Rebecca, 54, from Balham in Greater London, noticed the boarded-up property – a spacious, 2,000 sq ft late Victorian house – was being used by squatters and became curious about the fate of its owner.
After her attempt to contact the owner via a note went unanswered, she decided to take action by informing YouSpotProperty.com, a firm that rewards members of the public for spotting derelict houses.
Upon successful identification of a qualifying property, you’re initially gifted a £20 voucher for M&S or Amazon. However, if YouSpotProperty ends up buying the house, you receive a 1% cut of the property’s value, capped at £10,000.
Rebecca told the Mirror: “I’d come across YouSpotProperty.com on social media and thought I’d give it a try when I uploaded a few lower value derelict looking properties. The house in question though – on the corner of my road – I thought would be the least likely to get anywhere.
“It was boarded up, but a neighbour had told me it was squatted in where there was a broken window. I’d left a note to the owner, whoever they were, in the letter box which I can see was taken, but I received no reply.
“Done up versions of such properties would fetch anywhere around £1.5million so I thought such a valuable house would ultimately be on the owner’s radar.”
Rebecca recently became the second person since 2017 to clinch the hefty £10,000 bounty from YouSpotProperty. Last month, the company announced it has granted over £1 million in cash and vouchers to members of the public.
Ben Radstone, co-founder of YouSpotProperty, shared the fascinating backstory of how they tracked down the actual owner of a property who was unwell and residing in a care facility.
He said: “A year ago we traced the owner’s sister who has asked our advice as what to do to help her brother (the owner) liquidate his house so the proceeds could be put towards his care.
“In order to gain permission to act on her brother’s behalf she had to gain ‘court of protection for her brother – enabling her to legally make decisions on his behalf.
“We advised her on this in May 2024 and all the legals took the best part of a year. Fast forward to now and we were eventually able to secure the house for £1million.
“Listing a house in such a condition with a high street estate agent would otherwise taken ages to sell and mortgage buyers would struggle to gain finance for such a property – this is where we step in.”
In the past couple of weeks Rebecca received the phone call, informing her of her win. Rebecca, who has worked in television production on programmes such as Cash In The Attic, said the money will be used to repay a £5,000 loan to her mum, in addition to buying a “decent” computer. The rest will be put into savings and some set aside for holidays.
