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Owners of empty buildings beat squatters by renting to property 'guardians'
13 Jan 2010Owners of empty buildings are hitting back at squatters by renting them to property “guardians” — for as little as £60 a week.
Thousands of professionals, students, and would-be homeowners have signed up to schemes which let them live in empty houses and commercial properties to discourage vandals and squatters from moving in.
Properties under “protection” include the former Chelsea and Fulham Conservative Club in New King's Road, worth £1.5 million, as well as disused pubs, townhouses, church halls and schools.
Several multi-million-pound London homes have been taken over by squatters in recent months.
Companies and private owners are employing firms to find guardians.
Joseph Cooper, of guardian company Ad Hoc, has 311 properties under his protection in London, using an average of 1,000 guardians. The firm has grown threefold in the past two years.
Mr Cooper said: “Rather than pay a fortune for traditional security, we have clients who ask us to place people in their properties.”
Freelance writer Rob Hayes, 24, lives in an office block in Elephant and Castle which was once home to Southwark council.
He said: “I have the entire ground floor to myself. It's big enough to have a full-size volleyball game. Not having a regular income makes it difficult to have a normal flat.”
Camille Atlani, 24, guardian of a five-bedroom townhouse in Kentish Town, said: “It is very basic but amazing — I do not have a lot of money as I'm studying and this is perfect for me.”
Other homes in the street have sold for nearly £900,000, but she and two friends pay £60 a week each.
Reader views (3)
I live with Ad Hoc and it is the best and cheapest way to live in London
I was paying £200per week via an agent prior to moving into an Ad Hoc building, now pay £50 per week and I have to say the guys at the office are far better and respond quicker to any issues than the estate agent ever did.
I would recommed living with Ad Hoc to anyone
- Jessie, london, 15/01/2010 13:08
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Great news... I do have a soft spot for squaters tho... the arty ones anyway x
- Paul, Bromley, 13/01/2010 18:13
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You may be more interested to know that LOCAL AUTHORITIES are renting out empty premises 'on licence' for even less! They are taking advantage of a loophole in the law that means if they don't want to spend money repairing a flat (minor repairs) they 'let' it to tenants on a licence which means they aren't breaching the law by renting a substandard or dangerous property because the resident is not a 'Tenant' and therefore they are not a 'Landlord'. The Councils are also ensuring that the only people they let to on licence cannot be considered homeless when they are 'evicted' because first of all it isn't an evicting and second of all they are cherry picking people who are healthy, employed, and cannot possibly fall into the catchment for requiring council housing once they are homeless. This is disgusting in the context that at the same time Councils are finger pointing at people with second homes and naming and shaming investors with vacant premises. Even worse they are offering landlords of vacant premises grants to convert their houses into social housing when all the time they have got hundreds of vacant housing stock themselves!!! Shame on this situation, it should not be legal.
- Real, London, 13/01/2010 17:43
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