Finding owner of derelict property

wannabedebtfree_2

Good Luck with this, I am always looking at ramshackle places and dreaming!!

My other half just sighs when I see a couple of old stone walls that were part of a house all fallen down and covered in brambles and go "Oooohhh, that would be lovely!" PMSL!

As for church renovations, they are getting more difficult now, most of the churches that have sold down my way for the past couple of years have had covenants on them to say they are not able to be made into housing, but things like tea shops and antique centres.......BORING!

I wanna get my hands on an old building, and one day I will, I'm always on the look out for derelicts!

Alan_M_2

Guy_Montag wrote: »

Yeah, see Property Ladder is what puts me off - I'm not sure that I'm not one of those muppets that'll do it all wrong. I wouldn't be doing it to sell it, but to live in. I imagine your advice about finding a decent builder etc is the best advice possible & without knowing anyone in the business...

Ogling a grade II listed church right now & thinking it would make a perfect house for me. Guide Price £100k-£150k (hasn't sold for a few auctions), I have c. £50k in realisable assets (prior to today's stock market tumble:rolleyes:).

(Sorry to hijack your thread - keep us informed )

The biggest nightmare will be the grade II listing.

With that, I simply wouldn't consider buying it, you have to get permission from English Heritage to break wind in your own bath....:rolleyes:

Seriously, if it wasn't listed I say go for it, but the hoops you'll have to jump through with listing often isn't worth the hassle.

Guy_Montag

It already has PP for conversion into four flats - so it hopefully conversion into Montag's Mansion should be acceptable.

My guess is you're right Alan M, it's the listing that bothers me. I don't even know where to begin, so really I shouldn't.

ps. How much is a structural survey likely to cost?

Alan_M_2

Structural Survey depends on the size of the building and the time the guy spends there.

A detailed report will be over four figures, but other than that, it's how long is a piece of string.

A grade II listed church isn't the kind of thing you want to step into for a first project, that's more a 4th or 5th along the line when you've learned a little.

The problems with listings is the demands placed on you to replace as original, the cost is irrelevant to the authorities concerned, so if you're required to replace all the stained glass windows to original specification at a cost of £200,000 then that's what you have to do, end of story.

The fact you could get some perfectly attractive (and in keeping) hand made wood windows made for £30,000 is irrelevant.

I think this part of listing is wrong when the building is clearly derelict, it almost encourages you to let it fall down and be lost forever, these people should get out a bit more and live in the real world.

The couple who rebuilt that castle on Grand Designs had the patience of saints and I take my hat off to them. It was also the best Grand Designs program ever produced, so putting it out as the first of the new series was a mistake, as none of the following shows have been anywhere near as good.

WestonDave

After my earlier post I also went looking at my pipedream. As I suspected its not actually registered, but a bank appear to have registered a caution on it to cover them lending to a named couple to both buy it and renovate it. That is very interesting to me because the date of the caution long predates when I saw the property, and it was very clear even then that the property hadn't been touched. Wonder if the bank are aware the asset their loan is secured on is quietly crumbling away! That said maybe the current owners have encountered problems converting it into something useful and have come to a dead end on the project.

Alan_M_2

The fabric of the building will be largely valueless if it is genuinely in a state of dereliction.

However the land will be of value, that value being determined by what planing restrictions/permissions exist.

Dithering_Dad

Alan_M wrote: »

The couple who rebuilt that castle on Grand Designs had the patience of saints and I take my hat off to them. It was also the best Grand Designs program ever produced, so putting it out as the first of the new series was a mistake, as none of the following shows have been anywhere near as good.

That was a great episode - it was on the telly last night actually, but my favourite is the French Chateau that was burned down by the Nazis and renovated by the eccentric English couple. The effort they put into it was amazing and they seemed to be a really nice couple.

epz_2

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

That was a great episode - it was on the telly last night actually, but my favourite is the French Chateau that was burned down by the Nazis and renovated by the eccentric English couple. The effort they put into it was amazing and they seemed to be a really nice couple.

agreed, that place was massive and its always better watching folks work hard rather than just throw money at it, the one where the couple bought a swiss chalet for £500k and couldnt even be bothered to stay in the country while it was getting done was a waste of time.


anyway getting ot, i think the hardest part is arranging the sale. odds are the person that has it has a fair whack of cash and and have for their own reasons not sold it on, negotiating a price might be had.

if the price stacks up i would make sure planners are ok cause the council can be really expensive.

also i would start building up a stash of arcuitectural parts early on, you can get inch thick planks of reclamed oak etc for similar prices to cheap laminate if you are buying large quanitites and can arrange to get it transported.

I_love_Airedales

How exciting DD you have to keep us informed. We will want lots of pictures when you get your mill.
Living in a caravan will be fun for the family and character building!
Good luck,
ILA

barrymung

Right guys. Here's a guide to claiming unregistered property, which you'd normally get fleeced ££££'s for on ebay: http://www.find-it-here.co.uk/

It IS possible to claim unregistered land/houses but not nearly as easy as ebay sellers would have you believe..