Vacant & draining? Make your empty property pay you

With over a quarter of a million empty residential properties across the UK, many landlords are adding significant costs to their portfolio without generating any income to offset them. No matter how you’ve come into possession of a vacant property, it’s important to understand the potential expenses and explore your available options.

In this article, Andrew Parker, partner and auctioneer at SDL Property Auctions, explains what classifies as an empty property, what costs are associated with this, and your options for selling should you wish to dispose of it.

An empty property is typically defined as one that hasn’t had a resident for more than 30 days, though this definition may change from council to council, or by insurer.

For most empty properties you will have to pay council tax. Naturally there are some exemptions to this such as when you’re carrying out renovation work and you’re entitled to council tax relief, if the property has been condemned, has been legally repossessed or the resident now lives in a care facility. Again, this can differ between councils. 

Ultimately, it’s to reduce the number of properties which are standing empty and allow them to become homes once more. To support this initiative, local councils have the authority to charge additional council tax on vacant dwellings. This is known as the ‘empty homes premium’. 

As of April 2023, councils can charge a premium of up to 100% of your council tax for properties that have been empty for a year, in addition to your regular rates and 200% for properties which have stood empty for five years or more. For properties that have been empty for 10 years or more, this could also be bumped up to 300%. 

Unfortunately, the costs of owning an empty property don’t stop at council tax and empty home premiums. There are plenty more costs that can be incurred if your property remains vacant for extended periods of time.

If you took out a mortgage to purchase your property, you’ll still need to continue paying it off in addition to council tax, empty home premiums, and other costs. Particularly costly if your secondary property is a rental, and you do not have tenants in situ.

Empty homes will also require insurance. Particularly as they can be an easy target for vandalism and squatters. Due to these increased risks, you will find that not all companies will insure empty properties and therefore you can expect to pay more than you would for standard buildings cover.

Vacant properties can quickly fall into disrepair, and can cost you money to fix leaks, flooding or garden maintenance. This cost further increases when you can’t attend to the property yourself and need to pay someone to do it for you.

Bills may be lessened in an empty property, but they won’t disappear completely, you’ll still need to pay any relevant standard utility bills for electricity, water, and gas. You may also incur extra charges if you employ security or cleaners to help look after the property while it is vacant.

If you own an empty property for which you’re paying council tax, a mortgage and hefty insurance costs, you could be wondering whether you want it in your portfolio anymore.

If you’re looking to sell your empty property and need a fast and faff free sale, then an auction may be the perfect method for you. Property auctions offer a fast and certain way of selling, operating in a defined timeframe in which to sell and complete, eliminating lengthy onward chains and the risk of sales falling through. Plus, with investors, private individuals, owner occupiers and companies alike all regularly purchasing this way, your property will be exposed to the widest pool of potential buyers.

The expert team at SDL Property Auctions are happy to provide a free no-obligation valuation of your empty property and chat about how a sale by auction could quickly get you the best price.