Buying a listed property

Doozergirl

suecoo66 wrote: »

I checked on the listed property owners club site and they state contrary to popular believe it applies to the whole building and area surrounding

That's correct. The listing may detail some of the interesting features, but it's the whole house and curtilage that the listing applies to.

DigForVictory

Love this site - I learn so much!
<putters off to research period authentic apple breeds & schemes to use this to prevent some really naff ideas!>

suecoo66

DigForVictory wrote: »

Love this site - I learn so much!
<putters off to research period authentic apple breeds & schemes to use this to prevent some really naff ideas!>

I can sense the sarcasm in your response

DigForVictory

Not at all - next door is up for sale & being correctly informed is a better way of establishing friendly relations with neighbours (along with tea & cake).

EachPenny

suecoo66 wrote: »

When we went upstairs though the floors felt very uneven and rickety . They also felt spongey in some places. Is this normal for property of this age ?
They also told us they use fence stain on the beams which I understand shoukd be treated with linseed oil so should I be concerned ?

Flying in the face of conventional wisdom I'd venture that paying for a full survey on this kind of house before buying is a waste of money. It will have problems, it will have problems which will be very expensive and complicated to put right. And even if the survey gives it a clean bill of health, a new problem may crop up the day after.

What is important with a building of this age is not what is wrong with it, but how much you are willing to spend, and by how much are you willing to adapt your own life, in order to allow the building to own you?

The floors are uneven and spongy? Well that means furniture not being level and having to limit the amount of stuff you keep in bedrooms. If heavy oak furniture full of stuff is your idea of necessity, then an old house with 'lightly' constructed floors is not the place to live.

You may get permission to strip the floors out and replace them with 21century stress-graded timber - but bear in mind if you do, when you come to sell prospective purchasers may be turned off by the modernisation and lack of 'features'.

Whether beams have been treated with fence stain is a minor issue - more likely to cause concern is if the walls are made of clay, straw and cow-dung rather than brick, and the places where there should be timber is actually just air. Also bear in mind that if the fence-stained beams are included within the listing you cannot simply clean it off and start treating them with linseed oil (even if this is the 'right' thing to do) - you'll need to have a discussion with the council's listed buildings officer first.

I was born in and grew up in a very old house, I loved it. When I was older I got involved in restoring it and modernising it, we always did it with sympathy for it's historic nature. By modern standards every aspect from foundations through to energy efficiency would give surveyors and building control officers nightmares, but it is still standing, and still provides a warm and enchanting family home.

So the thing that needs surveying for 'defects' is not the building, but yourself - do you feel up to the challenge?

P.s. "1494" sounds very precise... is there evidence supporting that date?

AdrianC

EachPenny wrote: »

Flying in the face of conventional wisdom I'd venture that paying for a full survey on this kind of house before buying is a waste of money. It will have problems, it will have problems which will be very expensive and complicated to put right. And even if the survey gives it a clean bill of health, a new problem may crop up the day after.

What is important with a building of this age is not what is wrong with it, but how much you are willing to spend, and by how much are you willing to adapt your own life, in order to allow the building to own you?

While I broadly agree, I think you're referring to a generic survey by a generic surveyor. Something like this needs a specialist survey by a specialist surveyor - and I think you'd be short-sighted to not consider one very carefully.

suecoo66

AdrianC wrote: »

While I broadly agree, I think you're referring to a generic survey by a generic surveyor. Something like this needs a specialist survey by a specialist surveyor - and I think you'd be short-sighted to not consider one very carefully.

If I was to buy a listed property I would want a survey by a specialist surveyor so I agree.

suecoo66

EachPenny wrote: »

Flying in the face of conventional wisdom I'd venture that paying for a full survey on this kind of house before buying is a waste of money. It will have problems, it will have problems which will be very expensive and complicated to put right. And even if the survey gives it a clean bill of health, a new problem may crop up the day after.

What is important with a building of this age is not what is wrong with it, but how much you are willing to spend, and by how much are you willing to adapt your own life, in order to allow the building to own you?

The floors are uneven and spongy? Well that means furniture not being level and having to limit the amount of stuff you keep in bedrooms. If heavy oak furniture full of stuff is your idea of necessity, then an old house with 'lightly' constructed floors is not the place to live.

You may get permission to strip the floors out and replace them with 21century stress-graded timber - but bear in mind if you do, when you come to sell prospective purchasers may be turned off by the modernisation and lack of 'features'.

Whether beams have been treated with fence stain is a minor issue - more likely to cause concern is if the walls are made of clay, straw and cow-dung rather than brick, and the places where there should be timber is actually just air. Also bear in mind that if the fence-stained beams are included within the listing you cannot simply clean it off and start treating them with linseed oil (even if this is the 'right' thing to do) - you'll need to have a discussion with the council's listed buildings officer first.

I was born in and grew up in a very old house, I loved it. When I was older I got involved in restoring it and modernising it, we always did it with sympathy for it's historic nature. By modern standards every aspect from foundations through to energy efficiency would give surveyors and building control officers nightmares, but it is still standing, and still provides a warm and enchanting family home.

So the thing that needs surveying for 'defects' is not the building, but yourself - do you feel up to the challenge?

P.s. "1494" sounds very precise... is there evidence supporting that date?

The house featured in one of the Time Team shows filmed in the area a few years ago. They showed me a report they got from the researchers and specialists who dated the property. The wood was sampled to get the date too.

EachPenny

AdrianC wrote: »

While I broadly agree, I think you're referring to a generic survey by a generic surveyor. Something like this needs a specialist survey by a specialist surveyor - and I think you'd be short-sighted to not consider one very carefully.

I'd agree that it is something which needs to be considered very carefully, but no, I was not thinking of a generic survey.

The thing is that as followers of this board will be familiar with - the average house buyer gets a survey report throwing up a few issues and starts to panic. Some of the issues are of genuine concern and should be showstoppers. A large proportion are trivialities or backside covering.

So the average house buyer (with apologies to the OP) gets a specialist survey done on an old house. It reports lots of 'defects' and issues. Hopefully the specialist will be able to be far more precise about the issues and what needs to be done, but will the average house buyer be equipped to understand the report and what action should be taken as a result? Will this affect the buying decision?

A specialist survey will not be cheap, and there remains the possibility that the sale doesn't proceed and the prospective purchaser has paid for a very expensive report (which they don't understand) about a property someone else owns.

What are the major problems likely to be found with a building that has stood for 523 years? It will probably have moved around quite a bit, some of the walls and floors are at odd angles, there will be quite a lot of woodworm, the roof could probably do with being stripped and re-done, the damp-proofing will be terrible. But even with defects of that kind (which might be a show-stopper in a modern house) would it stop you buying? If the answer is 'yes' then you need to consider carefully whether buying a really old house is the right thing for you to do.

My suggestion - which certainly isn't a recommendation - is to assume that very expensive work will be required at some point and factor that into what you are willing to pay for a bit of history. Then wait until after the purchase to decide what surveys, if any, you want to get done. My guess is in the majority of cases people will just learn to love and live with the quirks of an old building, the listing may force you to do so anyway.

Doozergirl

After 523 years of being a wooden framed building, I'd argue that the damp-proofing, or apparent lack thereof, is likely to be excellent. No specialist survey is going to pick up the lack of a DPM as a problem