Buying a property with a Fischer Future Heat Aquaefficient system installed

FreeBear

If you go ahead and purchase this grade 2 property, do check very carefully as to what work has been done in the past. For anything beyond simple repairs, there needs to be documentary evidence that any work has been cleared by the local Conservation officer. If it hasn't, could be required to undo any changes at your expense. And don't forget. listed building status covers not just the house, but the grounds (including boundary walls) as well.

Ripping out a fitted kitchen wouldn't normally require listed building consent, but taking it back to bare brick (or stone) would. That is going to come at a cost which will eat in to your budget. LBC would also be needed if you want to install things like solar panels and heat pumps (although there is growing pressure to ease the requirement for heat pumps).

MEM62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82110390#Comment_82110390

The reason I say that is that any maintenance is going to be complex, may requires permissions, and also require specialist skill sets / trades. All of that makes it very expensive. These places are for deep wallets only.

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82113980#Comment_82113980

These places are for deep wallets only.

And not just money - with a listed building you have to have a 'personality' which accepts that although you own the building, what you can do with it is very much constrained by the views of the council's listed building / heritage officer.

People with a 'king of the castle'-type personality (which many of us are when it comes to our home) are likely to find themselves in an abrasive relationship with the LBO/HO if they (the owner) isn't willing to accept that even minor changes are not necessarily something that you can do without permission.

Borrowing FreeBear's example, if the LBO/HO decides that fitted kitchen is part of the building's story then you can't just rip it out and replace it with the kitchen you've always wanted. You might be able to negotiate some changes, but if the LBO/HO digs their heels in then unless you've got the depth of pockets to go down the appeal route you just have to suck it up.

The two biggest mistakes made by people buying a listed building are thinking the listing only applies to the external appearance, and that listing is about 'restoring' a building back to the way it was when first built, or someone's idea of a look which is 'in keeping'.

In reality listing is about the story - warts and all.

EssexHebridean

We came close to buying a Grade 2 listed place a few years ago - with the benefit of hindsight now I'm seriously glad we didn't. The grapevine informed us that the new owners were hit with a £40k bill for replacing windows (not ALL the windows, bear in mind!) not long after they moved in, and as lovely as the place was, it absolutely would have been a money pit. I wouldn't have described us as "working to a small budget" - funds aren't limitless but we have resources - but that one would I suspect have sucked through those resources faster than we would have been comfortable with. the heating aspect was another reason why we were glad it didn't happen - with the way costs have escalated and stayed high, we'd have been paying at least three times what we are now for energy had we bought that place I suspect, and very possibly more.