To buy or not to buy - grade 2 listed house

[RosePippi]

We are on the verge of buying a 17th century grade 2 listed house. We have fallen in love with it so wouldn’t want to change anything about it.

However, I am completely terrified by the cost of insurance/upkeep/repairs.

Anyone here living or lived in a grade 2 listed house able to tell me if I’m being overly pessimistic and upkeep/ repair costs actually is not that much more than a non listed house or am I am wise to be terrified and therefore stay completely away?

I think it varies from house to house and area to area what they will accept and as a general rule they are stricter on anything publicly viewable, anything historic is pretty much untouchable rightly. A rough guide look at similar properties if there are any but a 17 century house I would expect them to be very strict and wouldn't assume you could get changes through other than if it has a modern extension things like changing a modern bathroom and kitchen are fine. Here they can be incredibly strict maybe due to age of houses and personally I would not buy a listed house if you want to make changes to it as there's a significant chance of refusal. You need to love and be able to live in the house as it is.

Be wary as well of firms telling you they have 100% planning approval and asking for deposits. We considered paying for one then I looked up all the rules myself (500 pages of documents) and realised there was zero chance they would get through building regs or tree rules. Sometimes its odd what people get through and what doesn't get through. Some all black sheds with metal roofs are through which look really ugly but a TV aerial isn't. Don't assume though that everything other people have has approval, you can check online for anything done recently. It can be slow as well - 8 months to get approval to repair our chimney with original materials and lime plaster.

Hi there OP. I'd make two points:

First if the house is in good repair currently and you don't have plans for extensions or major works then I'd go ahead. If you would like to make major changes or it's in a state of disrepair I'd be more cautious.

Second, be aware that when you own a listed property there is a whole industry of people out there who try to take your money by saying you need specialist advice and materials etc. Sometimes that's true (new windows etc) but for routine work it generally isn't.

Don't bend over backwards to be ultra compliant either. So long as what you do is "reasonable" and in keeping with the property most of the time there is no reason for maintenance and repair to be any different than would be the case for a similar non listed property.

A friend had a beautiful G2 house, it had a horrendous 70s wooden window in the kitchen that was rotten. The work she had to go through to get that replaced was bonkers.