Grade II listed - can I put a cat flap in the door?

[blanchedevereaux]

We are looking at putting an offer on a house that is Grade II listed. Does anyone know if I can put a cat flap in the back door?

If not, can I put one in a window instead?

Depends what part of the house is listed. We have a narrow range of doors/windows which are allowed as ours weren't original bur next doors front door itself was on the listing.

You can google the postcode/ listing to see specifics,

Or just phone thx planning office. Ours is really helpful.

Whole house (including extension added in 2000) is listed.

Door is currently timber so I was just going to take a saw to it if allowed. I will check with planning department if we go ahead but wondered if anyone had any experience.

Our listing lists specific things. Our railings aren't allowed to be touched for example but we can replace the front door as long as it's the correct style.

Our listing is for the whole house but the planning officer has been flexible about a few things. The front of the house is off limits, but he would maybe be okay with the back of the house. If the door isn't an original one, again, he would probably be okay with it. It really depends on the particular house and the particular planning officer. Ours was happy to come visit the house with us before we put in an offer so we could get an idea of what would and wouldn't be allowed.

is the door old? my parents put catflaps in two grade 2 properties but the first one was an extension from the old bit and the second (grade 2* so stricter) was a replaced door.

if you are talking about an old door there may be a problem I would think.

We had a chat about this exact problem with our conservation officer. One of the doors was specifically mentioned in the listing, so that wasn't an option. The other door was not mentioned and we could in theory have put a flap in, although the officer wouldn't have liked it. However, it was a fairly old door, and solid as anything - when we came to look at it properly, we realised we'd stand no chance of getting a cat flap into it, plus we would then have permanently ruined a door.

We put the cat flap into a small pane of glass in a French window, and the listings officer was very happy with that, as is the cat!

Dont get the planning involved, always keep them at a distance! If they dont visit then they wont know will they!!!!!

My experience is that these people dont live in the real world - straight out of uni, never done their own restoration, so out of it. Some are absolute nutters, very strange personalities (some must be great).

We do as much as possible without their knowledge. Never invite them up for a chat either.

I'd have to disagree with you, Bacon. The conservation officers I know are certainly not straight of Uni, and know a great deal about restoration of historic buildings.

I certainly would strongly advocate not breaking the law on listed buildings. If you look back through the forums here, you'll see a long thread about the person who was planning to buy a listed house and then who had to drop out when they discovered there had been no permission for any of the changes made. They were (I think) the second or third people to drop out of buying the house.

p.s. It sounds like you already realise this, OP, but just in case, do be aware that the inside of a listed building is listed, not just the outside. A lot of people misunderstand this and it leads to a lot of confusion, upset and unnecessary expense.

That does depend on the listing. We walked planning through our house & could do what we wanted inside as nothing was listed( majorly 70s inside) . Our listing spectacularly vague as are many on our st. Next doors says 'believed to have nice panelling'

Thanks for your comments.

There is an interior wall we would like to remove, in the 2000 extension.

I would try and have a chat with the planning dept before putting in an offer and discuss what is and isn't possible. Just need to sell ours first.