The insurance problem is usually the expensive one
Most commercial property insurance policies contain a vacancy clause. Once a building has been empty beyond a stated period — commonly around 30 days, though it varies — cover can be reduced, restricted to fire and lightning only, or voided entirely unless documented inspections and agreed security measures are in place.
This is the part owners most often miss, and it inverts the usual risk calculation. The serious financial exposure on an empty building is rarely the theft itself. It is discovering, after a fire or a burst pipe, that a six-figure claim is not covered because nobody can evidence that the property was being inspected.
Documented proof of presence is what protects against that. Not a security presence in the abstract — a dated, timestamped, photographic record that an insurer will accept.
Check your own policy wording for the specific period, inspection frequency and documentation required. They vary meaningfully between insurers, and we will work to whatever yours specifies rather than to a generic schedule.
What actually happens to an empty building
The risks to a vacant property are different from an occupied one, and they compound the longer it stands empty.
Squatting and unauthorised occupation. Since 2012, squatting in a residential building has been a criminal offence in England and Wales, so the police can act. Squatting in a commercial building remains a civil matter, which means eviction runs through the courts and can take weeks. Prevention is dramatically cheaper than removal.
Metal theft and stripping. Copper pipework, cabling, lead flashing and boilers are the usual targets. The damage caused during removal almost always exceeds the value of what is taken — a stripped-out heating system means water damage across multiple floors as well as the replacement cost.
Water damage. A burst or deliberately opened pipe in an unattended building can run for weeks. This is the single most common cause of catastrophic loss in void property, and the reason inspection frequency matters more than perimeter hardware.
Fly-tipping and arson. Empty sites attract dumping, which becomes a fire risk and a liability for the owner rather than the person who dumped it.
Undocumented deterioration. Damp, roof failure and vandalism that nobody recorded when it started, and which becomes disputed at the point of claim or sale.
What we do on a void property
Scheduled void inspections, internal and external, with timestamped records and photographs against a checklist agreed with you or your insurer. This is the core of the service and the part that protects the policy.
Perimeter and access point checks — doors, windows, roof access, boarding integrity, signs of attempted entry between visits.
Squatter prevention, and where occupation has already happened, securing the property against further access and supporting your legal process with documented evidence.
Key holding, so contractors, agents, surveyors and inspectors can be admitted without the owner attending, with every entry logged against who attended and when.
Condition reports recording deterioration, water ingress and damage as it appears rather than reconstructed at the end.
Mobile patrols alongside inspections for properties that need presence between visits, and manned guarding or K9 units for high-risk sites — large perimeters, previous forced entry, or high-value plant still on site.
Securing empty buildings in London
London void property has its own pressures. Values are high enough that buildings sit empty through long sale and planning cycles; sites are usually terraced or overlooked, so access is often from the rear or the roof rather than the street; and neighbouring occupation means anti-social behaviour becomes a complaint problem as well as a security one.
We cover void property across Greater London and the surrounding counties, from single residential units through to commercial blocks and mixed-use sites mid-redevelopment. Outside London we operate in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and Glasgow with the same inspection standard and reporting.
What it costs, and what drives the cost
There is no useful single price for vacant property security, because the variables genuinely change the number: inspection frequency, whether the property needs presence between inspections, size and number of access points, location, and whether the site has plant or materials still in it.
A weekly inspection schedule on a single empty residential property sits at the low end. A large commercial void requiring nightly patrols, key holding and a documented daily inspection sits considerably higher. What we will not do is quote a figure before seeing the property and your policy requirements — that is how buildings end up under-covered.
Tell us the address, how long it will be empty and what your insurer requires, and you will get a specific figure rather than a range.
Short notice is normal here
Vacancy is rarely planned. A tenant leaves without notice, a sale falls through, a redevelopment is paused, a probate property sits empty while the estate is settled.
For most UK addresses we can have a team attending within hours of the request, and the inspection schedule starts immediately rather than at the beginning of a billing month. If the building has just become empty, the first 48 hours are when it is most exposed and least protected.
