Latest news with #emptyproperties
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Little known website could help you earn £1,000s by spotting empty properties
A LITTLE known website could help you earn £1,000s in extra cash by spotting empty properties. YouSpotProperty allows people to earn money by reporting abandoned and empty homes. 1 The website rewards members of the public with a £20 Amazon or M&S voucher when the home reported meets their criteria. But if the company is able to purchase the home, renovate it and get it back into use again, the person who spotted it will receive a percentage of the purchase price. YouSpotProperty says on its website that this could be up to £10,000. Since 2014, it has paid property spotters more than £1,007,538. If you've noticed a distressed property, you can simply go on the YouSpotProperty website and click the orange 'Report a Property' button. The company will then assess the building you've spotted, and if it matches their criteria, you'll be sent a £20 gift voucher. The business's expert research team will then try to make contact with the property's owner in order to try to buy the property reported. If successful, you'll receive 1% of the purchase price. So if the property if bought for £300,000, you'll get £3,000. Although this cash reward isn't always guaranteed, YouSpotProperty says its experienced researchers have a good success rate. They also assure spotters that the length of time it takes to sell the property does not affect the reward, with some purchases taking months to conclude. Amazon 'hiking' prices ahead of Prime Day after shoppers claim company 'great savings' aren't real The company will also donate £500 to a local charity based in the same borough as the property. YouSpotProperty also encourages anyone who owns an empty or dilapidated building to contact them by telephone, and their experts can help bring the property back into use. One user of the website said they had spotted three properties in just six weeks while walking their dog, earning them two M&S vouchers. They wrote on TrustPilot: "I have only recently started using this company & have submitted three properties within the last 6 weeks. "I am pleased to report that two of these met the criteria & I have already received the M&S vouchers for spotting them. "A fantastic bonus for spotting properties whilst walking the dog. Hopefully a sale materialises for a further monetary bonus. An excellent concept & an efficient service. Other ways to make extra cash If you're looking to boost your income amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, there are many other things you can do. Filling out online surveys is a quick and relatively easy way to get hold of extra cash. You can get paid up to £6 per survey, and YouGov and Prolific are two of the easiest to navigate. Mystery shopping is another easy way to earn on the side. Some brands pay you to shop free of charge, and you can even do it online in some cases. You could make hundreds as well - we previously spoke to one dad who makes a whopping £1,500 a year from filling out online surveys and mystery shopping. Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Council tax hike on second homes in this part of Wales raised over £1.6m in its first year
A council tax premium on second homes and empty properties in Carmarthenshire has raised just over £1.6m in its first year. The 50% premium was implemented on April 1, 2024, and affected 1,167 second homes and 2,102 long-term empty houses. The figures exclude a much smaller number of properties in each category which were exempt. The council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it collected £651,985 in premiums from second home owners in 2024-25 and £967,276 from empty home owners. It added that unpaid amounts - or arrears - totalled £204,282 for second homes and £308,238 for long-term empty ones. Carmarthenshire wasn't the first authority in Wales to charge the premiums - councils have been able to bring them in since 2017 - and several in England have also introduced them. Stay informed on Carms news by signing up to our newsletter here READ MORE: Free parking to be scrapped at two popular Welsh seaside towns READ MORE: This man has vanished, now his family have been sent a letter telling them where his body is buried Cllr Alun Lenny, cabinet member for resources, speaking about the second homes premium, said: "It brings revenue but the whole intention of the strategy is to curtail the number of second homes in those areas where they're having a negative impact on communities." An aim of the long-term empty home premium is to encourage owners to bring them back into use, increasing the supply of housing. Cllr Lenny said such properties could become dilapidated and reflect poorly on the appearance of streets. Council tax premiums for second home owners increased to 100% in April this year in the county while land transaction tax - formerly called stamp duty - for the purchase of second homes also rose in Wales. Properties in Carmarthenshire which were registered as empty since April 1, 2023, and chargeable for the 50% council tax premium last year now have a 100% premium. Neville Thomas, manager of the Carmarthen branch of Morgan and Davies estate agent, said he felt the combination of the second home premium and land transaction tax rise had generally slowed the market for second homes and also pushed a couple of second homes onto the market for sale. "A few second home owners down this way have had a bit of shock about council tax," he said. Sian Evans, the owner of BJ Properties, said she believed the second home premium was having an impact in Carmarthenshire but probably more so in Pembrokeshire. She said it affected not just people from outside the area who came to their second homes on holiday but also some local people. She explained she knew of one person who was in the fortunate position of being able to buy a smaller house to live in before selling her current one and that she was hit with "astronomical council tax" on her current one due to the time it was taking to sell. Miss Evans added that local businesses which benefited from lots of visitors in places like Laugharne and Ferryside would be affected if second home owners sold up. It is and has been a big talking point for years. Speaking in 2021 a resident of Laugharne, Iris John, said: "There are so many second homes here - it's absolutely killing the town. There's such a lot of empty homes come the winter. It's like a ghost town. "Our young have got nowhere to go. There are no houses in their price range."
