A COMPANY which operates a scheme to protect empty properties from anti-social behaviour is now up and running in the West Midlands.
Ad Hoc has opened an office in Birmingham, as part of its rapid expansion plans across the UK, to operate its ‘guardian’ licence scheme in the Midlands.
The company aims to save property owners, often local authorities, between 50% and 80% of their current security budget looking after empty properties by placing short-term occupiers in the first few floors.
Ad Hoc is believed to be one of only a handful of such companies currently operating in the UK – Camelot Property Management has an office in Walsall.
Owners are charged a fee for looking after the building while the guardians pay a licence for living there.
This licence is usually much lower than normal market rates for tenancy rental agreements – around £200 a month – but this is tempered by the transient nature of guardians’ stays, with many occupying a room for a short period of time.
Any building could benefit from the scheme such as disused churches, offices complexes or nursing homes.
Ad Hoc, a Dutch company where the concept was pioneered, installs basic amenities such as portable showers but guardians are responsible for other furniture and general upkeep.
Ad Hoc’s office, in the Digbeth area of city, employs two people and is the company’s fifth in the UK, with further bases due to open in Glasgow and Dublin before the end of 2011.
The firm is currently working with Aston-based Mercian Housing Association and is in advanced stage negotiations with a West Midlands local authority.
Regional manager Darren Tubb said: “The costs of protecting an empty building quickly mount up – putting up fencing, boarding up windows, installing CCTV cameras or hiring security patrols.
“The commercial property market is still suffering the hangover of the credit crunch so many projects are still being held in a moth-balled state by their owners.
“Having guardians on site helps to breathe some life back into these empty buildings and ensures they don’t fall into disrepair or suffer from break-ins.”
