Glasgow City Council contacted Homes for Good on behalf of Eddie’s family. Eddie owned a one-bedroom flat in Baillieston, in the east end of Glasgow. He had suffered a stroke in 2013 and could no longer stay in his flat. Eddie now lives in a retirement housing complex. 

The flat sat empty for years, with a broken door, caved-in ceiling and associated debris. “I was getting estimated electricity bills of over £1,000 – sitting on the couch with this pile of electricity, gas and council tax bills. The council were cleaning out the back, so I had to pay part of the fees. Eddie hadn’t stayed there for seven years, and I was worried in case someone came along and said: ‘You’re paying, and that’s it,’” says Eddie’s cousin Frank. 

In August 2023, Eddie’s family decided to sell the flat on his behalf and contacted lawyers. “They came back and said: ‘Eddie’s name isn’t on the title deeds – he doesn’t own the flat,’” says Frank. 

“Eddie had purchased the property in a pub in 1976 in a very casual way from a guy. Both had the best intentions but hadn’t cleared the paperwork,” says Barry Sweeney, Homes for Good’s Head of Acquisitions & Development. 

“It was still owned by the guy who sold it to Eddie in 1976. So, I asked Eddie. He said a week after he had bought the flat, he went over to the lawyers for the estate agents, and it was closed. I said: ‘You never chased it up?’ ‘Nah,’ he said,” says Frank. 

A blank canvas

Frank contacted Alison McLavin, senior empty homes officer at the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, who arranged to have the council tax paused while Frank’s lawyers arranged to have the title deeds transferred. Alison also connected Frank with Barry.  

Barry could see the potential beyond the dilapidation. “The floorplan was original to the flat,” he says. “There were no negatives around structural damage or people taking walls down that they shouldn’t have. It was a blank canvas.” 

The Homes for Good team explored Rent Ready with Eddie’s family, including providing a range of options, costs and potential returns on investment for the refurbished property.  

“Very often, once you lay down the finances, the time, the effort and work that’s required to revamp an empty home, that can sharpen people’s views on the best options,” says Barry.

When the family weighed up those options, their preference was to sell, and Homes for Good was able to purchase the property. “We took the property on using conventional purchasing streams, paying a fair amount for the amount of work required,” says Barry. 

Raising the bar

Homes for Good then spent £18,000 turning around the property. Part of this investment involves raising the quality of flats in the street and engendering positive change in the area. The work became part of long-term investment and regeneration plans with several other Homes for Good properties on the street. “It’s fair to say there’s a shortage of flats of this quality in the area,” says Barry. “We’re raising the bar each time.” 

It’s not simply about focusing on the interiors of the properties. The Homes for Good assets team also works to improve the building, the stairwells and the back courts. “It’s about trying to turn around the culture in areas with pretty difficult situations. You hope that a cluster of tenants come together and start feeling pride about the place,” adds Barry. 

In late January 2024, Frank returned to the flat for the first time and was amazed by the finished result – from the stylishly tiled bathroom to the modern kitchen and warm, inviting rooms. Homes for Good’s interior design team selected comfortable and contemporary furniture and added elegant final touches to create a home that is both cosy and desirable.  

Over the moon

“Once again, we took the worst property in the row, which had been lying empty for the longest period and created the best property in the row,” says Barry. “It was queued out the door when the opportunity arose for someone to rent it from Homes for Good.”