# Unbelieveable and grants?



## mothership (Oct 21, 2013)

Hi

I have just joined this site and i am still reeling by many of the pictures of derelict houses. Where does the law stand on this? Is it possible to purchase these sites or gain grants to renovate at all? I am a historian and was a key heritage worker with qualifications in Conservation, but I have little knowledge of the legal status of these buildings. Do they ultimately fall under the responsibility of the Council? Any assistance with this at all would be most gratefully received.
Thanks


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## krela (Oct 21, 2013)

Not really sure what you're thinking, but the vast majority of properties are privately owned, and are not for sale. It may or may not be possible to get grants to help with bringing them back into use depending on their location and local council policies.

This isn't really a legal forum so isn't the place to ask.


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## mothership (Oct 21, 2013)

Thanks for the reply. I'm just thinking why are there so many and why have they been left to decay like this, unnoticed? I was assuming my question was harmless and not unusual, considering the extent of the images

Cheers.


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## krela (Oct 21, 2013)

There's a lot of reasons why this happens, although the most common one is probate issues when the inhabitants die.


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## mothership (Oct 21, 2013)

Amazing and very strange. All new to me.


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## krela (Oct 21, 2013)

mothership said:


> Amazing and very strange. All new to me.



I think most of us find it hard to understand to be honest!


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## yorkshirecockney (Oct 21, 2013)

I agree it's a shame to see places left to rot and I'm sure loads of us dream of bringing them back to life. I have just joined this site as I find it very interesting to read and look at and have a little cottage down the road from me but nobody knows anything about it or its history that I have spoken to. Must admit terrys chocolate factory in york looked very interesting.


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## PaulPowers (Oct 21, 2013)

short answer 

Yes


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## Dirus_Strictus (Oct 22, 2013)

Local councils have no jurisdiction over these properties in the vast majority of cases, as a search of Probate Court records and Land Registry records will attest. Councils only become involved in very specific cases. For instance; serving maintenance orders under Listed Building Regulations, where a derelict building has become a danger or nuisance to the local community i.e. a derelict house in a terrace of otherwise habitable dwellings or compulsory purchase orders etc.

As to decaying away unnoticed. I question this generalisation and suggest that age and how one explored your immediate neighbourhood as a youth, plays a major part in how one notices / observes these decaying buildings today. Shanks's Pony and the bicycle were our mode of exploring in my early days - at least five large country mansions, that are now empty landlocked ruins, were happy family homes in 1955 when we used to cycle the quiet country roads. In the ensuing years dog walks and family picnics have allowed me to observe the slow ruination of these once vibrant houses. In two instances, abandonment was due to probably the most common cause of why a family inheritor just walks away from a house - lack of maintenance over the years. Anybody who has been involved in the 'restoration' of any Georgian period dwelling, big or small, will know that buildings of this period can exhibit some of the worst 'jerry building' ever seen. Build it quick and impress was the catch phrase of the day. Unfortunately, unless poorly built property (of any period) is fastidiously maintained it soon becomes a candidate for demolition unless vast sums of money are available. So the inheritor, not wanting to be the one that puts the wrecking ball through centuries of family history, lets nature do the work - and anyway the estate land is probably the jewel in the crown. Plenty sold out to the wrecking ball in the 50's and early 60's, as any book on the lost mansions of Yorkshire will indicate. 

Each generation certainly lives in a differing age, but the one common thread throughout is that 'you cannot take it with you'. So the abandoned house that looks as if the occupier has just popped out for a loaf of bread does not surprise me at all - under different circumstances is might be me or any of you out there.


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## mothership (Oct 22, 2013)

Thanks for the replies. I look forward to scouring the site for more interesting, historically poignant and ironic sites!


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## yorkshirecockney (Oct 22, 2013)

Yes the same here. Love the idea of coming a cross all these places I've seen on here


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## Derelict-UK (Oct 23, 2013)

If you look at the amount of buildings in Britain, then look at the amount of derelict ones being photographed, it is a very very very very very small percentage.

Some of these houses and buildings may also be left in the state they are to be a reminder of who once lived there, a reminder to their family. What is a shame is when explorers come along and open them up to the world and each one becomes a tourist attraction which eventually gets trashed due to increased exposure.

You have to be very clever about what you say and who you say it to, to keep a property safe and the where-a-bouts unknown, especially if you intend of posting those images on the web. (Trust no-one unless you know them [in person] very well).


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## ishy16 (Oct 24, 2013)

I think its been over 2 years since i first came across this site along with a few others, and its fascinating what remarkable buildings are still out there and being photographed, Most recently the Terrys factory. Although im not a photographer i love just browsing around and every once in a while restoring these old buildings as they are pieces of history.

However i have to agree with Derelict-UK that its a shame when something gets picked up and then exposed to the public which ends up getting trashed. It ruins the restoration ability and also speeds up the process to fall to the elements.
But in answer to your question yes they are both possiable but you need to research and have time and money to play with.


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## yorkshirecockney (Oct 24, 2013)

Totally agree ishie.


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## Derelict-UK (Oct 25, 2013)

This is what I mean...

As soon as a location is leaked, anyone gets wind of it then the media leak it and it doesn't take a detective to work out where it is and I bet in no time this place will be stripped...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...farm-known-Red-Dress-Manor-abandoned-70s.html

Such a shame, one website has been prolific in telling people to name sites, even putting google map links to them. When I started using the internet to share my explores (around 7 years back) the rule not to openly name sites worked really well, even when the hobby became more popular, it continued to work. Now it's just a free-for-all and places get trashed too quickly and wrongly.


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