An old abandoned house on scottish land owned by army reserve. How can I try buying it?

fifer82

Hi there!

Since I was a kid, at the bottom of the town there is a little house with a small garden that no one has ever lived in.  Its minimally maintained (structurally) but steel welded with bars, and the garden is a trash pile. I was passing with my partner who have been renting for a long time together and we thought it would be a good idea to check it out somehow to see if we can access it. 

Does anyone know where I would start with this?  It's Army Reserve property and I could probably find the deeds if I pay, but once i have them, where would I go next? From minimal research, in Wales and England, it says you can argue that the public property would be better served as housing/community and in this case that is true. 

I appreciate this is specific. 

Thanks for reading.  

greatcrested

If it's army reserve, contact the Ministry of Defense.

But assuming you're willing to pay the nominal fee to get the deeds, you can check who really does own it - and then contact them!

fifer82

Thank you friend.  All I needed was a rabbit hole and you have given me that.  I felt it was so random that simply contacting them would give me a generic response. Worth a try!   I appreciate your time. 

sheramber

Do the army reserve still use the land for manoeuvers?

fifer82

No they don't, that street has residential mixed in with light industrial, more of a supply facility. 

FreeBear

You could try here - https://www.gov.uk/find-government-property

But you do need to be careful with MOD sites - Some innocuous buildings were just a front for hidden bunkers. So what might look like a two bed cottage is in fact a 2,000sqft of bomb proof housing (all underground).

davidmcn

If it's MoD owned then you contact their estates department. But I wouldn't expect a positive response, I think it's much more likely they decide for themselves what property is actually surplus to requirements rather than await speculative enquiries. I'm sure they have vast amounts of land which they're not actively using but would rather keep hold of for the meantime.

fifer82 said:

From minimal research, in Wales and England, it says you can argue that the public property would be better served as housing/community and in this case that is true.

In Scotland, community buy-outs are possible, but that's more of a "first refusal" if a property is being sold - and it has to be a community buy-out (e.g. an island's residents buying the estate from the local laird), not somebody just buying a house for themselves. There are also rights to buy abandoned etc land, but again it's for community use (and possible the MoD will argue it has some strategic use).

theoretica

Do you know why the MOD own it?  Is it a corner of a larger area or an isolated small bit of land they own?  They might be willing to sell it, but as a small and comparatively low value place it won't be a priority.  Still, no harm in asking, the worst they can do is not get back to you. 

That said, have you had a read on what renovating/rebuilding it might cost and the mortgage you would need?  There is a lovely looking building plot for sale near me where an bungalow was torn down, but the costs involved make it a less lovely idea!

Mutton_Geoff

FreeBear said:

You could try here - https://www.gov.uk/find-government-property

But you do need to be careful with MOD sites - Some innocuous buildings were just a front for hidden bunkers. So what might look like a two bed cottage is in fact a 2,000sqft of bomb proof housing (all underground).

Like the Secret Nuclear Underground Bunker near Kelvedon in Essex. Now a tourist attraction -

https://secretnuclearbunker.com/

And starred in a pretty bad Zombie movie ten years ago called S.N.U.B.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182942/

(Been there, seen it etc!)

FreeBear

Mutton_Geoff said: Like the Secret Nuclear Underground Bunker near Kelvedon in Essex.

I had more in mind the guard house at Bervie Brow.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-23099407

https://uniquepropertybulletinarchive.co.uk/unique-property-bulletin-14-july-2013/

unforeseen

Some of those bunkers are still in use as part of the UK Air Defence network. Boulmer is still operational, spent 10 years in that bunker

For anybody that is interested in these 'secret' bunkers, look up the ROTOR system on the Internet and the different types of bunker.
Subbrit.org.uk is a good place to start.