buying a Grade II listed building

[Laura1]

Hello,

Newly registered on the forum and would like to ask the advice of members if I may

I've been perusing Rightmove with a few to moving home soon and quite a lot of properties in the area I'm interested in are Grade II listed. I have always owned period houses but never one with a listing and I'm wondering what sort of things I need to consider before buying a listed building.

For a bit of context - with my family grown up and left home I'm looking to downsize to a property that is smaller and cheaper than the big Victorian semi I live in at the moment. The kinds of houses I'm looking at are stone terraces and cottages and at a fairly modest price (>£200k). I'm absolutely not interested in 'modernising' a home and would always choose to preserve existing original features so there's no issue with retaining what's already there. My question really arises because I have seen several listed properties for sale that have had inappropriate windows/doors and other internal works added at some point. What would my responsibilities be as a new owner if I took on one of these properties? Would I need to budget for returning the fabric of the building to something more in keeping or once the features have gone is that it? Whilst I would have some budget for maintenance and decorating, I'm not really looking for a project!

Thanks very much!

 

[Feltwell]

Welcome!

If the inappropriate changes have been done after the house was listed and without Listed Building Consent, then my understanding is yes, you become liable if the local authority take enforcement action. There's a lot of rubbish spoken about "it only applies to the front elevation" or "internal changes don't matter" - which is wrong.

It's buyer beware as ever I'm afraid - check the original listing, ask the seller, if you think work has been done since listing with no LBC then the question is are you prepared to accept the risk that you may need to return it to it's "as listed" state and will the sellers reduce their price enough to make that risk acceptable to you?

It's perfectly possible to make changes to listed buildings, it just needs to be done with the right consent in place.

 

[Edward Ian]

I posted a long reply to this which seems to have vanished
To add to what the other poster has said, it would be normal in circumstances where past changes were questionable, to seek indemnity insurance from the seller to cover the risk that the council will enforce a re-instatement of lost original features.

 

[Abi Cott]

I bought my grade II property about 18 months ago and it's definitely had alterations made to it that didn't have approval.

The odds of enforcement action is probably fairly low, but you can be made to rectify the changes at your own expense.

If you want to rectify the changes for your own personal satisfaction, you will require listed building consent to do so.

Getting listed building consent takes about 6 weeks and it's free to apply. The from isn't too bad as such things go.

 

[Flyfisher]

There's a discussion about these sorts of issues here: https://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16321

If you're concerned about a possible future liability to reverse illegal works by a previous owner then I understand specialist insurance policies are available, though I have no expereince of them and I would certainly want to be very, very sure about what is and what is not covered. Your conveyancing solicitior should be able to advise. I'd also think it reasonable for the vendor to pay for such a policy by a suitable reduction of the purchase price, but that would be a matter for negotiation of course.

 

[Laura1]

Thank you all for replying and for the link to the earlier thread discussing a similar concern, it's all really helpful

It sounds like a listing and inappropriate earlier prior changes to a property aren't necessarily something to be hugely worried about, but I'll certainly have a chat with the conservation officer if going ahead with a purchase of any property with a listing is likely.

One of the grade II houses I've seen has ceiling spotlights in several rooms, a rickety porch, 4 velux windows and all plastic rainwater goods