An empty building rarely gets targeted overnight. It starts small - a forced bin store, a jemmied window, the same faces walking past a little too often. Miss the early signs and a quiet vacancy becomes an occupied problem. Here are the 5 warning signs your vacant building is becoming a target - and what to do before it's too late.

Five vacant pubs, half a mile apart, all squatted in four weeks. Different owners, different timelines - same outcome. At first glance it looks like bad luck. It isn't. Vacant risk doesn't sit still, it spreads - and when empty sites cluster, they get targeted together. Here's why, and what asset managers keep getting wrong about it.