Conservation Area - non listed building. Advice?

Doody

Hi, we believed the seller's EA when they said the building was in a non-conservation area. And didn't check. Grrrrrr, fool that I am. So have gone quite far with surveys and selling.

However, our soliciter has come back to me today and said it IS in a conservation area. I am worried about the implications. The property has very non historically correct windows and doors, and a ramshackle hovel in the garden we'd like to repair and update. On a limited budget.

This is in Breckland, Norfolk.

Can anyone give advice? Share their stories or coping with similar? Is it possible they might slap a Listed Building staus on us at some time in the future?

davidmcn

Difficult to tell from the little you've told us, or what you mean by a "ramshackle hovel". Do you think it's the sort of property that's liable to be listed? What sort of other buildings in the area are listed? Is the property otherwise in keeping with whatever sort of features they are trying to conserve in the conservation area?

Owain_Moneysaver

Unlikely it will be listed unless the building is individually of note.

Consent for replacement windows (even plastic ones) is not always needed in a CA - it depends on the council order creating the CA. Also, the windows might predate the creation of the CA. Check the council planning website.

G_M

The CA may have a lay panel who advise the Planners.


There may also be (on the councilwebsite?) a Conservation Area Appraisal &Management Strategy document which specifies why the area is designated a CA, what features are relevant, and what changes do/don't require consent.


Council websites these days have all sorts of information available (have you searched for nearby planning applications that might impact you?) - I found all this sort of thing out before placing an offer......

Doody

Thanks all. I've hunted on the LA website and could only find the map. The ramshackle hovel - I should have been clearer. Officially it is a bungalow that has had planning permission. In reality it is a building with brick walls, a broken window that has caused damage to the wall below it due to to the damp. It has a disgusting corrugated translucent roof that I had hoped to replace with 7 wall 35ml polycarbonate.

borkid

I'm in Breckland as well. A couple of years ago neighbouring trees were overhanging our garden and garage potentially doing damage. The trees were in the conservation area but my house was not. We called the council and someone came around to look. He was very down to earth understood the problem and said there would be no problem taking the trees down. As it was the people who the trees belonged to wouldn't take them down but agreed to top them, so a compromise.


Contact the council direct and ask. The chap we spoke to was very helpful. We were at one point looking to buy in south Norfolk, again before putting in an offer we wanted to know about their policy on knocking down a building. They replied and were very helpful even went a step further and mentioned the end of the garden was on a flood plain.


I've always found if you speak council staff politely when asking for help they are very good.

babyblade41

I am supposedly buying a property in a CA , although liveable and not totally ramshackle..

I have checked the other house and they have had a couple of planning applications for reasonable sized extensions approved.

To slap a Grade 2 listing on it sounds highly unlikely unless it is a house of historical interest .

I had a grade 2 previously and had an extension approved on it so not quite as restricting as you'd think...it wouldn't put me off at all

By checking you can get a scale of what is acceptable within the area and what has already been approved

DaftyDuck

Never be put off by conservation areas and listed buildings. They aren't the impossibility to alter and update that's often portrayed, they tend to be in pleasant neighbourhoods, and neighbours tend to maintain them.

They are also a relatively-dwindling stock, and hold their value well.... just keep an eye on costs, and ensure you aren't caught out!

AdrianC

The "conservation area" status usually just means that what would otherwise be permitted development needs to go to planning. Woo. It's unlikely that any retrospective move to force you to change the pre-existing windows and doors will be made, but if you change them again in the future, you might have to go for something less "non historically correct". Is that a bad thing?

Remember - that status is protecting what attracted you to that area to start with. Work with it and embrace it.

EachPenny

Doody wrote: »

However, our soliciter has come back to me today and said it IS in a conservation area. I am worried about the implications. The property has very non historically correct windows and doors, and a ramshackle hovel in the garden we'd like to repair and update.

If you go ahead and buy you need to forget about the concept of "historically correct". Listing and Conservation Area Status are about preserving character and the 'story' of a building/area, not about making it into some form of historical re-creation of something which never existed.

What is important is the building as it existed at the time of listing, or the character of an area at the time of designation. That means some relatively modern features might be considered an important part of the 'story' and afforded as much protection as the timber frame and flint infill.

As others have said, things are not absolutely fixed and so long as you discuss your proposals with the planning/conservation officer, they are often amenable to changes being made which make the building more habitable, or alter the appearance in an acceptable way.

In terms of the ramshackle hovel with the 'disgusting corrugated translucent roof', you need to bear in mind that listing (and CA status) applies to the whole curtilage and also impacts on properties on neighbouring plots. E.g. if the house next door was listed, you might need consent to alter the 'ramshackle hovel' on the basis it impacts on the setting of a listed building, even if yours isn't listed.

Where you could run into difficulties is if what you consider to be a 'disgusting corrugated translucent roof' turns out to be the conservation officer's "rare early example of the use of corrugated PVC in construction". The odds of that happening might be low, but it is quite possible that the corrugated profile of the material is considered important in terms of appearance (e.g. 'rural', 'traditional'), and the use of large flat sheets of polycarbonate (e.g. 'urban', 'modern') would mark a significant (and detrimental) change to the character of the building. There are no hard and fast rules, and it often comes down to the personal opinion of the conservation officer.

The most important thing is to consider how you would view your ownership of the house. Would you expect as the owner to make all the decisions about changes, or would you be willing to accept that the conservation/planning officer 'knows better than you' and has the right to tell you what to do with the building you have 'borrowed' from the community?

angelin77

You still have certain permitted development rights in a Conservation Area but check that there are no further restrictions i.e Article 4 directions where you have to make a planning application for things which would normally be permitted development.
We purchased a property in Cornwall which was later included in a Conservation Area. I guess we were fortunate in that we had renovated before the CA status took effect. We noticed over a period of time that house prices in the area increased dramatically in the CA area. It also can work in your favour. For example, our next door neighbour tried to get planning for a new property adjacent to our boundary and I've no doubt he would have obtained it if it wasn't for the CA status.

So don't be completely put off by the CA status just investigate what restrictions the local council place on the area.