My wife was listening to something on the radio (likely "You and Yours"(spit)) where they asserted that the owner of a listed building can be forced to rectify unauthorised works done by a previous owner.
Is this true?
And can you get insurance against the costs involved?
Or shall I just stop looking at listed buildings (again)?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Should have Googled *before* posting!
Maybe. Talk to your local conservation officer. The ones in St Edmundsbury (West Suffolk) were very reasonable; other people have horror stories. Note that it helps a lot if you don't go in with a "this is my house and I can do what I like with it" approach; if you have already specified (eg) lime mortar and genuine slate a) they will probably view the rest of the proposal much more favourably; b) you won't be surprised when they insist on lime mortar and genuine slate.
Can't argue with that one :-)
Although they do have to notice first. But it is a risk.
The other tricky one is window frames where you are pretty much forced to replace like with like when they fail. Interior double glazing is possible but the exterior has to exactly match the originals.
Very smart developers seem to be able to bend the rules a bit when the choice is between allowing a vintage grade 2* building to fall down or repurposing it as dwellings. Expect to spend a fair amount of money on technical advice, consultants and protracted planning consent.
Or not...
The above refers to my employer - and the buildings in question are not even listed (but are right next to Somerset House).
My employer is a tad annoyed as they'd been working with the various bodies quite closely and thought everyone was happy.
Listed - wouldn't touch it with a bargepole...
That was my initial position. Then we saw a couple of really nice listed properties, so I was reconsidering.
Having reconsidered, I've gone back to "bargepole" mode.
Glad to hear of someone sensible. If I fell in love with a listed building I'd almost certainly ignore logic and buy it.
True, though they also need to care as well.
Whilst a listing applies to the whole property, they won't care about everything equally. You need to get an understanding about what it is that is important about the building. I think there are things that were done to ours with out LBC, but it's not anything that impacts on the character of the building and the reasons why it is listed. And anyway it was so long ago I doubt that anyone would know/care/realise if they did see it, or be able to prove when the work was done.
Yup, though I wonder what they will say when we have to replace our kitchen windows. Most of the windows are still the Victorian sashes (and are of course still fine), but these are single glazed 1970's-ish replacements which are rotting away (with internal secondary glazing). They are to the rear and side of the property and I suspect they will be happy with some sort of modern wooden double glazed ones (can't put the sashes easily back as the openings were changed in size and made shorter)
They were happy for us to replace the conservatory (too rotten and literally falling down) with a wooden, but otherwise obviously modern double glazed one as long as we kept the same style (it was more of vinery really, so the original was more like a slightly fancy lean to greenhouse.
We've not found owning a listed building particularly onerous really. But it will cost more to do stuff sometimes and you need to go in with your eyes open.
That's precisely what I did! Or, rather, a share of it. I have a holiday flat which is part of a Grade II listed building. The total property comprises 5 flats and a maisonette. Each unit is leasehold (999 year lease - so it will see me out!) and the "landlord" is a company which is collectively owned by the leaseholders.
I'm not sure that I would want to own a listed property outright - but sharing the risk with a few other people doesn't seem quite so bad.
For anyone considering buying a listed building, it's worth looking at LPOC - Listed Property Owners' Club. They can provide lots of useful advice - some of which is available for free on their website without needing to pay the £55 p.a. membership subscription.
Imho fwiw its worse. You've got to deal with a bunch of other people who, too often, have no clue. I know someone in just this position, and getting the owners to work together is nigh on impossible.
NT
"Register to keep reading"
um! - no thanks
tim
Weird - did not happen to me and I have not subscribed...
Until now.
Has less details but is the same summary.
We've found them pretty helpful really. They had a bad reputation (Scambs - much more picky than St Edmundsbury we were told) but they've been OK. Perhaps because we bought it needing significant work, and started by getting the thatch replaced - which it really needed.
Andy
Also paywalled :-)
You're not accessing via a university network who have paid the subs for these sites are you?
Ha - you might have me there...
No - I am at home, but having worked at home all day, I did have my web bouncing through a SOCKS5 proxy through the College.
Let's see if there's another one...
should be OK (I have turned FoxyProxy off)
I've lived in a listed building for 30 years and, being a flat conversion, run the management company for as long. I've had enough. It was ok back when there were four owner-occupiers but now I'm the only one full-time.
En el artículo , Huge escribió:
A wise decision, I think.
My parents bought a dilapidated 400 year old sandstone cottage in the
1980s. Although not listed, the council planning dept insisted that certain conditions be met during renovations which made the total cost significantly higher.On feature of the original was curved windows (wooden frames and glass) to a perfectly circular room. The windows were beyond repair and the council initially insisted on like-for-like curved replacements but eventually agreed to high quality hardwood 'faceted' replacements (i.e. three smaller windows arranged to fit the curve of one large opening.)
There's certainly a risk of that - but the six current owners are a pretty good bunch. I'm currently sharing the maintenance responsibility with one of the other directors - and the rest have invariably gone along with what we've recommended.
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