Selling of a House that might be Grade II listed.

PJ76

Can someone please help with the following?

My In-laws are having spot of bother selling there house, they bought the house about 5 years ago which is attached to a Manor Hall which is Grade listed. When they bought the property not once were they told that the property they were buying might be Grade listed, not even from the estate agents and not even from there solicitors who does all the background checks/searches for that property.
They have a buyer at this present time but they were only told today that there county council are looking into the property to see whether it is listed and at what Grade, and because of this they think there buyer is going to pull out if the building is Grade listed.
Also when My In-laws bought the property the windows had been replaced with PVC double glazed ones by the previous owners.

My question is this if the building is listed and to what Grade, can my In-laws sue the Estate agents for false advertising and mis-representation and the Solicitors for gross misconduct of there searches?.

PasturesNew

You can look it up online. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/

G_M

PJ76 wrote: »

My question is this if the building is listed and to what Grade, can my In-laws sue the Estate agents for false advertising and mis-representation and the Solicitors for gross misconduct of there searches?.

No. Estate agents do not check properties. If an owner tells an agent to sell a property but does not tell them it's listed, the agent won't advertise it as listed.

What searches did they have done when they bought? Did they instruct their solicitor to do searches? If so, what did the searches show?
Either the relevant search was done but did not reveal the listed status, in which case how can the solicitor be at fault? Or there was no search, in which case the question is why? Did they perhaps decide to save money by skipping the searches? Or perhaps they simply did not look at the search result!

More info needed.

poppysarah

Where did they find the solicitor?

Seanymph

A Grade II listed house shouldn't make any difference to a purchaser - or a negligible difference anyway.

poppysarah

Seanymph wrote: »

A Grade II listed house shouldn't make any difference to a purchaser - or a negligible difference anyway.

I think it's going to depend on the listing and what they have done for it.

martindow

Seanymph wrote: »

A Grade II listed house shouldn't make any difference to a purchaser - or a negligible difference anyway.

I think it can. Grade II is going to have severe limitations if the buyer wants to make any changes. Materials will be closely specified and it may involve expensive specialist builders assuming any work is allowed in the first place.

I imagine there could also be problems if it is listed and changes have been made by the present owner without seeking appropriate permissions.

neverdespairgirl

It can also make a place more expensive, not less, because it's unique and interesting.

Seanymph

Grade II isn't 'severe limitations'. Grade II is nothing much at all.

I lived in a II* Listed place - and renovated it - now THAT has limitations. If it's in a conservation area - that has limitations. Grade II listing has hardly any.

What are these 'severe limitations' you refer to? In real life?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/property/moneyandlegal_renovatingrulesandregs.shtml

a phone call to planning is usually about all it takes - even in my II* one if I'd chosen I could have painted the entire inside orange (I didn't!). They are really only interested in structural - you would have to have a really sympathetic architect to get an extension past them. If in doubt call the planning department and have a chat with the conservation officer.

poppysarah

Listed building consent

If a building is on the list, any building work will require 'listed building consent', according to the Planning Act 1990. This is obtained through the local planning authority. Even minor works, such as painting or simple repair work in some circumstances, falls under the scope of this act.
The penalty for ignoring this act is up to a 12-month prison sentence or a fine to an unlimited amount, or both. Then you can be expected to carry out, at your own expense, further works to the listed building to remedy the impact of the unauthorised works.

Seanymph

but it doesn't need planning. that's different - it just takes a phone call to the conservation officer - it also says 'in some circumstances' - in MOST circumstances you can paint it any colour you want and it's nothing to do with them.

It really does scare people unnecessarily.