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Property/DIY

Listed property

14 replies

66redballons · 11/08/2020 08:39

Dream or nightmare ??

OP posts:
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myworkingtitle · 11/08/2020 08:40

Totally depends.

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JoJoSM2 · 11/08/2020 08:44

If it’s a heart decision than more likely a dream.
If it’s a head decision than more likely a nightmare.

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FlamedToACrisp · 11/08/2020 10:43

How much unwanted money have you got?

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SerenityNowwwww · 11/08/2020 10:44

Hmmmm - dad was a structural and civil engineer and did a fair amount of work on listed buildings. He said he wouldn’t touch one with a bargepole. Hassle and £££££.

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Talia99 · 11/08/2020 10:50

It depends on the financial situation - if you go in knowing a listed property can be a money pit and you have the cash (or are qualified to do a lot of the work yourselves), it’s a dream.

If you are stretched by the mortgage alone, it can be a nightmare.

The general rule of thumb for maintenance of a house is 10% - for a listed building it may well be far more.

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KoalasandRabbit · 11/08/2020 14:39

We have a grade II listed house in a conservation area - we love it but it does take longer to get approval for work and you have to keep within the rules, not too much of an issue for us as we loved it as is.

I much prefer it to the houses we've had before but the ones we've had before financially will probably turn out to be much better investments.

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Newfornow · 12/08/2020 00:30

Thank you everyone.
It’s a fixer upper, I could not afford it if it was finished. Oh really @SerenityNowwwwwserenity, so it’s probably a lot of hassle then.

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lastqueenofscotland · 12/08/2020 07:38

Fixer upper and listed? Unless you’re super experienced I wouldn’t. There will be a lot of hoops to jump through.

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Styledbyserpents · 12/08/2020 07:51

Nightmare. We have a 350 year old house, timber framed. It is not listed. Every single time any tradesman visits they balk and say its not listed is it?

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justdontatme · 12/08/2020 08:17

We have a Victorian semi that is grade II listed in a conservation area. The only difference I really see with my parents un listed Victorian semi is the planning restrictions but that’s fine as we love it as it is.

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KoalasandRabbit · 12/08/2020 08:57

Ours is nearly 500 years old, timber framed and thatched - we've just had tudor chimney rebuilt with neighbours and currently having back half of thatch redone. The builders / thatchers we've had out have loved it (one even made an offer to buy our neighbours one when I mentioned she was selling) and keen to work on it though you ideally need ones experienced with listed buildings and you need to know the rules yourself. The main issue is a lot of things need permission so you need to know the rules but we love it. It does require you to have time to look up rules, fill in forms, chase council and in general like for like is much easier to get permission for and sometimes the only thing you'll get permission for. Though we prefer it like that so all the houses round here look nice.

Taking on one that requires doing up I would be wary of unless it's liveable as is, permission can be slow - thatch and trees was around a month but chimney as was knock part-down and rebuild as someone had rebuilt it badly before was August to May. I would definitely get a full survey and read up on it. It also would be challenging if we went into another lockdown as last time the approved brick company closed for 3 months and you have to use exactly those bricks.

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AlwaysLatte · 12/08/2020 09:01

Ours is listed. It's a lovely house and our forever home now that we've added a major extension and got much more space. This took 4 years to build due to planning permission but we got there in the end. We also needed PP to replace the roof and windows and even to build a shed (so an extra £300+ just for the application for that!) But if it's the right house for you and you are not wanting to change it drastically then I'd go for it.

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Salome61 · 12/08/2020 22:21

After twenty years of throwing everything we had at ours, I'd say a nightmare. You do need bottomless pockets.

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Thunderbolted · 12/08/2020 22:24

Ours is listed and we love it but maintenance is expensive. I'd estimate it's twice as expensive as a normal house its size to maintain.

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