A woman has revealed how she was left in £50,000 worth of debt after being promised a government grant to renovate her house – before being left in the dark for months.
Abigail, from Manchester, who purchased a property in Pembrokeshire in June 2024, says she threw in all her savings and inheritance to buy the house, believing the grant would help her fund half of the extensive renovation work required.
The Welsh’s Government’s Empty Home Grant promises up to £25,000 to help people bring derelict or long-vacant homes back into use.
Applicants are warned not to carry out any work until their grant is approved, a restriction that, in Abigail’s case, meant waiting seven months with no progress.
But after months of delays, unreturned emails and what she calls being ‘stonewalled’ by the local council’s grants office, she says she’s been left with no other option but to borrow tens of thousands just to complete the project.
The situation became increasingly stressful for Abigail, 24, as delays in the grant approval process have had a significant financial impact, adding unforeseen costs and exposing her to avoidable expenses that she otherwise would not have incurred.
The qualified structural engineer shared her experience on her TikTok @abigail_jay_, which racked up over 1.5 million views, where she questioned if the Empty Home Scheme was a ‘PR scam.’
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, she explained: ‘This situation was extremely stressful, these delays have likely cost me at least 10 months in being able to move into my own home, forcing me to remain in short-term accommodation.
Abigail, who purchased a property in Pembrokeshire in June 2024, claimed the Welsh Government’s Empty Home Grant is a PR stunt- saying she was ignored for months, left financially stranded, and eventually forced to take out a £50,000 loan just to finish making her home habitable
Abigail says she threw in all her savings and inheritance to buy the house, believing the grant would help her fund half of the extensive renovation work required
The grant is available in instalments as the work is undertaken, with a minimum 15 percent contribution required from the applicant.
Now Abigail has claimed the Welsh Government’s Empty Home Grant is a PR stunt – as she was left ‘hanging’ for month.
‘The financial impact was significant. I incurred costs and navigated unnecessary expenses that I would not otherwise have faced.
‘For example, as a structural engineer with asbestos training, I would not have commissioned separate structural and asbestos surveys had they not been requested, both of which were paid for out of my own pocket.’
After applying for the scheme in June, Abigail hoped the whole process would take one year as she was told by the Pembrokeshire Empty Homes Grant team that renovation works ‘needed to be completed within a year, so the funding could be allocated within the same financial year’.
She explained: ‘That gave me the impression they would be just as eager to progress and approve my application as I was ready to start the work.
‘I wasn’t given any timeline beyond the initial indication that the whole process, from application to completed renovation, should take around a year.
‘After that, I received no updates or guidance on how long my application, or the funding process might take.’
Abigail claimed it took two months for an engineer to visit the property and draft a ‘schedule of works’ – a checklist of necessary repairs. However, she claimed the initial schedule only covered around £4,500 worth of work.
She was told to organise a structural report and an asbestos survey, which she claimed the council promised to pay for separately from the £25,000 grant cap.
After months of delays, unreturned emails and what she calls being ‘stonewalled’ by the local council’s grants office, she says she’s been left with no other option but to borrow tens of thousands just to complete the project
The Empty Home Grant promises up to £25,000 to help people bring derelict or long-vacant homes back into use (Abigail’s home before the renovation work)
Despite being financially worse off now, Abigail revealed she feels a sense of ‘relief’ to be finally working on her renovation (the house as it stands now – three weeks from the essential works being finished)
She said: ‘After their engineer inspected the property, I received a partial schedule of works six weeks later, which included needing to arrange a structural and asbestos survey.
‘I arranged both as soon as possible, which cost £902. Because of the scale of the work needed to make the house habitable, and the fact their engineer had implied it verbally, I felt fairly confident I’d be awarded the full £25,000 grant.
‘But as the months went by with little response, it became clear the funding wasn’t going to arrive anytime soon.’
Following the submission of her contractor quotes, Abigail claimed she experienced a significant delay in receiving an updated schedule of works, a critical document required to progress the grant application.
She said: ‘Despite sending regular follow-up emails over the course of nearly a year, I have yet to receive the revised schedule.
‘Responses were sporadic and mainly from an individual at Rhondda Cynon Taff Council, rather than the Pembrokeshire team managing the project.
‘The grant conditions required quotes for every item on the schedule before approval, and before any works should commence.
‘As I didn’t have the schedule, I couldn’t get approved, and I was unable to start any works or access any grant funding. This lack of approval and communication has caused a year-long delay.’
The house before renovation work (left) and the rotting structure exposed during works (right)
Following the submission of her contractor quotes, Abigail experienced a significant delay in receiving an updated schedule of works, a critical document required to progress the grant application
After more than a year spent in what was supposed to be a temporary living arrangement, the frustrated homeowner could no longer afford to wait for the grant to come through and began lining up contractors to get the renovation moving on her own terms
After more than a year spent in what was supposed to be a temporary living arrangement, the frustrated homeowner could no longer afford to wait for the grant to come through and began lining up contractors to get the renovation moving on her own terms.
She said: ‘I’d been in what I thought would be a temporary living situation for over a year waiting for the grant, so I started lining up contractors to get the work moving.
‘At that stage, I estimated the renovation would cost around £50,000. Now, with just three weeks to go, that figure is closer to £60,000, £50,000 of which is covered by a loan.
‘The remaining £10,000 will have to wait until I can afford it, so things like the driveway and decorating will be finished gradually over time.
‘It’s been a big undertaking, but I’m determined to see it through and finally make this house a home.
‘If I hadn’t got involved with the grant scheme, I could have been in the house October last year, as the time scale, once I gave up on receiving the funding, has been around three months.
‘I’ll have completed all the priority renovations in the period from end of June 2025 to end of September, 2025 – a very quick turnaround for a big renovation.’
Abigail revealed she hadn’t received any direct communication from the Pembrokeshire team since January 8. However, Rhondda Cynon Taff Council, who administer the grant funding on behalf of Welsh Government, reached out with their official complaint procedure this week.
She said: ‘At that stage, I estimated the renovation would cost around £50,000. Now, with just three weeks to go, that figure is closer to £60,000, £50,000 of which is covered by a loan’ (Kitchen renovation)
She added: ‘The only contact during this period was an internal email forwarded from Rhondda Cynon Taff Council, whose representative replied to me once in June, chasing the Pembrokeshire team on my behalf.’
Despite being financially worse off now, Abigail revealed she feels a sense of ‘relief’ to be finally working on her renovation.
She added: ‘I had expected the grant to cover around half of the renovation costs, so being forced to take a £50,000 loan has significantly altered my finances for the next decade as I work to repay it.
‘However, by the time I secured the loan, my overriding feeling was relief, simply to be able to start the project at last and draw a line under the prolonged delays.’
Reflecting on her experience, Abigail said she is willingly sharing it with others, not to deter them from applying, but to ensure they are fully informed about the potential challenges involved.
She said: ‘I would wish them good luck and hope that, in their county, the grant is administered more effectively than it has been in Pembrokeshire.
‘I would willingly share my experience—not to discourage them, but to ensure they are aware that the support they may be relying on from Pembrokeshire County Council would not, in practice, be delivered.’
She believes several key changes could significantly improve the administration of the Empty Homes Grant scheme and prevent other applicants from facing similar issues.
She concluded that the council would need to offer: ‘Clear timelines for each stage of the process, with applicants regularly updated on progress.
‘Designated case officers who remain the applicant’s consistent point of contact throughout.
‘Transparent escalation procedures so that applicants know how to raise concerns if delays occur and joined-up working between different councils or departments to avoid the kind of fragmented communication I experienced.
‘These changes would give applicants more certainty and support and make it far more likely that the grant achieves its goal of bringing empty homes back into use.’
Reflecting on her experience, Abigail said she is willingly share it with others, not to deter them from applying, but to ensure they are fully informed about the potential challenges involved
A spokesperson at Rhondda Cynon Taff Council has said: ‘In terms of the applicant in this case, we can obviously understand their frustrations, and we have been in communication with them about their experience. However, the issue in this case stems from their interaction with their local authority.
‘We work in partnership with all local authorities in Wales to administer the scheme, however, it is the responsibility of teams within each local authority to engage with RCT as the lead administrative Authority and occasionally applicants to get all the relevant technical documentation, surveys etc, schedules, which are then used to progress the application in full alongside the legal side, and release of funding.
‘We are wholly reliant on each local authority to engage with us and applicants (specifically where there are technical queries) and prepare their documentation for submission.
‘Where we are made aware of issues we do escalate these with the relevant local authorities initially, however, we have no authority to force other local authorities to act on issues.
‘If there is a delay in us receiving this documentation/information, we are unable to proceed in our administrative role.’
Pembrokeshire County Council said: ‘The condition report provided by the grant applicant recommended that the entire dwelling be demolished due to the poor design and generally poor construction and that a new dwelling is built to current standards in its place.
‘Demolition and rebuilding the property was indicated by the report to be the most cost-effective course of action and would result in a safer and more energy efficient building. This course of action would mean that the grant applicant would not qualify for the National Empty Homes Grant Scheme.
‘The alternative option which may be considered eligible by the body administering the scheme, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, requires preparation of a schedule of works.
‘Plans, calculations and costings for the proposed work have not been provided, therefore the schedule cannot be produced nor the application progressed further.
They added: ‘The issues raised regarding communication delays and administrative bottlenecks, there are a number of steps that the applicants have to go through, and the scheme is essentially administered by two local authorities which can at times prolong the application process.
‘The apparent low rate of successful grant payouts in Pembrokeshire. This is not true, and we have had multiple successful applicants since the scheme started.
23 Pembrokeshire applicants have been formally accepted on to the National Empty Homes Grant Scheme.
‘Eight of those have been completed with a total of £152,059.99 grant money paid out. A further four have received interim grant payments totalling £36,532.74.
‘We had over 50 or 60 enquiries but many are not applicable.’
