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Listed building - added complications when buying?
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Indeed there are.
Good practice exists. As does appallingly bad. Neither one invalidates the other.
The message to OP is know the rules as they may apply to what is, or is not, in your specific listing. Check actual state against recorded state. Ongoing be careful. Keep records for what may become bureaucracy war.
Expect nonsense. And you may get a happy surprise of positive collaborative attention and competence.
Think hard before buying a listed building. It has to be a labour of love especially if you want to make habitability changes for it to work for you. This may be a path to disappointment and a bit of a saga. So be very sure.
If nobody let heart rule head on this we would lose these buildings and a lot of heritage features.
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@ThisIsWeird - I can assure you we did do full due diligence (especially as I was formerly an Estate Agent).1
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Lots of long comments so I didn’t want to directly quote, but thanks again to all for the continued insight.I’m aware of the current annual service charge and had also asked if there had been a recent jump at all or just rises in line with inflation. The response was that apart from one year following a particularly bad storm when the buildings insurance went up, the rises have been in line with inflation. There are some regular contractors employed to maintain the gardens, window clean, carry out minor repairs to communal areas, external areas, etc. It seems they’ve been doing this for several years, so everything seems well organised and ticks over nicely.I have a leasehold rental property that is managed by a company that often double their six monthly service charge with just a couple of weeks notice before they send the bills out. They seem to hire firms that are owned by the same umbrella company to do things like window washing so they aren’t getting the most competitive quote and I often here from the tenants that repair work and maintenance is often shoddy or not done at all. I think one of the lifts has been out of action for over a year! So it’s reassuring that this G1 place is managed by the owners of each flat so they’re all in control and vote on any changes.Lots of large external work has been done in recent years such as the roof and windows and doors repaired and repainted. Which suggests that unless something unexpected comes up, the big stuff has had recent attention. Of the service charge a significant portion of it contributes to the contingency fund which, from experience, would appear to explain why there haven’t been any huge jumps in annual costs (apart from the aforementioned exception). It seems they keep enough money in the contingency fund to ensure any unexpected work, or indeed periodic large jobs like the roof, can be dealt with without requiring a huge jump in the annual service charge. The fund builds, a big job gets done, part of the fund is used, and then it builds again until the next major job needs attention.The agent has said that I’ll be able to examine past AGM meeting minutes, accounts, etc. Many of the residents have been there for a long time, some since the division into flats in the 1980s, which I think is positive. It also appears from some online research that in the past the residents have offered occasional tours over a summer weekend, for example, in order to make some money to add to the pot. Some fields linked to the property are let out to a farmer so produce an income too.I understand the bureaucracy that can sometimes come along with a simple request to eg change doors on modern kitchen cabinets or something else seemingly mundane. My uncle had a building firm before he retired that specialised in restoration and conserving listed buildings so I know of a few examples of headaches he had to deal with from city dwelling council workers who didn’t have a grasp of the nature of some rural or unique buildings and what needed to be done to ensure damp issues didn’t get worse and destroy the fabric of the building, for example.Oh, and yes, it is a really beautiful building. It looks like something out of a period drama or the sort of thing that often ends up as a National Trust property.1
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It sounds as tho' you have a good handle on this, PJS, and it also sounds like a dream opportunityI'd just finish with an obvious, 'make sure you have a personal reserve fund that you can call on if needed'. These sorts of properties are usually populated by folk for whom it's relatively financially 'easy'. If you are in the 'We should be able to manage...' camp, then be cautious.
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We looked at buying a G2 listed property. We were gutted when we lost out on it, but less so when we subsequently heard along the line that the people who had been successful had immediately on moving in been hit with a £30k bill for the "straightforward" replacement of a couple of windows that turned out to also need large amounts of timber replacement done...none of which would have been visible to the surveyor. Ouchy. It's a gorgeous building, and I still hanker after some aspects of it, BUT it would also have been a complete money pit and with hindsight I'm relieved we missed out! another property in the same location has been on and off the market repeatedly in the past few years, and although sales have been agreed a few times, they've all fallen through. It's back on again now - we will be watching it with interest.
There should be a sales pack provided that includes the past few years accounts etc and details of the major works that have been done - I've examine those with the finest of fine tooth combs, in additional to your solicitor looking through them - the solicitor will only be looking with a view to legalities, you need to closely examine them with an affordability view.
If you go ahead and buy, then "we can't afford that" is not going to be an answer if big bills hit. Remember that even internal works can carry extra costs - not only because everything needs permission, but also because you need specialist contractors, materials etc. (The one we looked at was lime-plastered throughout, as an example)🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her0
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