips. Yeah.

Shared so much advice. Yeah.

You're in exactly the same position.

Matt did about 80% of the work, exactly what you're looking to do.

Yeah, so it is just being bold, asking, begging favours from trades and that kind of stuff.

And they show it can work.

I think you'll be just fine. Good. It's a great place.

It's a wonderful location. Good luck. I hope you're having people round for barbecues next summer!

Let's hope so! Yeah! Thank you very much.

This really has been the ideal place for Ian and Ellie to see today.

A very similar building to theirs

and loads of great ideas for them to take away.

But it's also been about advice.

Everything from insulation to sourcing building supplies

and I think it's given them great reassurance.

They really can do this.

So they come away from here full of belief

that they can turn their little cottage into their perfect place in the country.

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