Home Property A Guide to Listed Buildings

A Guide to Listed Buildings

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Follow these 10 top tips about listed buildings.

1) Know What Makes Your Building Special: Just because you live in a conservation area doesn’t mean that every single thing has to remain the same. Conservation areas have specific protections intended to manage change in ways that both conserves and enhances the significance and character of an area. This is something important to remember if you’re going to make any changes to a property.

2) Consider Alterations Carefully: Good design is always essential. Much of a conservation area’s character comes from an accumulated effect from lots of small details. When you plan changes, think about how they might impact a conservation area’s wider character and aesthetic. Listed building surveys from Heritage Consulting will help you to make the right decisions regarding any alterations.

3) Familiarize Yourself With Your Area’s Character: It isn’t just buildings that contribute to the specific charm or interest of a given conservation area. The overall character can also be defined by the details involved with boundary treatments, including hedges and walls.

4) Look Over Conservation Area Appraisals: It’s possible that the Local Planning Authority has already undertaken a specific assessment regarding what is special about an area that your property is located in. This can prove helpful should you be thinking about making property changes. Consult the website of your Local Authority and then search for something like ‘conservation area appraisal’.

5) See If Your Current Building Is Actually Locally Listed: Some buildings located in conservation areas might be listed locally. Such buildings are deemed as making positive contributions to the local character. Even if they provide a local sense of place, they might not be nationally listed. The local authority gives them a high degree of protection, as they identify them on their list of various local heritage assets.

6) Secure Planning Permission: There are many kinds of work you have to get consent for, but the list grows when you’re in a conservation area. For instance, the addition of stone cladding to the exterior of a building might require planning permission. So too can putting dormer windows in.

7) Be Sure You Get Demolition Consent: In conservation areas, you have to get planning permission if you want to demolish any building. You might even need planning permission for the removal of particular walls, fences, and gates. Making such changes to your own home devoid of the necessary permission might be a criminal offense.

8) Consult Your Area’s Local Article 4 Directions: Local councils are known at times to add to the kinds of alterations needing planning permission. They do this by making Article 4 Directions. These get used to protect certain features from getting lost without permission. Your local council website should have the Article 4 coverage details about where you currently live.

9) Arrange Consent For Work On Trees: You need to give your specific Local Planning Authority at least six weeks advance notice if you want to do certain things involving trees. Conservation areas have specific tree protections in place.

10) Keep Up With Routine Maintenance: If you want your building to have minimal costs and maximum healthy living, then you need to make sure that routine maintenance is carried out regularly and your home, garden and all the other items you own are cared for. Research has determined than most estate agents believe a highly maintained building inside a conservation area is likely to have higher property value on the market.

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