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GregTurner
Posts: 5 Forumite
Hello,
We're in the process of purchasing a grade II listed property and would appreciate some advice.
We have concerns that unauthorised alterations may have been carried out but it's not entirely straight forward...
The building was first listed in the 60's and significant alterations were carried out in the 80's. I can't see any record of these alterations on the council planning website but a conservation officer visited the property in the mid 80's and updated the listing entry to include the new external features and did not enforce any changes.
A couple of questions:
1) If unauthorised alterations were made in the 80s, does the CO visit and revised listing effectively create a clean slate?
2) do the council planning websites usually contain absolutely everything that has been submitted? I might be worrying about nothing if the various consents were granted but not uploaded (long shot, I know)
Thanks as always!
We're in the process of purchasing a grade II listed property and would appreciate some advice.
We have concerns that unauthorised alterations may have been carried out but it's not entirely straight forward...
The building was first listed in the 60's and significant alterations were carried out in the 80's. I can't see any record of these alterations on the council planning website but a conservation officer visited the property in the mid 80's and updated the listing entry to include the new external features and did not enforce any changes.
A couple of questions:
1) If unauthorised alterations were made in the 80s, does the CO visit and revised listing effectively create a clean slate?
2) do the council planning websites usually contain absolutely everything that has been submitted? I might be worrying about nothing if the various consents were granted but not uploaded (long shot, I know)
Thanks as always!
0
Comments
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Contact the conservation officer and ask him. They are normally pretty helpful. Would think it highly unlikely that they would enforce something done 30 years ago.what are the actual alterations?
Also I would think that the online application search might only go back to the 90s unless they have gone through and scanned all historic applications?0 -
They're not going to enforce anything 30+ years after alterations have taken place (especially if they spotted them at the time).
If the current configuration matches the current listing, I'm not even sure there's anything for them to enforce.
Different councils vary in how far back online searches go, you should be able to figure it out from other properties.0 -
Thanks for your advice.
We're asking our solicitor if the sellers would agree to a visit from the CO. They seemed OK about the idea when we asked them in person during a viewing so fingers crossed.
The alterations are knocking through to another building to create a single dwelling (this is referenced in the revised listing as 'links to' and the other building said to be of no interest on the listing), a few double glazed windows, a front porch (again referenced in the revised listing) and an extension which is about 50 years old and indistinguishable from the main property but not explicitly referenced in the revised listing. Bit of a minefield!
So although the two main alterations are referenced in the revised listing entry I can't find any corresponding approvals for LBC on the councils planning website. The double glazing might be an issue although it is very subtle but in any case I'd rather we were 100% above board.0 -
I should add that the extension would have been in situ before the original listing so I guess there's nothing to worry about with this one at least.0
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Sounds fine to me. I wouldnt be too concerned personally. Just contact the CO for piece of mind.0
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We live in a Grade II in a conservation area which is in turn in a World Heritage Site (so triple whammy
) When we purchased, I was concerned about a dormer window which had been installed since the building was listed. Our solicitor advised we took out an indemnity insurance (small charge) against the possibility of any future comeback. Might be worth finding out more through your solicitor? 0 -
How does an indemnity policy work on a listed building? Unauthorised alterations are a criminal offence, does the policy include a "get out of jail free card"?0
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How does an indemnity policy work on a listed building? Unauthorised alterations are a criminal offence, does the policy include a "get out of jail free card"?
Don't think it's an offence merely to be the owner of a building with previous unauthorised alterations? In any event more likely to be an enforcement notice first - so insurance would cover cost of complying (or challenging) it.
PS the query is over a year old, not sure why the previous poster resurrected it.0 -
Don't think it's an offence merely to be the owner of a building with previous unauthorised alterations? In any event more likely to be an enforcement notice first - so insurance would cover cost of complying (or challenging) it.
PS the query is over a year old, not sure why the previous poster resurrected it.
Good point. It just made me chuckle that you could potentially buy a criminal indemnity policy. I quite fancied a bit of armed robbery to supplement my income.0 -
There is also a downside to Indemnity policies. They usually have a clause which means it will not pay out if you in anyway alert the listed building/conservation dept to changes. Some companies view asking the planners to visit to discuss works that you undertake as 'alerting' them to any previous changes that they may note during their visit.0
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