Grade II listed property

Ratchy

Hi,
We're just putting an offer in on a Grade II listed house. Having never purchased anything like this before, I hoped someone maybe able to offer their advice.
Do we have any special privileges when renovating the property? Obviously the work is going to cost slightly more than normal, as we have to keep the property sympathetically restored and use original materials from the local area. I'm also concerned that some of the windows in the property, might not be fitting with the grade II listing, should I get someone to check the property for alterations before buying it?
hope someone can help.

Thanks

Ratchy

mystic_trev

Your local Council should be able to give you some help - but some can be too helpfull! You certainly don't get many privileges living in a Listed building and it can be a pain at time with building regs etc.Get a copy of the "listing" which is what a listed building means - It specifies that buildings particular features.I'd check those windows as well - sash?

AndrewSmith

Ratchy wrote:

Hi,
We're just putting an offer in on a Grade II listed house. Having never purchased anything like this before, I hoped someone maybe able to offer their advice.
Do we have any special privileges when renovating the property? Obviously the work is going to cost slightly more than normal, as we have to keep the property sympathetically restored and use original materials from the local area. I'm also concerned that some of the windows in the property, might not be fitting with the grade II listing, should I get someone to check the property for alterations before buying it?
hope someone can help.

Thanks

Ratchy

I bought a 400 year old grade II listed cottage about 8 years ago. Worst thing I ever did. It was a box into which I poured money for 3 years till I sold it.

You must use Local Authority approved contractors for any repair work to the exterior of the building, and this has to be done to the satisfaction of the local planning dept. I even had to gain permission to re-paint my front door a different colour.

A lot will depend, as said above, on the listing conditions and also the location of the property. Mine was on a pedestrian street forming part of the heritage trail in Frome Somerset, thus was very visible and regularly appeared on postcards and in magazines etc. This is why they were so anal with me.

As said above the local council is the best place to ask as they are the ones responsible for upholding the terms of the listing.

Andy

reformedspender

We currently rent a thatched Grade II listed building and most of my neighbours are thatched and listed. There is no financial assistance available for re-thatching and I don't think there is either for maintaining the buildings either (you have to be pretty well-off to afford to buy around here so I doubt any of them would be eligible anyway!). Our local council has a listed buildings officer and from what I can see every planning application goes through him.

P.S. One of my neighbours has a sign up in his hallway saying 'Nothing works in an old house except the owner'!

mystic_trev

reformedspender wrote:

We currently rent a thatched Grade II listed building and most of my neighbours are thatched and listed. There is no financial assistance available for re-thatching and I don't think there is either for maintaining the buildings either

I seem to remember there were some VAT reliefs?

bobalicious

Ratchy wrote:

I'm also concerned that some of the windows in the property, might not be fitting with the grade II listing, should I get someone to check the property for alterations before buying it?
hope someone can help.

Grade II is the lowest. Grade I, Grade II* are above it.

Basically, any works that affect the special historical or architectural interest of the building will require Listed Building Consent.

Have you got hold of the listing description?

That should be your first step - it's on the Local Planning Authority's statutory register, and you *may* also be able to locate it on

http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/

It's and English Heritage website. You need to register to search by address. BUT IT IS NOT a replacement for checking the statutory listing.

If it mentions internal features - be wary. Also check for anything, such as windows that have been picked out for special mention! Basically, it may be listed for group value etc., but anything that is actually mentioned is important.

Check the windows match the listing. If anything does not match, you, as the new owner could become criminally liable for unauthorised alterations to a listed building (not exceeding a certain level (3 or 5 from memory?) on the standard scale. Therefore, on any listed building, you really need to know what you buying, and what the records say should be there.

There may be Listed Building Consents on the statutory planning register.

This is not intended to scare you, but you do want to be sure that you know what you are getting! And remember there are a range of things you could normally do to the building under permitted development rights, that you need to get consent for if it is a listed building. (That's why it's called LB consent - because you need consent to do something you normally could!)

Good luck!

Wickedkitten

I think you may want to read this as well

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/historiclistedbuildings.shtml

Doozergirl

AndrewSmith wrote:

I bought a 400 year old grade II listed cottage about 8 years ago. Worst thing I ever did. It was a box into which I poured money for 3 years till I sold it.

My son and I called ours 'The Broken House' because of the state it was in when we bought it. My husband called it 'The Money Pit'.

You MUST have a full stuctural survey carried out on the property. Not only will it highlight defects, but a good surveyor will give you an idea of how to care for it. Certainly in my village, people seem to think that because it's listed they don't need to maintain them; Dodgy wiring doesn't count as character in my book!

Restorative works on listed buildings are exempt from VAT, but kitchens bathrooms etc don't count and the saving is nothing considering the cost of the work. Windows for us on what was essentially a pretty 3 bed semi came to £26,000!

Listed Buildings are beautiful and I often found myself looking at the beams and the way the bricks had been laid instead of the TV. Definately a labour of love though.

Ratchy

Thanks for all the advice!
I've contacted the local council, to get details of the listing, which they promptly emailed to me. The only real worry I have, is the guttering. The council member, said that he would expect the property to have cast iron guttering, and I'm pretty sure the present owners have just put in PVC guttering on the property. Obviously this is going to be very expensive to replace. Would you negotiate the price down regarding the reinstatement of the original guttering etc?
Also does anyone know of any insurance companies who deal specifically in listed buildings as the re-build cost of the property will be higher that the value we paid for it?


Thanks again

Ratchy

Doozergirl

The Conservation Officer can argue to have iron guttering put in, but there is a rule that allows you to replace 'like with like'. If the current owners replaced plastic guttering with the same, they should be able to get away with it, though if they didn't seek approval, they might have to prove that plastic guttering was in place before.

Our mortgage advisor found us Ocaso insurance, through the CETA intermediary. Don't know if they're exclusive to mortgage advisors though

bobalicious

Ratchy wrote:

The council member, said that he would expect the property to have cast iron guttering, and I'm pretty sure the present owners have just put in PVC guttering on the property.

1. Is the guttering specifically mentioned in the listing description?

2. Did the works have LBC? (or did they predate the listing (unlikely!))

Well worth checking out in full.