Empty Garages Could Provide 16,000 New Homes, Says Property Expert

Thousands of new homes could be created in London if councils made use of garages that are sitting idle, according to Property Partner.

It found that local authorities were sitting on more than 22,000 vacant lock-ups. The property crowdfunding platform believes these spaces could be converted into 16,000 one-bedroom flats to help ease the capital's housing crisis.

The research included 24 of London's 32 boroughs, and revealed that between them local authorities owned a total of 53,640 garages. Of these, 41% were found to be empty or in a state of disrepair.

Ealing, Havering, Brent and Enfield had the highest vacancy rates, with more than 70% of garages sitting empty.

CEO of Property Partner, Dan Gandesha, said:

"This is just a snapshot of publicly owned land in London that is clearly surplus to requirements, under-used or underdeveloped.

"When we have a crisis in affordable housing not just in the capital but in the UK, it begs the question whether councils in Britain should either sell off the land for development or build new homes themselves.

"If a significant number of council garages, which are part of housing estates, are not even rented to those who should have a right to them – local authority tenants – then it could be argued that this is a wasted opportunity."

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Mandy Peters

Conveyancing Solicitors