Car Parks transformed into luxury apartments!
I just saw this story on the web and I couldn’t help commenting on it.
As part of their ‘Hidden Homes Scheme’, Wandsworth council and Notting Hill Housing have teamed up to help convert a disused car park in Putney into 10 spacious apartments. Their reasoning? To help first time buyers find an affordable route onto the property ladder.
And I have to admit, it is a rather clever idea.
Taking boarded up properties, shops and disused car parks – essentially properties that are just sitting there doing nothing – by converting them into attractive apartments/homes they could help to relieve the strain currently on the property market. Especially if more organisations choose to get involved.
Already the Empty Homes Agency is jumping on board with this scheme, as it will help transform wasted space into housing, plus will save on expenditures to knock these properties down and rebuild them. To put it more bluntly – renovating this way will help maximise the UK’s property space.
Now I know what you are probably thinking – for a single investor you can’t get involved in such a scheme. But I don’t think that is strictly true.
All these associations are actually doing is renovating. Yes, car parks may be out of your price range, but boarded up shops won’t be. Negotiate your deal wisely and the savings you make whilst investing could be directly transferred into the renovation itself, creating little costs for you.
I know there is much more to renovation than this, but the point I suppose I am making is that the potential is there. The potential for property investors – like you and me – to get a slice of this idea and use it to create new rental properties.
It’s definitely worth considering.
Wendy xx
PS. If you are interested in reading the full story, here it is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/28/empty-properties-converted-accommodation. Enjoy! 
