Considering a Grade II listed property - anyone else got one?

[LadyHalesBroach]

Found a house in a pretty village location, commutable to London.

The house is a chocolate box dream. Thatched roof, wonky bits, very low ceilings and door (ok for me and DP as we’re both only 5’4 but we only just clear it!).

The only thing I’m worried about is what practicality issues I’m not seeing by being blinded by the oodles of character. I’ve always wanted a house with charm but I never quite thought ‘Tudor cottage’.

Thanks in advance!

We live in a grade 2 listed building. You can’t do anything to the outside without getting permission - eg change the windows or front door. You also might need permission to change things inside.

What about even just painting the front door?
Thank you!

You can do some maintenance painting without permission but you can't change the colour for example. So if the door is black and you want to repaint it black that is ok but you can't paint it purple without permission.

I own a flat in a listed building and a house in a 'locally listed' terrace. I can't change anything structural inside my flat without permission. It has obviously been converted from the original townhouses. In another flat within the building I was hoping to buy I wanted to move a wall back to where it was originally but found out that the previous owner had not got permission to move it in the first place so it became a nightmare of the seller needing permission before I took possession and then me asking permission for the changes I wanted to do.
The main thing other than not being allowed to change things is any repairs will most likely need to be done in the same materials and method. That can be costly.
Overall it's another layer of red tape. Only you can decide if it's worth it.

I’ve lived in a couple of grade 2 listed buildings (albeit they were rented so didn’t need to worry about the cost of repairs etc).

There’s pros and cons - they’ve been standing for donkey years and well built.

However both the ones I lived in were freezing in the winter - didn’t matter that I had the central heating on at 25 degrees I would always have a big jumper and woolly socks on.

Are you aware of the price for a thatched roof to be repaired/changed. Usually have to get a mortgage unless you’ve got deep pockets - something to consider depending on when the roof was last updated.

We moved into a Grade II listed property (an old mill house) last Autumn and we love it as it still has many original features. I’ve enjoyed looking up local historical parish and county records to find out about the former owners from when the house was built in the early 1840s.

What I strongly suggest is that you get a full structural survey (whether you need a mortgage or not).

Also we joined the Listed Property Owners Club which has lots of useful information, sends out magazines and best of all we have excellent property insurance via the LPOC. Our contents insurance is with our bank.

www.lpoc.co.uk

Good luck!

We've done up two listed properties: one was in half decent shape but needed a lot of mostly cosmetic work; the other was barely habitable and needed a massive overhaul from cellar to attic.

A full survey is a must. But once you get it, don't be scared stupid by patches of damp or evidence of old infestations of woodworm. Find a surveyor who knows about old houses and ask if they'd be happy to live in it. Cosmetic work is pretty cheap; structural work is bloody expensive. Woodworm treatment is very effective.

Insurance can be a nightmare if there is e.g. evidence of movement, but there are specialist insurers who are bit pricier than the standard ones, but do give you bloody excellent service. Happy to pm you the details of an excellent brokerage.

You can do quite a lot inside without permission, and we have changed the colour of our front door several times without ever getting permission (nobody I know ever does, I don't think you have to).

You can also do quite a bit to warm the place up:
wood stove rather than open fireplace. If you're not lighting fires in open fireplaces, close the flue down to just a trickle of air.
secondary glazing and extra insulation
draught excluder around the frames of exterior doors
thick curtains
and yes, extra socks, cosy slippers and warm jumpers.

Old houses are a bit of a pain in the arse to heat and maintain, but they must be worth it or we wouldn't be planning on going through the whole process a third time.

This is all really useful, thank you.

Here’s a photo of the property, I’m the first to admit I’m completely in love!

Nothing constructive to add but please post link, would love to see!

Adore old houses, I've just bought a 250 year old weavers cottage, so excited to move into it.

Is there a Facebook group for the village/area you could join for more local info and experiences?

@LadyHalesBroach absolutely stunning, right up my street!!

Good luck with it all

Having lived in one before, I wouldn't touch a listed building with a barge-pole any more. It's a massive pain in the arse!

The Croft, Haddenham
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-93181679.html

That's so cute! Can see why you've fallen for it..

I love old houses but I wouldn't buy a listed one.

My dad and his partner bought a beautiful grade 2 listed cottage in the country some years back. Honestly it was lovely, I was so jealous and I loved going to stay.

They lasted 10 years I think before the maintenance of it just got too much for them. Replacement of a few windows cost thousands, they had to be made in a specific kind of wood etc. Their neighbour was a joiner and made them at a significant discount and it was still costly. The list went on really. In the end they decided they needed to be in a town for when they got old and creaky and moved away. My dad tells me they were so relieved when they moved to their much newer place.

I have no useful advice, my house is 9 months old. But that little gem there is BEAUTIFUL!! I'd struggle to see past the character too ;) good luck to you both x

Thank you!!!!

I grew up in one and whilst it was lovely my parents spent an awful lot of time on maintenance. They love DIY so it was fine but if you don't you'll need deep pockets. You need to find a local surveyor who is experienced in period houses and you may need an ongoing relationship with them. You will also need a local builder who specialises in listed buildings. If you've got all that go for it!

We live in a grade 2 listed house its 600 years old and we have a very strict council. For example we are not allowed to paint our front door it had to be oak and be allowed to weather naturally ditto the shed! We cant have double glazing but we can have secondary glazing, to replace a rotten window with an identical window requires lists building consent but that's free to apply for. But contrary to what people think internally we can paint anything any colour and put any kind of floor down, install a new kitchen/bathroom without permission although we did have the original earth floor throughout and we had to apply for planning to put a cement one down and a wooden floor over the top. We have a very unique internal structure which architecturally and historically is very important its over 800 years old built for the house on the site before mine was built but its degrading and we have been told that we will eventually have to apply for planning permission to remove it and we will have to replace it but it will have to be with an exact copy; think cathedral type restoration. We dont have a surveyor or local builder who specialised in listed building but my DH works in the construction trade and amongst other things specialises in grade 1 listed buildings so we took it one knowing what we were doing and we have lots of contacts in the trade to get things done. But nothing is cheap windows in particular are very expensive we've now replaced 3, Im not aware of specifications of what they can be made of but maybe we are naturally using the right wood; oak (I think) because thats what my DH believes wooden windows should be made of, we are allowed to paint them any colour we like, obvioulsy we wouldn't get permission for UPVC but we wouldn't want them anyway. There is a lot of rubbish said about owning a listed building even the local surveyor who did the structural survey when we bought to talked crap (we live in a council with the highest number of listed buildings in the UK) so he should have known better; I think many see it as a money making business. I talked to our council planning dept they were really helpful told us exactly what we would need listed building consent for which was totally different from planning permission and not what many had told us. They really are the ones to speak too. The house is insured with NFU they maybe more expensive than others but are amazing.
I personally wouldn't live anywhere else we love our house.

That road looks like a nightmare!

@LadyHalesBroach. Lots of advice available from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and it is well worth the fee to join. The have an advice phone line.
Also, Historic Emgland has a lot of great advice on line.

Remember that a listed building is listed on the inside as well as the outside.

If you look at the local Council website that might help as well.

I would think about the thatch as well. It increases insurance costs and needs replacing every 20-30 years, this isn't cheap. It's worth looking at what exactly is listed, it might be only the front facade (unlikely looking at the picture) or it could be the whole inside and out, including the garden gate. Oh, and with thatch, I always think you can have a thatched roof or a woodburner, you can't have both. That's just my opinion though, others might be more daring.

It’s very cute - I think that once you have ticked the will this see again if we need to move, decide to hate it, can’t afford it then love matters more than anything. Value is with the heart.

Not see again - well again.

I grew up in a listed property.
Wasn’t really a problem, do what you want inside. My mother doesn’t seem to have much truck with the listings people and has bricked up two external doors. No one seems to care.

Ours isn't a pain to heat we have a fireplace and bog standard modern combi boiler central heating, our heating bill is on a par with friends who live in similar sized houses of all ages and types. It's also no draftier than any other house we've lived in in fact considerably less drafty than some we've lived in. Our walls are three foot thick, and secondary glazing seems to to do the trick, once it's warm it stays warm and its cool in the summer. Our ceilings are very low in places which is a pain especially if your tall, my husband wont use one of the bedrooms because the door way is only 5'7" high and in the night he kept forgetting and banging his head!
We have a very heavily beamed ceiling in three rooms and the beams are huge and its fascinating looking at them knowing how old they are and we often wonder who's lived and died here over the years.