Empty Neighbouring Property - what to do?

Nebulous2

A friend supported an old man who was struggling to live on his own and the man gave him a key. The old man died, had no direct descendants and a niece or nephew inherited. They took an interest, used it as a holiday house, and came 2 or 3 times. 

Then with the heating switched off there was a leak from a suspected frozen pipe, and much of the interior was destroyed. The owner simply abandoned it. That was 17 years ago - my friend still has a key - but has not been called on to do anything. 

Some people cannot face up to the responsibilities of home ownership, and simply give up. Unless you understand them and can convince them of your positive intentions, they can find it impossible to dig themselves out of the hole they find themselves in....

MultiFuelBurner

I really think you need to concentrate on things you can effect in your own life.

You mentioned a sale fall through due to this neighbours Japanese Knotweed, are you still wanting to sell and what was the outcome did they treat it/stop it from entering your garden. That's the only thing that you can really make a fuss and a claim about.

[Deleted User]

The situation of empty houses is bad when there's so many needing homes.
There's a house near me, empty and has been for 15 years, the owners visit it every couple of weeks but only in the early hours.
They stay for a couple of hours, then leave.
These instances are wierd !
Neighbours imaginations have run wild, with theories, during this time but nothing's changed despite council and police being asked to look into things.

CitizenX

Thank you everyone for taking the time to comment - your replies are all very interesting and useful and I have taken them all on board.

I wish I had the time to write the whole saga out but it so long, and much of it so mad you would think it unbelievable, hence me with holding some info such as the owner’s criminal history and his harassment of me through my job etc etc.

I  do not wish to sell as my husband died and I can no longer afford to, but at some point in the future, hopefully yes.

I will, at some point, contact my local councillor to discus the property as this is a conservation area in an historic part of the town. 

Thank you all again.

MultiFuelBurner

[Deleted User] said:

The situation of empty houses is bad when there's so many needing homes.
There's a house near me, empty and has been for 15 years, the owners visit it every couple of weeks but only in the early hours.
They stay for a couple of hours, then leave.
These instances are wierd !
Neighbours imaginations have run wild, with theories, during this time but nothing's changed despite council and police being asked to look into things.

Checking on the grow

SadieO

CitizenX said:

SadieO said:

What action do you want to come from this? 

And are you absolutely sure there isn't a housebound person living there? 

Absolutely, 100% sure no one is living there. 

I would like to see the house renovated and lived in. 

I get that seeing the house renovated and lived in is what you would like to happen. I don't blame you for that, I am sure we all would like to see any empty or run down properties looking nice and having people live in them. But you are asking what to do, as if you believe you should be able to play a part in this. What do you want any action that you take (eg complaining to the council) to achieve? Do you think the council should be able to force the owners to move back in, or to sell it to someone who is going to do it up, keep it nice and promise to live in it? 

Herzlos

Nebulous2 said:

A friend supported an old man who was struggling to live on his own and the man gave him a key. The old man died, had no direct descendants and a niece or nephew inherited. They took an interest, used it as a holiday house, and came 2 or 3 times. 

Then with the heating switched off there was a leak from a suspected frozen pipe, and much of the interior was destroyed. The owner simply abandoned it. That was 17 years ago - my friend still has a key - but has not been called on to do anything. 

Some people cannot face up to the responsibilities of home ownership, and simply give up. Unless you understand them and can convince them of your positive intentions, they can find it impossible to dig themselves out of the hole they find themselves in....

You'd think at the giving up stage they'd just get an estate agent to take care of selling it off and getting rid of the responsibility. But I guess that takes a lot of emotional energy and stress to do, so some folk will just shut down completely and ignore it.

Even a house that's completely collapsed is still going to be worth a significant chunk of money too. I can't imagine leaving 10's or 100's of £k in an abandoned house and then spend hours pretending that it's occupied, it just seems like far too much work.

Herzlos

MultiFuelBurner said:

[Deleted User] said:

The situation of empty houses is bad when there's so many needing homes.
There's a house near me, empty and has been for 15 years, the owners visit it every couple of weeks but only in the early hours.
They stay for a couple of hours, then leave.
These instances are wierd !
Neighbours imaginations have run wild, with theories, during this time but nothing's changed despite council and police being asked to look into things.

Checking on the grow

That could be it, but it'd require it to be fairly weather tight and private since it'd need a lot of light and heat.

Section62

Herzlos said:

Nebulous2 said:

A friend supported an old man who was struggling to live on his own and the man gave him a key. The old man died, had no direct descendants and a niece or nephew inherited. They took an interest, used it as a holiday house, and came 2 or 3 times. 

Then with the heating switched off there was a leak from a suspected frozen pipe, and much of the interior was destroyed. The owner simply abandoned it. That was 17 years ago - my friend still has a key - but has not been called on to do anything. 

Some people cannot face up to the responsibilities of home ownership, and simply give up. Unless you understand them and can convince them of your positive intentions, they can find it impossible to dig themselves out of the hole they find themselves in....

You'd think at the giving up stage they'd just get an estate agent to take care of selling it off and getting rid of the responsibility. But I guess that takes a lot of emotional energy and stress to do, so some folk will just shut down completely and ignore it.

Even a house that's completely collapsed is still going to be worth a significant chunk of money too. I can't imagine leaving 10's or 100's of £k in an abandoned house and then spend hours pretending that it's occupied, it just seems like far too much work.

In threads like this one there are often strange borderline judgemental comments (not yours) about people retaining a property in similar circumstances being somewhat selfish (though weirdly owning a rural or seaside holiday home tends not to get the same level of opprobrium).

For me it makes perfect sense in a rising market for someone owning an asset (like a house) to want to hang on to it for as long as they can.  No doubt the gentleman who went into a care home had hope that one day he'd go back to his own house, but equally he may have been aware (having sufficient cash in his account to pay for his care fees) that the house was likely to be going up in value and keeping it for the time being would mean when he did sell he'd get more for it than selling up on the day he moved into a care setting.  In some cases (mental) health issues may be the cause of someone hanging on to a property they no longer need, but it would be a shame for this thread to conclude that the only reasons for keeping a property which wasn't lived in were either due to criminality, or else insanity.

People's circumstances are complicated, there ca be good reasons for a home not to be lived in for a period of time.  It would be a sad state of affairs if individual choice was further eroded in the name of "More homes!", especially when the shortage of housing has far more to do with state policies rather than a handful of people owning an empty home.

Jaybee_16

Property next door to me was owned by man who lived somewhere else but would visit every couple of weeks to cut the grass and do a few jobs indoors. Then he just stopped visiting his property and it just sat empty. It sat empty and unvisited for 25 years. Six foot high brambles in the back garden were a pain but I wasn't overly bothered until one day I saw a rat in his garden.
Called the council who visited to look over the fence at the mess, traced the owner and gave him a "clear it or we will and bill you' ultimatum. Council cleared the garden and invoiced the owner.
Weeks passed then the property was visited by someone who broke in, changed the door locks, bypassed the meters, put about eight mattresses on the floor of the two bed property and let it.
Those now living there changed the kitchen, put in a new gas boiler and lived there for about six months until the police raided one morning and threw them out. 
Owner then sold it.