A Freedom of Information request from Property Partner has found that Hammersmith and Fulham Council owns 423 empty garages – a third of the total number.

In our case the average garage is 170 square feet.  The average size of a one bedroom flat is 500 square feet. So that 71,910 square feet of empty garage space is equivalent to 144 homes.  It may well be that in some cases replacing garages with new homes would not be viable. On the other hand, these figures only allow for bungalows. Often, of course, it would be perfectly viable to replace a row of garages with two, three or four storey housing.

The Council also rents out another 179 garages privately – that provides a useful source of revenue for the council. But would it not be better to convert some of those garages into homes too?

Also any of the 423 empty garages that can’t be replaced with homes should be rented out privately.

The present mismanagement is a terrible waste of resources.