Chapter 5: Advise the buyer and coordinate the next step

Listed Property Risk for Conveyancers0% complete · about 57 min left

5. Advise the buyer and coordinate the next step

Page 1 of 3 · Explain what owning a listed building means

Project moment

The buyer asks what owning a listed building will mean once they have bought it.

Your task

Tell apart advice on owning a listed building, your legal report and technical advice on the building.

Use the Project Material on the right, then answer below. →Use the Project Material above, then answer below.

For this page

EMAIL FROM THE BUYER
“Thanks for explaining the listing. Once we’ve bought it, can we assume ordinary replacements and improvements will be straightforward? We’re thinking of a new kitchen, maybe new bathroom fittings, and possibly secondary glazing in the bedrooms. Nothing is designed yet.”

Earlier project material

Listed Property File Note

18 Market Square

Stage 5 · Advise the buyer and coordinate the next step

This stage’s entries appear here as you save each page. The record so far is below.

Earlier stages

Open — enquiries outstanding

To establish: When the extension and the kitchen opening were done (before or after 12 March 1974), and any approvals for them.
Advice and transaction implications: Neither the age of the work nor the change of owner means it is safe from listed building enforcement.
The dates are kept separate from any conclusion about whether the work was approved.
Possible enforcement, or a requirement to put works right, is separate from responsibility for the original work. No finding of an offence.
No guarantee of consent, cover, timing or the outcome of the purchase.
Indemnity policies often won’t cover a problem the council already knows about, and contacting the council about it can void cover. If a policy is being considered, it may be better not to raise the specifics with the council until that decision is made. That is never a reason to hide or misstate the facts. This is different from new work, where the council should be involved early.
Specialist heritage advice: Heritage adviser: possible options for resolving or keeping the works listed on the schedule, the evidence needed and the uncertainties.
Action owner, timing and outcome: Conveyancer to record, against the 1974 listing date, two dates for each row of the schedule of works (when the work was done and the date of any approval), showing each as unknown until there is evidence.
Conveyancer to decide whether to write to the buyer explaining the difference between the original offence and their possible exposure as owner, and record the decision.
Conveyancer to record whether specialist legal advice on enforcement is needed and, if it is, obtain it before exchange.
Before anyone contacts the council, conveyancer to get the indemnity policy terms from the insurer or broker and check whether contact would affect cover.

Your initial view

What is the most useful response?

Yes, for ordinary work: listed building consent is mainly needed for extensions and major alterations, not routine replacements.Explain that future work needs checking first, and suggest the buyer gets heritage advice on what owning a listed building means.No: tell the buyer to assume almost any change will need consent and months of approvals, and to budget for that.Suggest the buyer relies on their surveyor to tell them which future works will need consent.

← Back

5. Advise the buyer and coordinate the next step, page 1 of 3: Explain what owning a listed building means

1Project moment

Tell apart advice on owning a listed building, your legal report and technical advice on the building.

3Your initial view

Project moment

Your initial view