Experiences with grade 2 property

[autunno]

I’m evaluating buying a grade 2 house in Surrey (Waverley district), it’s going for about 1.3M and it’s absolutely gorgeous (garden and outside), but it’s pretty outdated inside. It would certainly go for much more if it was not listed.

I’m afraid however of being hostage to the council decision on what can and can’t be done. Can people share their experiences on renovating listed buildings?

Things we planned to do:

1. Changing the flooring (carpet > wooden floor)
2. Renovate the kitchen / utility / bathrooms (tiles, cabinets)
3. Erecting a new bathroom (ensuite within a big room)
4. Potentially moving a wall if not load bearing / structural.
5. Potentially an outbuilding in the backyard (which I would happily do matching the style of the property).

The house already has some extension done to it (single storey room and a double garage), but it has been done many many years ago, so it does not even come up on the council website, but at least it shows a track record of approval.

We’ve got one, and based only on my experience I’d say:

1. flooring - won’t be a problem. The carpet won’t be listed and as long as you aren’t ripping up something old you’re fine. You shouldn’t need any permission for this.
2. Renovate the kitchen / utility / bathrooms - no problem here, again unless it’s mentioned in the listing or particularly historic
3. Erecting a new bathroom (ensuite within a big room) - could be an issue / will need permission. Depending on the room and lay out. Could you put a bathroom in elsewhere?
4. Potentially moving a wall if not load bearing / structural. - could again be an issue depending on where and why, and will need permission.
5. Potentially an outbuilding in the backyard - depends on your property. - In our experience planners preferred something new rather than fake old. Depends also on if the outbuilding is in the vicinity of another listed building and the impact it would have on your building and any of those others.

Essentially you need to know the details of your listing inside out. Anything that’s a replacement of something more modern doesn’t need permission: kitchens, bathrooms, decorative. Anything structural that materially alters the property will need permissions: new rooms, change of lay out or walls, banisters, windows (we have found them very very picky on windows)

It isn’t that much bother tbh, and the beauty and history of the property more than compensate.

Thank you Noelle! I guess I need to dig into the listing to familiarize myself to figure out if there’s anything unreasonable in the listing that will prove an issue.