Closed pub says it has ‘live-in guards’, what does that actually mean?

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aspannerdarkly@reddit

Yes you can volunteer to be a caretaker/nightwatchman in some abandoned buildings in return for being able to live there for sub market rent ( or maybe even no rent?)

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BillWilberforce@reddit

They're best avoided. Unless you are totally, totally desperate and don't mind that the company will try to screw you over totally.

You move in to a school and find that the showers have been blocked for a month. You report it on day 1. Nothing happens, three months later you get 14 days notice to move out. As the school is being knocked down and you get a bill for delapidations as the shower is blocked. When the school is going to be knocked down in days.

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phatboi23@reddit

They're best avoided. Unless you are totally, totally desperate and don't mind that the company will try to screw you over totally.

sounds like standard PubCo buildings lol

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Ravekat1@reddit

Yea I was a property garden for almost 2 years back in 2009. Much better than being on the streets and I was able to register myself homeless still.. to accelerate myself on the housing list.

If you’re in this situation I fully recommend being a property guardian.

It’s also a great experience if you’re of the right mindset.

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TheresNoHurry@reddit

sounds absolutely diabolical

I guess it's necessary when you've got no money, which I understand, but still

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aspannerdarkly@reddit

Not everyone wants a neat and tidy suburban property of their own. Many young single people would bite your hand off at the chance to live somewhere cool and interesting for little cost.

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thevolta87@reddit

Like with many things it's what you make it, I know a couple who lived in an old office block in Balham and a nightclub in Islington. They put artwork, tapestries and lights everywhere and it was so cosy. Plus they had about 5 times the floor space of any of us living in London at the time.

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fursty_ferret@reddit

In my experience the more warnings there are the more likely it is to be unoccupied.

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ab00@reddit

As others said this is more an anti squatting mechanism, if someone is living there it's illegal for others to move in and squat it. The former are easy to turf out, when it's squatted its much harder and much longer. Also high chance of them using it for raves or turning it into a 'community centre' none of the neighbours want.

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Chap_man@reddit

I was a property guardian for a couple years in London. There were 80 of us living in a huge old university building, had a blast. Think my rent was only about 400 a month inc bills. Now it's quite oversubscribed and expensive.

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imonlycheese@reddit

Personally I'd stay till they kick me out.

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Careless_Lawyer_6672@reddit

The rising Sun in Macclesfield? Live 15 minutes away walk wise and have to pass it when going into town. Only closed a week ago!

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Shanks18@reddit

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s first show, Crashing, was about property guardianship. Although they were in an old hospital rather than a pub.

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GoldenVole@reddit

Yes! Also had Jonathan Bailey in it.

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GL510EX@reddit

It means there are stickers that say it's secured with live-in guards. That might be a lie to deter potential break-ins.

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Serious_Badger_4145@reddit

Ppl live there for cheap rent and no security

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phatboi23@reddit

basically they're keeping someone there before it can get permission to be housing.

PubCo's aren't pubs, they're housing developers really.

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Cuznatch@reddit

Yeah, this is it. Property Guardians, I knew someone that did it for a while, they were in an old school by Lambeth North when I knew them

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Serious_Badger_4145@reddit

Yeah I've mostly known of it in big buildings, happens in London a lot. Offices, uni buildings stuff like that. It's places they think are high risk for squatters usually

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elf_n_safety@reddit

This was the premise for the sitcom Crashing. Largely forgotten gem starring Phoebe Waller Bridge and Johnathon Bailey pre Hollywood. Bunch of people living in a derelict hospital for cheap rent in place of paid security

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jaxsound@reddit

Ah they did this with our old community hospital before it was demolished. Rooms were rented out at like £20 a week, guess it was a bit like being in a hostel.

Always imagined it would be really spooky but quite cool, big old building that had so much history.

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supersayingoku@reddit

I was really sad to hear Crashed being cancelled, it had a soul to it

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elf_n_safety@reddit

Was it cancelled, or just a limited series? Because I recall the story having a natural ending, which you don’t usually get with cancellations. Maybe they just got lucky are were able to write and film it in time

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supersayingoku@reddit

Imdb cites it got cancelled, implying it wasn't ended

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elf_n_safety@reddit

Fair enough. But yeah, in terms of the story, I remember the last episode ended with the inevitable demolition of the hospital, so it seemed intentional

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Serious_Badger_4145@reddit

I think they would have moved to a different place? Different place every series kind of fits the mood

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elf_n_safety@reddit

That’s a really interesting idea!

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AirconGuyUK@reddit

I went on a date with a woman that was living the Iraq embassy in London. Apparently it still had all Saddams paintings up all over the place.

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HumanCStand@reddit

We worked on a film in an old hospital that had property guardians in. Was so weird getting the lift up to set and there was a bloke in his pants brushing his teeth as the doors opened, just minding his own business

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twoshillings@reddit

There's a thriller based on property guardians is called The Other Tenant" by Lesley Kara

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BoomSatsuma@reddit

Saves on paying security and avoids squatters.

It’s good for the residents too as it’s cheap housing for them.

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theSniperDevil@reddit

Sometimes people get paid a bit to live in a premises that's not in use. Sometimes they just get to live rent free.

The idea is that buildings stay in good state of repair when someone lives in it (heating to stop pipes freezing) It also deters crime because the premeais is not empty.

I had a friend who got to live in an old school for 6 months doing this.

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geekroick@reddit

'A bit'? Every property guardianship I've seen has rental charges that are not too dissimilar to those of a room in a shared house etc...

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AccidentalSirens@reddit

I was surprised when I saw how much they cost.

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mangonel@reddit

Also prevents squatting. An unoccupied commercial premises could lawfully become a squat. If someone is living there with permission from/in the employ of the owner, then squatters can't just move in.

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PM-me-your-cuppa-tea@reddit

Lots of the time they still pay rent, just less rent and less rights

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CurmudgeonlyBargee@reddit

I did this for 10 years. I just had to live there, not actually do anything. An old mansion house called Delapre Abbey. It was great, now I live on a narrowboat.

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No-Sea-9733@reddit

It’s Trotter watch.

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Educational_Corgi809@reddit

Mate of mine did it for a while, in some cases as stated above, its longish term for in a fair few cases no rent or peppercorn rent. Most cases it was a two person team and or a dog. He did some high risk sites where it was in an area that had a history of squats or something worth nicking aka copper. I met him at a few sites for a coffee, in one case he went in to a pub day it went under and the owner/ manager had been evicted that place was in good condition, another time he was in an old factory/ production facility, camo bed, portaloo, portable heater and a gas stove luckily he was ony in for a month before the demolition lads went in. From what I gathered not a bad paying job but again like them all depends on who you work for.

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rosywillow@reddit

I know someone who does that Property Guardian thing; she has lived in some very interesting buildings.

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HighNimpact@reddit

Often people are paid to stay in empty business premises for several reasons: 1. It deters vandals from breaking in 2. It deters squatters from moving in 3. It prevents certain repossessions from taking place 4. The police will respond to break-ins of inhabited dwellings more quickly 5. Some insurance require a person in occupation

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Routine_Ad1823@reddit

It's called "anti squatting". You basically pay really low rent to live in old, usually commercial, buildings to stop actual squatters.

A friend of mine did it in an old science lab and I stayed with him once. It was fucking weird. They'd basically put one of those prefab bathrooms in for him, but otherwise it was all workbenches and leftover science equipment. He had lined up all the old glass vessels as sort of an arty thing. I remember it being fucking freezing.

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bonamoureux@reddit

Met a group of these at an closed hotel we went to decommision for demolition.

4 ex sherpas I believe. They just lived there until it was demolished and then went and lived at another site and so on.

Nice blokes with very broken English but gave the impression that it would be a bad idea for anyone to break in.

Can't have been much fun after we finished though as we cut all the services off to the main building. No gas or water anywhere and electricity only in a small annex area.

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useful__pattern@reddit

live in guardians? perhaps

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Anglea7stars@reddit

If it's Guardianship property where you can rent much cheaper than normal and often bills are included so the property isn't empt. A relative of mine lived in a huge house next door to one of the Spice girls as a guardian and also lived in many gated communities, mansions as well as the last house standing in a road set for demolition.

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katie-kaboom@reddit

Some buildings do actually have them. They're usually called stewards. Cheap housing, if you don't mind staying on your own in a dilapidated pub or a warehouse or something and moving quickly when the planning permission goes through or the building is sold.

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CastleofWamdue@reddit

I have heard of this locally, but can not find the website for that company.

However this is the London example

https://liveinguardians.com/locations/london-property-guardians

(honestly it could be that the company in question has since changed to being London only, the model is exactly the same, and most of the property was in London)

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Musashi1596@reddit

Feral dogs have made a den of it

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JuanitaMerkin@reddit

Claim: it’s a night watchman

Reality: nobody has entered that building in 6 months and the signs are to scare people off

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