Listed Buildings. Do You Know What You’re Letting Yourself in For?

As a RICS accredited Charter Surveyor with more than 40 years of property experience, Dawson & Associates fully understand the Listed Building in all of its complexity. In general, they do provide a little more character than our modern box-like property designs. Generally, they also provide a greater level space. But not only is the listed building often much older and therefore in need of more maintenance, but there are certain Listed Building statutory obligations that you may not be immediately aware of.

http://www.dawsonsurveyors.com/listedQuote.html

Before purchasing a Listed or Period Building, please do seek professional advice to be sure that you are absolutely aware of all of your environmental and build responsibilities – especially if located in a conservation area!

In addition, the banks may not be encouraging when you explain your out-of-the-box preference by not choosing the standard purpose-built box-building, that they tend to prefer. The corporate high street banks perceive brave forayers who venture into the unconventional property market of listed or period buildings as a limited breed and therefore resale potentials are lower – ergo the security of the finance loan is endangered.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that you won’t get a mortgage. It may just be a little trickier and, again, a thorough property survey will help to justify the purchase choice and security.

One more extra consideration for a Listed or Period building, may be the difficulty of insuring it. Here your insurer will almost certainly insist that a professional has surveyed the property – and this is for your own protection as well as theirs.

For example, Michael McGinty at Swinton Specialist Home recently said in an interview with the Telegraph, "If you're buying a thatched cottage, [the bank] may want to know when the thatch was last checked, and what measures you have taken to prevent fire. Some insurers may cover listed properties, but the older it is, the narrower your choice."

Basically, Dawson & Associates advises “GET ADVICE” before you set your heart on a listed or period property purchase. We can easily identify a dream property – just as easy as we can spot a property that will soon become a nightmare. If there’s extra work that is required to get the building safe/ habitable/ insurable, we can help you to put a price on it and we can recommend a reliable team of workers who can get the job done with minimal stress.

… please do contact us for more information. Our initial consultation is free. http://www.dawsonsurveyors.com/listedQuote.html