The perils of buying a listed property

[MatthewC]

...

If we're talking about treating one beam for a past insect infestation and possibly doing some minor work to strengthen it, then unless you are buying a mediaeval hall house with an astonishingly decorative roof, then I'd say that doesn't need LBC - it's a repair, not an alteration.

Well, it definitely isn't that exciting! However, the surveyor has recommended that a large chunk of the beam needs replacing -is this classed as repair/or "like-for-like" and therefore exempt, or do you think we'll need LBC for it? We'd just assumed it would, so I'd be interested in your thoughts on that.
...

I found that the best thing to do is to decide for yourself what is a "like for like" repair and then never to mention it to the CO. Anything that was mentioned to them seemed to attract interest and, in a couple of cases, stupid conditions. One was the front door, brand new, specially made to be identical in every respect, which the architect included in an application; the CO wanted me to re-use all of the door furniture, even though she had never seen it - none of it was remotely original. :roll: I did re-use the doctor's knocker but changed the rest. Another condition was that something had to be completed "before the house was first occupied" - it's only 150+years old!

In the case of your beam, I'd just do it without LBC, but I'm not a lawyer.