Will listed property be spared from net zero policy?

[Applepie21]

We are in the process of buying a grade 2 listed mid 18th century cottage with solid brick wall. When we first started the buying process, all these noise about banning the wood burners, installing air/ground source heat pump, increasing epc, etc weren't so much in your face. Now we worry that if listed houses are not spared from these policy, there will be a lot of headache in the future as there is no way the house can be insulated in the same way as

a modern house can. The house has 3 wood burner, the enormous inglenook fireplace is a sight to behold and the house kinda loses its soul if the stoves cannot be used. As mentioned, the wall is single skin and the window is single glaze, I read from various sources that air/ground heat pump is no good whatsoever for a house that isn't able to keep heat in. We are nearing completion. Am I worrying too much?

I hope it will not be spared and that the (historic england?) board will produce recommendation & guidance how it could work for listed buildings.

It would go against everything everything Historic England stands for to insist that air source heat pumps etc should be put into listed buildings so you’re safe on that😆!!…it will be the same as it is for the energy performance certs - they’ll be exempt.

No one knows the answer

But I really hope so

I am worried even about mum's non listed house - I can't imagine the bills with alternative heating. There will, hopefully, be a lot of objection to these ideas.

Following because I’m also interested in this question.

We live in a similar property- I’m confident that listed buildings will be exempt to allow conservation of the historic building stock.
As you will know the EPC doesn’t apply to listed houses.

I suspect it will happen eventually but it will be put in the 'too difficult' pile for a very long time.

Im certain grade listed houses will be exempt because they NEED to be. Any houses over 100 years old probably need to be exempt. A lot of old houses are damp because people have been advised to put in double glazing, the wrong render etc which dont allow the hiuses to breathe as they were intended,

I think you should be concerned.

My experience of a Grade 2 listed 18C property was that Historic England and the Listing Officer will drag their heels and be very difficult with anything designed to improve thermal efficiency.

I was initially denied the Flue required to fit a Condensing Boiler in an interior Utility Room. Add refusals in relation to double glazing to massive Windows (despite the fact that some of the windows elsewhere on the property were already double glazed and that none of the windows were original) and the replacement of old cold stone tiles in a kitchen that were not original to the property.

Add the need to temporarily rehome Bats (which I totally empathised with) to fit loft insulation, and it all became too much, too difficult and too expensive.

I bough an older property with the primary requirement that it was not listed.

It's extremely likely they will be excluded, because listing is so specific.

I am hoping there's some kind of halfway house option for conservation areas too (most other things are vastly less restrictive but but we can't easily change our windows either!)

@Haroweller I totally sympathise. Did you eventually succeed in doing those ? I am mentally prepared that it will be a colder house and that the energy bill will be higher, what I really don't want is being forced to increase energy efficiency by some green government party and being refused to do so by historic England.

A house the wall is single skin and the window is single glaze may be by lovely and characterful but it's really not going to be comfortable. If you are happy living in thermals and outdoor clothes indoors, go for it.

I spent a part of my childhood bin such a house and now value the double glazing and good insulation so the house doesn't need much gas to be comfortable throughout the seasons.

@Applepie21

Yes I was eventually allowed to put the Condensing Boiler in, but only after a Sept / Oct / Nov without heat / hot water and an on site visit with the Listing Officer suggesting solutions such as me having the Boiler in my very elegant Drawing Room or Dining Room. I refused categorically and escalated.

I was not allowed to replace the Windows or the Kitchen tiles. I fitted very thickly lined curtains at the windows and put rugs down on the kitchen floor.

The Bats moved out, my lovely Builder raced in and insulated the loft the next day and the Bats moved back home.

My heating bills at that house would be astronomical now given the rise in fuel prices and although I adore historical / older properties I would never buy a listed house again.

Listed Building are only exempt from the regs in so far as any improvements that would affect the listing. It's not actually true that listed building are automatically exempt from EPCs etc, but it is widely believed to be so & therefore little to no enforcement. There's a page about it all on the Historic England website but I can't be arsed to link as I'm on my phone and it's a ballache, but easily Googleable.

I think (I'm in the industry) that the exemptions will still apply as most upcoming regs are for new builds and new conversions, but listed buildings will become increasingly difficult to let, sell or obtain mortgages on as minimum epc ratings rise and energy costs increase. Hopefully new technologies will save the day.

Haroweller, boiler in drawing room?! Sound like the listing officer don't always have common sense.
@AyeRobot may I know why it would be increasingly difficult to obtain mortgage on listed properties? The house I am buying does not provide me with an epc, so presumably this criteria would not affect the mortgage application?

Because lenders will increasingly tie mortgages to EPC ratings due to decreased saleability. Not immediately, but certainly as the gulf between New build & existing housing stock rises in terms of efficiencies. We're already seeing large institutional investors requiring performances above current building regs (though not sure how far that will go after the new Part L in June) so imagine that will trickle down to the existing stock mortgage market to protect their interests.

All speculation, of course 😁

Thing is even EPCs aren’t worth the paper they’re written on - a very large percentage are fundamentally wrong from start to finish as the assessors who do them are not surveyors and often guess the building materials & construction as they can’t (/don’t have the skills & experience) to do more than that…..it’s well known in the industry that their current format is completely inefficient and will need an overhaul. It’s just another red tape thing that costs money yet is worthless…. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be making buildings as energy efficient as possible…..it’s just as usual with this Country at the moment we’re spending huge amounts on worthless crap.