Interested in a unoccupied house

mistryjayesh · 23 January 2022 at 8:55PM

Hi and evening all

I am wondering if anyone can provide any guidance.

Me and my partner have seen a house opposite her dads house and the house has been unoccupied for nearly 3 years, previous to that the owner rented out the house and since the tenant moved out the house has been left empty.

No one comes to the house to keep an eye on it and it’s just left.

We are unsure sure what has happened to the owner one theory raised is he could be in prison but not confirmed.

We have checked the land registry and can see the owner has a Mortage on it with BoS.

My question is how do we find out the availability of this house in regards to raising the possibility of buying it and how do we go about doing this?

we don’t know where to start or if it’s even possible.

Thanks in advance

Jay

Flugelhorn · 23 January 2022 at 8:59PM

possibly there is someone like this at your local council ?

https://eastdevon.gov.uk/housing-and-homelessness/housing-in-the-private-sector/about-empty-homes/

daivid · 23 January 2022 at 9:07PM

Ask all the neighbours. One may know who the owner is, or who the last tenant is - if you can find them they may tell you who the owner is. You could put a note through the door with your intent to buy, someone may be collecting post occasionally.

user1977 · 23 January 2022 at 9:13PM

Who gave you the information about prison? Maybe they know more?

If the owner is actually in (an English or Welsh) prison you can try contacting them via:

https://www.gov.uk/find-prisoner

mistryjayesh · 23 January 2022 at 9:19PM

Bit of background:

we have asked all the neighbours and no one seems to know anything and they have said no one comes to the house or at least they haven’t seen anyone come for years.

The house is wasting away and no sign of anyone coming to keep an eye on it.

The previous tenant moved out as the owner said he was going to be selling the house so before he left he ripped out the kitchen and other parts of the house before he left but the house has never been put on the market and no one likes the tenant as he was a little unsavoury so they don’t have any contact details

In regards to the owner being in prison just a rumour with the neighbours no one actually knows anything concrete.

Thanks

jay

MalMonroe · 23 January 2022 at 9:34PM

You don't need to ask any of the neighbours. You can just ask your council, as Flugelhorn suggests.

In fact my local council welcomes queries about empty properties because they want to know where they are in our city. Weirdly, one of our council's own houses near where I live was discovered to have been empty for 2 years. Nobody thought to report it because we all thought the council would know it was empty. We should have known better!

Councils have records of who owns what, normally and can start investigations to find out what the situation is.

You could also tell the council that you would be very interested in buying it if the owner could be found.

MalMonroe · 23 January 2022 at 9:35PM

daivid said:

Ask all the neighbours. One may know who the owner is, or who the last tenant is - if you can find them they may tell you who the owner is. You could put a note through the door with your intent to buy, someone may be collecting post occasionally.

The OP's father in law lives opposite and is a neighbour. Nobody seems to know. Council should know though.

canaldumidi · 23 January 2022 at 9:45PM

If it's been empty for 3 years and there's a mortgage, then I imagine the mortgage is being paid. Otherwise surely BoS would have reposessed by now.

What address is shown for the owner on the LR Title? I imagine the property address? Have you written to the named owner there? They probably have Royal Mail forwarding in place. ave you written to them an hand delivered a letter? One or the other might reach them.

What efforts have you made to trace the named owner? Social media? Local papers? Private detective?

GDB2222 · 23 January 2022 at 9:52PM

Have you checked who owns the property? You can download the details at the Land Registry. Cost £3.

user1977 · 23 January 2022 at 9:55PM

canaldumidi said:

If it's been empty for 3 years and there's a mortgage, then I imagine the mortgage is being paid. Otherwise surely BoS would have reposessed by now.

Or it's already been repaid and nobody's bothered to discharge it. How old is the mortgage, OP?

Rosa_Damascena · 23 January 2022 at 10:16PM

Slight word of caution if you do get lucky with this property, OP: be aware of the credit score attached to the house itself (may be relevant if there were debts).