Living next door to a run-down, empty house could knock more than £50,000 off the value of the average home – but there are steps you can take to protect your property’s price tag.

Almost one million homes are standing empty across the UK, the majority of which have been vacant for more than six months, according to council tax data analysed by the charity Action on Empty Homes. Of these, 133,000 belonged to someone who has died.

The problem has worsened since the National Empty Homes programme, which directed money to councils to tackle the issue, was scrapped in 2015.

Between 2016 and 2024, the number of properties officially classed as long-term vacant has risen 32 per cent, while in London and eastern England, volumes have risen by 93 per cent and 69 per cent respectively.

The issue continues to worsen due to an ageing population of homeowners, many of whom leave behind family homes in need of modernisation, and a lengthy probate system whereby properties stand empty while ownership is established. 

Investors are also leaving homes vacant and there are no government incentives to motivate owners.

Derelicts: Almost one million homes are standing empty across the UK, the majority of which have been vacant for more than six months

Money Mail spoke to experts to find out what measures you can take to protect your property from a vacant house next door.

Depending on where you live and the extent of neglect, a derelict property could lower your house price by between 5 per cent and 20 per cent. Properties adjoining a vacant home are the most affected.

Jessica Risorto, director of Chesterfield and Sheffield-based estate agents Redbrik, says: ‘You could lose up to 20 per cent and it could make your property unmortgageable if there’s serious damage starting to affect your property.’

David Hollingworth of L&C Mortgages said: ‘Mortgage lenders need a valuation of the property to make sure it’s adequate security for the loan.

‘If the valuer flags any knock-on issues from the derelict home next door that affect the structural integrity of the joining property, they may ask for more in-depth reports or, at worst, it could be deemed unmortgageable and be declined by the lender. 

Mortgage lenders also need the property to be insured, so if that’s not possible it will render the property unmortgageable.’

With the average property worth £270,000 according to Nationwide, a 20 per cent discount amounts to a whopping £54,000 being lost.

The risks to your home include damp, vermin, leaf-clogged drains, subsidence, vandalism, crumbling boundary walls and missing roof tiles.

Raise concerns with the council

Check your council’s website for ways to raise a concern.

If there’s no team directly responsible for derelict homes, you could try environmental health, housing enforcement or private sector housing teams.

Councils will attempt to trace the owners, force them into remedial action and add a council tax premium, which is double the standard rate, applicable to homes left empty for one year.

How to get your case prioritised

Focusing your concerns on issues that are most important to councils is key to getting your case prioritised.

This can be overgrown gardens, which increase the risk of vermin, or when there’s evidence of fly-tipping or anti-social behaviour in the property. Any dangers

from tiles falling off the roof or boundary walls collapsing could also get your concerns addressed.

If there is a pest problem and the council is unable to track down the owner of the property, it can enter the house to secure it. In extreme circumstances, the council can force the sale of the property to repay costs.

You can complain to your local MP

Draw as much attention to your case as possible by speaking to your local councillors or your

MP. Get other local residents involved to make as much noise as possible about the issues the property is causing.

Go detective and find the owner

Have a go at tracking down the owner yourself. 

You can do this by pushing a polite notice through the door in the hope the owner drops in, speaking to other residents on the street to see if they have contact details or asking local estate agents if they are able to reach out to the owners.

You can also download property ownership details from the Land Registry website for a £7 fee.

Value: A derelict property could lower your house price by between 5% and 20% with terraced and semi-detached properties adjoining a vacant home most severely affected

Tip off the expert home hunters

Get the professional tracers involved and even earn yourself a fee in the process.

Simon Taylor, of Empty Property Hunters, traces absent owners and offers to buy their properties at a discount before refurbishing and selling them.

Often owners have inherited a family property that they are emotionally tied to and do not have the funds to renovate it or they are embarrassed to put it on the market in its condition.

‘We love to buy these sorts of houses and we’re experts at finding the owners and offering to take the property off their hands,’ he says.

Simon has around 1,000 hunters on his books, whose day jobs include window cleaning, delivering post or leaflet dropping, who have signed up to his website and pass on details of empty homes they spot.

They earn £20 for each lead and, if he buys the property, then 0.1 per cent of the purchase price is paid to the hunter.

Once the owner is located, if they agree to sell the property, it can take between three to six months to fix it up and get it back on the market.

Michele Kingzett earned £2,520 from spotting an empty overgrown bungalow in her village in Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex and alerting Empty Property Hunters of its whereabouts.

The company managed to track down the owner and purchased the neglected property, a blight on the row of neighbouring homes with perfectly manicured lawns.

Michele, 58, a dispenser in her local pharmacy, works in an area with a high proportion of retirees and likes to do a service to the community by monitoring homes in a run-down condition. 

If she thinks they’re empty, she takes a photo and sends it to Simon Taylor.

‘I’ve passed on seven so far,’ says Michele, who spotted the bungalow while out on a walk.

‘This street is well-known for its perfectly kept gardens so it stuck out like a sore thumb,’ she added.

The property had been empty for three years, having previously been owned by an elderly lady who had died. Bushes and greenery were covering the property’s windows.

‘As well as it being good for the neighbours and bringing a home back to the market, it prevents worse things happening.

‘If people had noticed it was empty they could have broken in or had squatters take it over.’