Thoughts on listed properties?

[beachgirl2]

Hi everyone,

Was wondering if anyone had bought a Grade II listed property and what your experience of this was like?

Aware that there are a lot of extra hoops to jump through - was it all worth it?

I suppose what I'm really asking is - is there anything you wish you'd known and would you do the same again?

Only buy one if you have a reasonable knowledge of older buildings or are willing to put a lot of work into learning.

Avoid anything which has been done up by a developer as all the dodgy bits will just have been hidden.

Look at things like the pointing on the outside if the building and the paintworkon the windows and how well they have be maintained. If the house has been looked after, it will expensive to maintain but less likely to be a money pit.

Get a survey by a surveyor who specialises in listed buildings.

Almost everything costs more to do and many things will require permission. We have recently renovated a grade 2 listed Tudor farmhouse and yes, there were significant hoops to jump through, lots of times when the listing requirements went against building regs which required careful thought, and it cost a bomb. But well worth it if you love older houses and take pleasure in doing the work well.

We're currently buying and did look at a few listed properties. Tbh, we were scared off by the regulations surrounding them. We spoke to a few family friends (who have all had their properties 20+ years), they all said they wouldn't buy listed again and that things have gotten much stricter and more beurocratic since they bought.

One such friend is also selling their listed house and the paperwork from solicitors is obscenely complicated. And so expensive wrt indemnity insurances etc.

So our position was that unless it was the most perfect house we'd ever seen, we wouldn't buy listed.

My 1829 cottage isn't listed but is in a conservation area. That's fussy enough!

But, I love mine. Yes, it's a pain, costs a fortune, always something wrong, probably unmortgagable. My previous house was built in 1913 and always needed maintenance. I found that harder to look after because it had very high ceilings and was a challenge to keep warm.

This cottage is easy to keep toasty and, as a bonus, when my eldest DS comes to visit, at 6ft 4 he dusts all of my ceilings with his hair! He has to duck everywhere.

Thanks everyone for your comments, I really appreciate it. I think it's fair to say I'm a naturally cautious person so the idea of taking on a listed property does feel risky - I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. Interesting to hear your friends have noticed the bureaucracy associated with ownership becoming worse @MaJoady

I've been trying to do as much research as possible as I don't have any experience of dealing with historic buildings but have always loved period properties. @DinoLil so lovely to hear how happy you are in yours!

We looked at buying a listed building that was also in a conservation area, but we would’ve had to make some extensions and modifications to be able to fit us all in

Obviously, the planning authority sicked all over our pre-application - How dare we try to make anything more than a two room hovel?

It was a depressing waste of time, but it has helped narrow our search as we now won’t consider any listed building or anything in a conservation area - Just not worth the hassle

We did have a grade 2 house previously and never again for us. You need permission for nearly anything even if it’s in good order. If it does need maintenance then that’s a whole load of hoops to jump through too. Also our house insurance was expensive as the rebuild cost if it partially burnt down/flooded etc is very high. Just a huge pain to be honest and not for us again.