Channel 4’s Restoration Man is set to return for a new series and is looking for owners of historic buildings to take part.  Presented by the architect George Clarke, Restoration Man follows new owners ready to restore, convert and breathe new life into vulnerable and forgotten buildings across the UK.

George offers his expertise to the individuals who have bought these historic buildings and are passionate about turning them into their dream homes. As well as practical advice, George looks into the history of each building, why they were built and how they’ve [...]]]>

Channel 4’s Restoration Man is set to return for a new series and is looking for owners of historic buildings to take part.  Presented by the architect George Clarke, Restoration Man follows new owners ready to restore, convert and breathe new life into vulnerable and forgotten buildings across the UK.

George offers his expertise to the individuals who have bought these historic buildings and are passionate about turning them into their dream homes. As well as practical advice, George looks into the history of each building, why they were built and how they’ve evolved over the years within the local community.

So far, Restoration Man has featured a whole variety of listed and unlisted properties from across the UK, from ice houses to military towers, as well as various windmills, churches and historic barns all over the country.

We are looking for all kinds of unusual and aged buildings in the UK, such as water towers, follies, former military buildings, former public toilets, lighthouses, stables, dovecotes, former shops, barns, railway buildings, signal boxes, halls, libraries, towers, fortresses, oast houses etc.

They can be either listed or unlisted, and owners must already have full planning permission and finances in place.

So, if you, or anyone you know, has recently taken on your dream restoration project, and could do with a bit of help from George on the way, then please do contact the Restoration Man team on 0208 222 4434 or email: restorationman@tigeraspect.co.uk, and help us in George’s mission to rescue neglected architectural treasures across the country.

Both schemes require that buyers renovate the house and live there for five years.

Both Schemes are proving incredibly popular with over 600 applications received in the first 24 hours in Stoke and over 4,000 expressions of interest received in Liverpool. [...]]]> These are the words of Grace Dent in the Independent reporting the pioneering new homesteading scheme that opened for applications this week in Stoke on Trent.  Applications also opened for a similar scheme in Liverpool. A total of 55 empty houses are available for local people to buy at £1 each in the two cities.

Both schemes require that buyers renovate the house and live there for five years.

Both Schemes are proving incredibly popular with over 600 applications received in the first 24 hours in Stoke and over 4,000 expressions of interest received in Liverpool. Applications can be made to the Stoke scheme here and the Liverpool scheme here

The research calculated the sale value of empty homes in England. Second homes, holiday homes and uninhabitable homes were not included. We are grateful to Endsleigh for carrying out the research and providing the graphic showing the regional breakdown.

Our thanks to Savaills for this fascinating analysis of census data. The map of England and Wales shows the distribution of both empty homes and unoccupied second homes. it plots vacancy rates rather than the numbers of homes which means rural areas with relatively low number of homes but proportions of second homes tend to show up more than dense urban areas with high number of vacant homes but low vacancy rates.

The purpose of these changes is two-fold, firstly they are intended to give a financial incentive for owners to get empty homes back into use, but they are also intended [...]]]> This week sees the introduction of a radical overhaul of the way council tax is charged on empty homes in England. Previously there was a series of discounts and exemptions that meant that the council tax charged on most empty homes was less than for occupied homes. The situation has now reversed meaning that council tax on most empty homes will be the same or even more than on occupied homes.

The purpose of these changes is two-fold, firstly they are intended to give a financial incentive for owners to get empty homes back into use, but they are also intended to increase the overall council tax take so that councils are able to continue to provide support for those who previously received council tax benefit.

The old system

There was no council Tax to pay on unfurnished empty homes for the first 6 months after the property became empty. Homes undergoing major repairs or alterations were exempt for 12 months. After these exemptions had expired council tax was usually charged at a discounted rate of anything up to 50% (the actual rate was set by the council)

Furnished empty homes were deemed to be second homes and were charged council tax at a discounted rate of between 50% and 90% of the full rate (the actual rate was set by the council)

The New System

The government now allows councils to set their own policies for discounts on empty homes, and has introduced “Empty Homes Premium” This allows councils to charge up to 150% of council tax on homes that have been empty for more than 2 years.

Although policies vary, we have reviewed the policies of several councils and found most to be very similar. Our research shows that most councils have introduced policies that offer

• Unfurnished empty homes may be exempt for the first month; thereafter a 50% discount applies for the next 5 months After this period full council tax is charged.
• Full Council Tax is charged on second homes (furnished empty homes).
• Empty homes undergoing major repairs or alterations are no longer exempt, but instead a  50% discount applies for up to 12 months. After this period full council tax is charged.
• Empty homes that have been empty for more than 2 years are charged 150% of the Council tax charged on an occupied home.

There are some exemptions that remain in specific circumstances these include:

Homes left empty after the occupier has died are exempt up to grant of probate or letters of administration and up to 6 months thereafter (after which full council tax will be charged)

Empty homes owned by charities will continue to receive an exemption for the first 6 months after the property became empty (after which full council tax will be charged)

Some homes are exempt for as long as they stay empty. They include:

• Empty home owned by someone in prison (except for not paying a fine or Council Tax)
• Empty home owned by someone who’s moved into a care home or hospital
• Empty home owned by someone providing care
• Empty home that has been repossessed
• Home that cannot be lived in by law
• Homes that are empty because they’ve been compulsory purchased with the intention of demolishing them
• Homes left empty for a minister of religion
• Empty student accommodation
• Empty annexes that cannot be let separately

The Community Grants Programme offering grants for charities, community groups and social enterprises for properties in England. Applications close on 25th March

The HCA programme offers grants for empty properties in England but not in London in the same circumstance for HCA investment partners (housing associations and local authorities)  Applications also close on 25th March.

The [...]]]> Please note that the government’s empty homes grants programme for England is now closed except in London where it will remain open to applications until 21 May. All three programmes offer capital grants to pay for the renovation of empty property that is brought into affordable use.

The Community Grants Programme offering grants for charities, community groups and social enterprises for properties in England. Applications close on 25^th March

The HCA programme offers grants for empty properties in England but not in London in the same circumstance for HCA investment partners (housing associations and local authorities)  Applications also close on 25th March.

The London programme offers grants for investment partners, charities and community groups for properties in London. GLA have announced that Applications will now close on 21st May -not 30th April as previously reported

Review here,Watch it here

Remember to watch Britain’s Empty Homes on BBC ONE @ 11.45. 

Following four series of Britain’s Empty Homes.  Britian’s Empty Homes Revisited looks back at some of the people and houses covered in the previous series and brings the stories up to date. The series was broadcast on weekdays on BBC1 at 11.45AM until 8th March. You can catch up with the lst few episodes on iplayer here

The house for £1 concept is starting in Liverpool . Twenty empty houses are soon to be offered for sale in three areas of the city.

Houses will be sold with a condition that the new owners renovate the houses to a decent homes standard. The homes were originally included in the housing market renewal programme, and were going to be demolished or renovated by the council. But the ending of government grants that supported the programme has caused Liverpool [...]]]> Following the huge demand for houses in a similar scheme in Stoke

The house for £1 concept is starting in Liverpool . Twenty empty houses are soon to be offered for sale in three areas of the city.

Houses will be sold with a condition that the new owners renovate the houses to a decent homes standard. The homes were originally included in the housing market renewal programme, and were going to be demolished or renovated by the council. But the ending of government grants that supported the programme has caused Liverpool council to rethink their plans.

Update 28/2/13

Please note expressions of interest in the initial 20 properties can be made until 6th March. For more info visit the website … http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/housing/homesforapound/ .

The figures show most areas had big reductions in empty homes with areas such as Hackney, Cornwall and Salford seeing record annual reductions of around 800 each.  But one hundred councils saw their vacancy rates rise,  the biggest rise was in Manchester where an additional 924 homes became empty during the year.

In total there [...]]]> Housing minister Mark Prisk has announced the latest empty homes figures for England. These, along with the number of net additions (numbers of new homes built) governs the amount of New Homes Bonus reward grant that each council receives.

The figures show most areas had big reductions in empty homes with areas such as Hackney, Cornwall and Salford seeing record annual reductions of around 800 each.  But one hundred councils saw their vacancy rates rise,  the biggest rise was in Manchester where an additional 924 homes became empty during the year.

In total there was a big drop of 17,495 empty homes across England. Details can be seen here

But national housing policies are such as New Homes Bonus, designed to increase housing supply, may be unhelpful in areas with lower house prices by encouraging house building when improving the exisiting housing would be better.

It reccomends that other measures such [...]]]> Influential think -tank Centre for Cities concludes that national policies to increase housebuilding are working against bringing vacant properties into use in the north. It’s new report Cities Outlook says bringing empty homes into use is likely to be more beneficial than building new houses in areas with lower house prices.

But national housing policies are such as New Homes Bonus, designed to increase housing supply, may be unhelpful in areas with lower house prices by encouraging house building when improving the exisiting housing would be better.

It reccomends that other measures such as reducing VAT on renovations, and giving more flexibility and autonomy to local areas may be more effective.

The report also says that there are 400,000 homes on stalled development sites, over 100,000 of which are in London.

The report can be downloaded here