If you’ve found yourself reading this article then you probably already know that empty property management is no mean feat. There’s a lot to think about if you have an empty property on your hands, which has led to a wide held belief that empty property management is either expensive, time-consuming, or both. But, actually, we don’t think it needs to be either.

Property guardian protection with Blue Door is an alternative solution to traditional property management that has evolved with the changing times to become a more appropriate choice for many landlords. The scheme works by protecting a vacant property with live-in 24-hour professional guardians who move on to the site in their capacity to protect the asset. The professional, working guardians benefit from lower than market rent in prime locations, and the landlord benefits from zero-cost, flexible security while they find the next use or purpose for the vacant space.

With property guardian protection schemes, your vacant property is securely maintained without the time and expense of traditional methods. But we know that as a zero-cost property guardian service, we might be a bit biased - so instead of expecting you to just take our word for it, we’ve picked out the top five threats to vacant property to take a closer look at how guardian protection could help protect your asset with ease.

Managing the Top Five Threats to Empty Property

1. Criminal Damage

Criminal opportunists are drawn to vacant properties, and without the proper protection, your empty building is at risk of all sorts of damage. Whether it’s something small and relatively easy to fix, like graffiti, or the expensive mess left behind after an illegal rave or metal theft attempt, all vacant properties are at risk.  

Cheaper security options like security screens, boards and signs are effective but they cannot provide the same assurance that manned security can. However, monitored alarms systems and security guard patrols for a vacant, commercial property can cost up to £100,000. 

How Property Guardians Can Help:

Live-in property guardians can provide a 24/7 manned presence at the building, for a fraction of the cost of security guards. Though the guardians are not expected to have the training needed to get physically involved in preventing crime the way a security guard might, just the presence of a busy community at a vacant property is enough to deter most criminals.

2. Pests

There are over 20 million rats living in our capital city – awarding London the title for highest rat population in the UK. So, it’s no surprise that pests make it to our top five threats to empty property.

Vacant properties can be very tempting for rats and other rodents, as there is little to disturb them setting up home and staying for the long term. Once inside your property, they'll chew through almost anything, from furniture to fittings and everything in between. They'll even gnaw through electrical cables, potentially landing you with a big bill for repair costs! And, unfortunately, even if you are making regular visits to check the property, it could be weeks before you notice any furry little friends hanging around. 

How Property Guardians Can Help:

With Blue Door, our guardians make regular patrols around the building to ensure all parts of the vacant property are in good shape. If a rodent was to get into the empty property, the patrolling guardians would notice almost immediately and be able to take the appropriate measures to stop an infestation in its tracks.

3. Weather Damage

Aside from criminal damage, there is also weather damage to consider. If your property is going to be empty for a longer period of time, all sorts of weather-related damage can cause havoc in your property. From flooding to frozen pipes, weather damage is no joke. In fact, Aviva reported that insurance claims for burst pipes have been known to skyrocket by 500% during the colder months.

There is also the looming risk of mould and damp setting in. Usually caused by moisture in the air coupled with inadequate ventilation, mould can grow under suitable conditions in as little as a couple of weeks - making it harder to repurpose or re-let when you find a suitable tenant.

Both weather damage and mould are easily preventable and there are plenty of ways you can prevent them becoming a problem in your empty property (we’ve actually written a few guides about this in the past). However, as with our previous point, if your building is empty, it could take weeks to notice a weather damage related issue, landing you with a big repair bill.

How Property Guardians Can Help:

In-house guardian protection makes it far easier to manage weather-related troubles. With professional guardians on-site at all times to care for the building, they will catch any small maintenance related issues before they become big problems.   

Plus, with Blue Door, we offer flexible contracts and arrangements allowing the landlord access to the property at any time, meaning that you can stay hands-on and make regular visits to access the building whenever you need to. We just ask that you give us 24 hours notice so we can have someone ready to meet you.

4. Fire

According to the latest Home Office Fire and Rescue Incident Statistics, emergency services attended 153,314 fires in total last year. That’s roughly 420 fires a day across the UK, 60 of which are reported to have happened in or next to vacant properties. Often caused by criminals, pests or negligence, vacant property fires are a dangerous and expensive problem to have.

Importantly, if you own or manage property you have a liability in law to prevent and protect the property from fire, whether it is vacant or not. Furthermore, the Occupier Liability Acts of 1957 and 1984 impose a duty of care on to those responsible for properties for any visitors or trespassers. Meaning, the person responsible for the property, vacant or not, assumes liability for the fire safety of the building.

How Property Guardians Can Help:

Regardless of how long a property will be vacant, when it comes to empty property management, fire hazards and safety should be high on your priority list. We have a fire-safety checklist here that you can use to make sure you’re ready and prepared in case of a fire. However, no matter how prepared you are – an empty property is still an empty property, and there might not be anyone around to put out a fire should one start. 

In a report concerning the fire risk for vacant properties, the RISC Authority suggests that an effective way of preventing fire in vacant property is to find a suitable short-term purpose for the building, such as property guardianship.

5. Squatters

Empty properties are very vulnerable to squatters, particularly if they are registered for commercial use. This is because under UK legislation introduced in 2012 squatting is not a crime if the building is designated as commercial. 

You read that right, squatters can legally reside in all kinds of commercial property, including vacant school buildings, office blocks and disused factories. If squatters admit they have broken into a commercial building, they have clearly committed an offence, but if windows or doors are left open, squatters can claim they walked in. This, obviously, leaves vacant property owners in a very vulnerable position.

How Property Guardians Can Help:

If the property isn’t empty, it’s much harder for a squatter to gain access to a property. Meaning, a community of professional property guardians on-site at all times could save you up to £10,000 in the legal fees, repairs and rubbish removal associated with removing squatters from your property.

Whether you are looking to prevent squatters, or in need of a security solution to repair the damage caused by previous squatters – property guardianship schemes are an affordable and easy way to manage empty property.

If you are managing an empty property and feel as though property guardians could help take a weight off your shoulders, then get in touch today for a friendly chat with a member of the blue door team who will be happy to answer any of your questions.