A briefing for buyers of renovation projects
We source long-term empty homes through the councils' own empty-homes officers, secure the renovation grant or loan against the property, agree terms with the owner — and hand you the finished deal. Property, funding, owner agreement, costed scope. You decide whether it fits your model.
¹ MHCLG Live Table 615 (Oct 2025) · Scottish Government (Sept 2025) · Welsh Government (2026-27) · LPS Northern Ireland. ² Welsh Government national empty homes grant.
§ 01 — The problem
That's why "below market value" stock rarely is. Sourcers circulate the same tired list. Auctions run everything to best and final. And the genuinely distressed stock — the houses that have sat empty for years, owned by someone who inherited a problem they don't know how to solve — never appears anywhere you can find it.
Not on Rightmove. Not at auction. Not on anyone's sourcing list.
Here's the uncomfortable fact: there are 380,309 houses in the UK that have stood empty for more than a year. The councils know the address of every single one — and they will not release those lists to anyone. They're withheld under the Freedom of Information Act, and the courts have backed the refusal.
So you can't buy this list. Neither can we. Nobody can.
And that's exactly why this works.
§ 02 — The mechanism
Every council in Britain is under political pressure to get empty homes back into use. Most employ dedicated empty-homes officers whose entire job is to place this stock with someone who'll do something with it. Owners, meanwhile, are being squeezed: the empty-homes council tax premium now starts at 12 months and climbs to 300%. Sitting on an empty house gets more expensive every year.
We spent months mapping all 361 UK billing authorities — the empty-homes volume in each, the grant scheme each one runs, and the route to its officers. Then we do the part nobody else does:
The council's empty-homes officer introduces us to owners who want out. No cold lists, no door-knocking. The owner opts in.
Before the property goes anywhere near a market, we secure the council renovation grant or loan against it. 94 councils hold these schemes and much of the money goes unclaimed — owners never find out it exists. This is what makes the deal worth more than the house.
We fit the property to one buyer whose model suits the area, the numbers and the funding.
A completed deal: the property, the owner agreement, the approved funding, and a costed scope of works.
Sourcers find properties. Brokers find money. Agents find buyers. Nobody joins the three — that's the whole opportunity.
§ 03 — Where the stock is
Long-term empty homes by billing authority, with the councils holding a live renovation grant or loan scheme marked. This is the map we work from — published here in full because counts aren't addresses, and addresses aren't deals.
| Council | Nation | Empty 1yr+ ▾ | Grant scheme |
|---|
§ 04 — Straight answers
Nobody does. Councils refuse them under FOIA s.31 and the Information Tribunal has upheld that. Sourcing runs through officer relationships and owner consent — slower, but it can't be scraped, bought or undercut.
The model is proving out in Scotland first, where every council has a named empty-homes officer and a national support network. When the first deals complete, they'll be published here — numbers and all.
Most are awarded to the owner, not a third party, and a handful of councils restrict them to owner-occupiers or cap resale within a set period. We check the scheme rules per property before a deal reaches you — if a grant can't travel with your exit, we tell you upfront.
If your model needs volume this week, we're not it. If it needs deals nobody else has seen, register below.
§ 05 — The proposition
Registering costs nothing. You tell us three things: where you buy, what you buy, and your numbers. When a packaged deal matches your criteria, you get it first — one buyer per deal, not a circulation list. You pay a packaging fee only on a deal you take. No subscription, no retainer, no obligation.
We're building the buyer list region by region, starting with Scotland and the high-volume English councils above. When a region's list is deep enough to place its deal flow, it closes.
§ 06 — Questions buyers ask
Because the data isn't the value — counts aren't addresses, and addresses aren't deals. The value is the officer relationship, the funding and the owner agreement stapled together. The table above is free; the finished deal is the product.
A fixed packaging fee agreed per deal, visible before you commit. The property price is the owner's; we don't mark it up.
No. The owner appoints us under a written agreement to resolve the property; our fee is paid on completion.
Yes — that's the point of registering criteria rather than joining a list. One buyer per deal means your patch is effectively yours while you're active on it.
The stock is real — 380,309 houses, counted by the government, sitting empty for over a year while their owners pay an escalating premium for the privilege. The money is real — 94 councils holding renovation funds that go unclaimed. The gap has always been that nobody joins the owner, the funding and the buyer into one transaction.
That's the whole business. If you want to be the buyer at the end of it, tell us your criteria.