Why are abandoned buildings boarded up? And why are buildings abandoned in the first place instead of sold?

Question

Do only places with high crime and poverty have boarded-up houses/buildings?

Answer 1

Typically buildings that are not going to be used for awhile have plywood put over the windows to prevent glass breakage from either natural or human means. This helps maintain the integrity of the interior for both security and preservation purposes.

Commercial properties that are abandoned this way are usually for sale, but local economics prevent finding a buyer. The buildings usually wind up unoccupied through loss of tenants and then the owner can't replace them profitably, although other problems such as fiduciary mismanagement occur from time to time. Residential properties are rarely abandoned in this way because its almost always possible to find a tenant or buyer if you drop the price enough; however, sometimes an owner may move away and not find it worthwhile to deal with the headaches of being an absentee landlord.

The reason you see a correlation between boarded-up properties and poverty/crime is purely economic. Where there is a good economy and plentiful jobs, tenants are easy to find and property values are at a premium (so there are buyers available). When or where the economy (local or national) suffers, its harder to fill vacancies with tenants and buyers are more scarce. Many people will "sit" on a property in a local economic depression and wait to sell untill the market goes up or some financial circumstance of their own lives forces them to make that decision.

Answer 2

Because the cost of replacing a window is expensive! Many times the property has zoning & building code violations & it is far too expensive to repair them to bring them up to local codes. Another reason is that there is no clear title on the property & it cannot be sold or transfered until the owner of record is found and/or established. Sometimes a building is part of an estate & the owner has a strangly worded will or that will is contested by family members & this process ties up the property to the point of completely having to vacate it because the living heirs cannot come to a settlement agreement. I call it GREED! Many owners would rather board it up, rather than risk a lawsuit & some owners just want to drive down the price of the property in the neighborhood for future profits & land holdings!

Answer 3

They are boarded up to stop squatters (people who just move in and don't pay rent) moving in. Squatters have rights once they have moved in and if they can prove they have lived in a property long enough (in the UK) they can claim it is rightfully theirs by law. This causes considerable problems for the building or land owner. Plus squatters can sometimes be undesireable people so they feel it's in their best interstes that the building remains un occupied.

Further to this the building owner (which may be the local authority) will have a duty of care to the public so if some squatters get into the building and injure themselves because it is un safe then they can sue the council because the building was unsafe or not adequeately sign posted. This is obviously something the local council would like to avoid (being sued) so the building is boarded up.

Answer 4

All three get the same answer, which you answered yourself:
1. To keep criminals, vandals, and vagrants out.
2. It's hard to sell a building in a high-crime area.
3. Pretty much. There are fewer abandoned buildings elsewhere, and in some places they don't need to be boarded up.

Answer 5

Boarded up for protection? Windows are probably all broken.
Not sold because not sellable property at the moment, possibly holding out for a big buyer.

Answer 6

Because they don't want the building to be damaged before the new tenant moves in. There are a lot of teenagers who would just grafatti the place and destroy it. The realtor is just trying to preserve it as possible.

Answer 7

They're boarded up to prevent squatters.

And they're not sold because there may be issues of ownership. For example, it's not uncommon for someone to die and for people to challenge a will saying they were promised the house etc. Or there may be multiple owners and one or more cannot be located etc.

Answer 8

Business owners and/or developers are skeptical about moving to low income areas where things have failed in the past, so property can be in limbo for long periods of time.

Answer 9

so critters dont fly or jump and live in the buildings.
sometimes they dont sell due to the fact nobody is interested in buying the property so it has become abandoned.