Those of you with listed homes...

Llee94

Llee94

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Me and my partner are hopefully going to look at a house this weekend. I have already fallen in love with it but he has a few reservations. It is a little detached thatched cottage with just over 2 acres of land and some outbuildings that were used as stables many years ago but it is Grade 2 listed.
It does need some work to bring it up to standard but would be perfectly liveable.
Just want to know what restrictions we would have with it being a listed home.
What can we do improvement wise? It would need a new kitchen and bathroom and just general decorating everywhere else. Not sure about the state of the plumbing and wiring either so that would have to be looked at. It does have a store room which I was hoping we could put a downstairs shower room in. Would we need permission to do this?
Also does the listing effect the land and out buildings or just the house itself? The 'stables' don't look overly old but they look as if they would need knocking down and re-building.
Have you ever applied for planning permission for an arena? Was it harder to get because the house was listed?
I know it all depends on the council but just some general help would be nice before we go and see it in person.
 
Grade two listed building occupier here :) The inside is fine to do pretty much as you please. You will need to check out what is listed and when the house was listed. Our horrid two storey extension (which houses the kitchen and one bedroom) was built in the 1970's, the rest of the house was built in the 1860's, was built before the house was listed, and so was listed with the rest of it. Our outbuildings were not listed, but our neighbours have a small outbuilding that used to be the outside lavatories and theirs are listed and they cannot change them without consulting Natural England. We are also in a conservation area and the chances of getting PP for an arena are slim to none existant, we are also in an area of Outstanding Landscape Amenety Value. You will not be able to change anything of the outside of the listed buildings without planning permission, so new windows etc need PP.
 
Grade 2 usually means you can do quite a lot inside, especially if it does not come up to modern living standards (which includes heating, bathrooms etc). This is for my council and not yours, but it is a useful guide:

http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/service...ding/conservation-and-design/listed-buildings

You can read the listing description of all listed buildings here:

http://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/

The listing applies to the house but does affect the whole plot in that you may not be able to (for example) build something close to it, and might have to consider the style etc when building anywhere on the whole plot.

Being listed doesn't mean you can't extend it or make changes. We recently built a large extension (and there was another from the 90s) and had to make slight revisions to the plans to please the planning people, but they let us do it as well as completely redoing the heating, bathrooms and kitchen.
 
My friends property is grade 2 listed they bought it in a fairly derelict state, things like updating the kitchens, bathrooms and decorating will be no problem as long as you are not moving walls, doors or changing the structure in anyway, not sure about putting in a shower room but guess you would need consent as you will probably have to change the windows and doors, even putting in frosted glass will need permission.
The outbuildings may well be included in the listing, if they are then you will need consent to do anything with them, it depends on the council as to how helpful they are, my friends built new wooden boxes, after a bit of a fight, they converted the useless old outbuildings into a studio flat at a later date, they can be exceptionally picky over minor details yet let other things through that would surprise you.
The permission for arenas again it is amazing what they do and don't allow, people local to me had their lovely walled garden turned into an area which I am surprised was allowed but it was out of sight so no neighbours could object, something that needs to be thought about as being overlooked can mean objections whether it is listed or not.
 
Thanks all!
It is a stone cottage just over the border in Somerset (driveway is the Somerset side of the border, house is on the Devon side). It has no neighbours as it is surrounded by woodland but is in an area of outstanding natural beauty so maybe an arena might be out of the question but at least the fields look flat so I could always just school on the grass when weather allows.
I am very excited to go and see it but I need to make sure I know about the listed side of things before I really fall for it.
 
One other thing - it's worth checking previous planning applications on the council website to see if the current or former owners have applied for permission before, and if it was granted. Likewise you could check the local area for similar houses with applications, and see if they were allowed. Reading through past applications gives you a good idea of what your particular council tends to allow.
 
We've got a Grade 2 listed Devonshire longhouse (cob).

The listing includes the "linhay" and also a barn which is in our immediate area.

Advice would be to check EXACTLY what is included in the listing. Our linhay bit is listed, as well as the house, simply because the roof joists in it are in a particular style and pattern. When we asked for PP to renew the roof tiles and put on something else, the Planning Officers said - surprisingly - OK so you can put whatever roof you like, because its actually the woodwork, i.e. joists underneath, which are listed! and NOT what is actually covering the roof! So this is why I advise you to ask questions as to exactly WHAT is under the listed status.

If you are considering anything like replacing the windows for double glazing, bear in mind that this will very likely need PP. We are also in an AONB/Conservation area here as well, which makes things a little challenging! Don't ever be tempted to do something without asking permission first, as you may depend that the local neighbourhood Stasi (there's always one) will be only too delighted to report you to the Council.

Best piece of advice is to, before buying, check out exactly what is included in the Listed status.

After buying: BEFORE you do ANYTHING, consult with your local planning office and listed buildings officer at the very earliest stage, even before you consult an architect/submit any plans. If you ask them, they will usually be only too pleased to come out and look at what you want to do, and will give advice on what you can and cannot do. Don't waste money getting any plans & drawings done up - get the planning/listed buildings officer out first to discuss, THEN you need to find an architect and builder who can work with the planning dept. We used a young architect who had submitted a lot of other PP's for listed buildings in the area, and therefore had a good working relationship with the planners; and then used a builder who got along OK with the architect!!! Important for everyone to get along when you're dealing with a listed building.
 
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I think it depends on the conservation officer...no two have the same ideas.

Our Farmhouse is G2 and 2nd oldest dwelling in the county. As such anything in the area... unajoined barn... comes under the grade 2 curtlidge.

Internal changes all have had to have agreement. No changing of layout, ripping out the sash windows and instead putting in metal windows and mullions (there idea grrrr).

The front door can only be bolted from inside and snow blows under it... this con't be replaced. We had to battle to get a c1900's dresser removed out of the kitchen!

You can only use paint and colours they decide on inside and out.

Basically you have to have permision to sneeze and depending on how busy your conservation department is depends how quickly you get it. We are at 1st stage planning for a barn conversion on the farm. It has taken over a year to get to this stage and they have just extended.
 
Whenever planning permission is required it involves both the Planning Officer (Planning Department and the Conservation Officer.
Also any other buildings within the curtilage of the house will also require consent/approval from both of them.
 
Grade listed and conservation area.....never again, unless it's already got everything we need. The most restrictive aspect we've found has not so much been with the listed building (although that has been a pain), but with the Article 4 on the conservation area, in which our council have taken away every single normal permitted development rights. We have a letter in our legal pack to the previous owners from the conservation officer telling them not to cut the grass too short as it's not supposed to look like a "lawn" !!
 
Good luck with the viewing .
We viewed a house once with listed wallpaper in the drawing room I could not have stood the stress between the dogs cats and us chucking red wine around we would have ended up in court .
It really but me off .
 
Planning officers don't need neighbourhood stasi. They get their colleagues to send in a report. Our council decided it wanted to check out illegal conversions of stables, and the planning permission they'd given us seemed ideal. L shaped and back to the road, out of view etc. Chap duly came round and found 3 horses duly occupying 3 stables, so admitted it had nothing to do with either of our neighbours or indeed anybody else.
 
we have a g2 house, and all the buildings are included in the 'curtilage', including a hideous asbestos barn! Trying to do anything involves both listed building and planning, and frankly they make Attila the Hun seem quite reasonable.
Give a man (and woman) a clipboard and that's where their power lies, it's like having a light sabre!
I'm sure some of them are very nice people in their other lives, but I have to be locked in the attic when they come round for fear of what I might do or say.
(That's the attic that's dark because although no one would ever see it or object to it we're not allowed to put a velux in it)
 
We have just had the 'Bat Man' round to look at the barn conversion, he said there was evidence of bats because he found moth wings! The fact that there is no roof, didn't seem to matter and they have refused to give there approval until 3 other surveys are undertaken at a suitable time of year! Obviously we pick up the cost of surveys!

It's not like there isn't anywhere else for the bats to go... we have loads of disused barns that they have refused planning on and have said that they would rather see them fall down than be converted into something useful!
 
OP, check out how much the insurance is likely to be if it has a thatched roof. Also the cost of re-roofing if it is likely to need it. Thatch, although pretty = very expensive.
 
Shoei said:
We have just had the 'Bat Man' round to look at the barn conversion, he said there was evidence of bats because he found moth wings! The fact that there is no roof, didn't seem to matter and they have refused to give there approval until 3 other surveys are undertaken at a suitable time of year! Obviously we pick up the cost of surveys!

It's not like there isn't anywhere else for the bats to go... we have loads of disused barns that they have refused planning on and have said that they would rather see them fall down than be converted into something useful!
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Feelin' your pain...... we had to have an "Environmental Survey" before we were given permission to re-roof our "listed" barn; blokey duly arrived in posh 4X4 with complicated listening devices at dusk to see if he could hear any bats, and he duly found some bat poo (or so he reckoned), so after being on the place less than 30 mins he took himself off to compile his report. The guy was local, less than 2 miles away from us, total bill for his "services" came to £500 for 30 mins easy work just down the road. We had to have the damn survey done to get the planning permission, it was a requirement as we had to show that we had considered "minimising any adverse environmental impact".

Total money for old rope. Think am gonna set myself up as an "Environmental Consultant" if that's how easy it is to earn five hundred sodding quid in just half an hour. FFS.
 
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