You Spot Property

What You Spot Property does

You Spot Property is a London-based private real estate company (You Spot Property.com Limited, registered in England and Wales, company number 08620615) founded in 2014 by Nick Kalms and Benjamin Radstone. It operates a crowdsourced property acquisition platform in which members of the public — branded 'spotters' — report vacant or derelict residential properties through youspotproperty.com; the company rewards spotters with a £20 gift voucher for qualifying reports and, if it subsequently purchases the property, 1% of the purchase price capped at £10,000, plus a £500 charitable donation per completed acquisition. Operations span England and selected Welsh postcodes, with Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland explicitly excluded.

The technical backbone combines a self-serve website and case-management database with a specialist in-house research function that performs Land Registry searches, probate checks, title investigations, and genealogy-driven owner tracing. The platform supports integrations with Google Maps and What3Words for property location, and uses Amazon, Marks & Spencer, and VEX (Voucher Express) for voucher fulfilment. The team of approximately 18 includes co-founders, a Finance Director, Research & Operations leadership, Relationship & Acquisitions Executives, researchers, and consultants drawn from the Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard; the company also operates a related sub-brand, Probate.Auction, for auction and private-sale disposition of inherited homes.

You Spot Property generates revenue from the spread between the discounted acquisition price of empty or derelict properties (typically purchased below market value due to condition or legal complexity) and their resale value after renovation. Acquisition values over the trailing twelve months have ranged from £17,000 to £3,000,000. The company pays no customer-facing fees to property owners; instead, it monetizes by sourcing below-market inventory through its community funnel and specialist research. It is privately held with no disclosed institutional funding and operates with a self-serve, community-led go-to-market model amplified by extensive earned media coverage (BBC, ITV, The Times, Forbes, Sky News).

Name

You Spot Property

Legal name

You Spot Property.com Limited

Website

https://youspotproperty.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

You Spot Property is a UK private real estate firm that uses a crowdsourced spotter network and an in-house genealogist team to identify, purchase, renovate, and resell vacant or derelict residential properties across England and selected Welsh postcodes, rewarding members of the public who report qualifying properties.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Real Estate Investment & Acquisition

NAICS

Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (5312)

SIC

Real Estate Dealers (For Their Own Account) (6532)

akta.pro primary industry

Foreclosure/REO & Distressed Property Auctions (BPAJAEAF)

Keywords

• Empty property acquisition
• Derelict property renovation
• Crowdsourced property leads
• Property reporting rewards
• Probate property services

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Property Acquisition and Resale: You Spot Property identifies empty/derelict residential properties, purchases them (often below market value due to condition), renovates them, and sells them on the open market for profit. Revenue generated from the spread between purchase and sale prices. Properties range from £17,000 to £3 million in value.
2. Spotter Reward Program (Cost): Cost center rather than revenue stream - pays spotters £20 vouchers for qualifying reports and up to 1% of purchase price (capped at £10,000) when properties are bought. Also donates £500 to local charities per completed purchase. This incentivizes public participation in identifying properties.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

You Spot Property operates a crowdsourced property reporting platform where members of the public ('spotters') report empty or derelict homes and receive a £20 voucher (M&S, Amazon or Vex) for qualifying reports, plus up to 1% of the purchase price (capped at £10,000) if the property is acquired. The company's in-house genealogist and research team then traces owners (handling probate, ownership disputes and complex cases), negotiates purchases, renovates the properties, and resells them on the open market for profit.

Product overview

YouSpotProperty operates as a single unified platform offering a crowdsourced property reporting and acquisition service. The core product is the YouSpotProperty.com platform, which enables members of the public to report empty or derelict properties in exchange for rewards. The service includes a Property Reporting & Reward Scheme that pays £20 vouchers for qualifying reports and up to 1% of the purchase price (capped at £10,000) when properties are acquired. The company also offers an Empty Property Research & Acquisition Service that uses specialist genealogists to trace owners and handle legal complexities. A related sub-brand, Probate.Auction, helps families sell inherited properties at auction or via private sale. The platform connects spotters with the company's research and acquisition teams to bring abandoned homes back into use.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• YouSpotProperty.com Platform A crowdsourced property reporting platform that allows members of the public ('spotters') to report empty or derelict residential properties in exchange for £20 vouchers and up to 1% of the purchase price if the property is acquired.
• Property Reporting & Reward Scheme The core service where members of the public report empty properties, receive £20 vouchers (M&S, Amazon or Vex) for qualifying reports, and a potential 1% cash reward (up to £10,000) upon successful property purchase.
• Empty Property Research & Acquisition Service The company's research team traces owners of empty properties through genealogists, handles legal complexities and probate issues, negotiates purchases, and renovates the properties to bring them back into use.
• Probate.Auction A service launched by the founders to help families and beneficiaries sell homes at auction or via private sale, providing a quicker alternative to estate agents for distressed or probated properties.

Quantifiable outcome

• 8,189 vouchers paid out (average 110 per month)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• The Empty Homes NetworkcoreOthersYouSpotProperty are supporters of The Empty Homes Network, an organization supporting professionals and advocates committed to tackling the UK's empty homes crisis. Company attends annual EHN Conference to network with housing officers, local authorities, and policy makers. Shared mission to bring empty properties back into use and create stronger communities.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Quick Move Now: Long-running UK cash house buyer serving sellers of slow-to-sell, probate, and chain-break properties. Closely comparable operating model to YSP's acquisition and resale activity.
• House Buy Fast: UK cash house buyer targeting quick completions, including probate and chain-break situations. Comparable in size, customer profile, and acquisition-and-resale model to YSP.
• Springbok Properties: UK cash buyer using modern method of auction and direct offers for residential property. Comparable customer base (sellers of stuck, inherited, or empty properties) and exit model (resale to investors or owner-occupiers).
• Property Rescue: UK cash property buyer specialising in fast purchases of properties that are hard to sell through traditional agents. Direct peer in the distressed/empty residential acquisition segment.
• Open Property Group: UK cash buyer focused on fast property sales, including distressed and inherited properties. Direct competitor for the same empty / difficult-to-sell residential deal flow.
• National Homebuyers: Established UK cash property buyer with a national footprint. Comparable to YSP's core acquisition-and-resale model for distressed, probate, and slow-to-sell properties.
• The Property Buying Company: UK cash buyer for residential properties, with a particular focus on inheritance, probate, and problematic sales. Directly competes for the same owner-side deal flow that YSP sources through its spotter network.
• We Buy Any House: One of the UK's largest cash house buyers, acquiring residential properties quickly for cash. Directly comparable to YSP in that both buy below market and resell, although YSP's crowdsourced sourcing is a differentiator.

Others

• Action on Empty Homes: UK charity and advocacy network focused on the empty homes crisis. Not a competitor but a key ecosystem participant and industry affiliation partner for YSP, working on the same underlying market.

Broad incumbents

• iamsold: UK modern method of auction provider serving estate agents and sellers of residential property, including inherited and empty homes. Overlaps with YSP on the seller side of distressed/empty stock but uses auction rather than direct acquisition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/youspotproperty
• Xx.com/youspotproperty
• Facebookfacebook.com/youspotproperty
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/you-spot-property

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about You Spot Property