There are many people who live in a piece of history, and for those people, the unique character and building qualities make them delightful places to live and a potentially valuable part of a property portfolio.
However, buying a piece of history makes you a steward of it, and as a result of this, a lot of the processes of buying and selling a listed property are quite different, with building surveyors handling these important relics in a somewhat unique way.
The first difference is that a lot of specialist research is required compared to more typical property and land surveys.
Part of the reason for this is that the character of a building needs to be protected and factored into any purchase or refurbishment. As a result, a surveyor of a listed building will closely examine the building materials, used, the current state of the property and what consent types will need to be applied for.
This information can then be used to help a buyer understand how much it would cost to repair a listed building if it ever gets damaged, as well as how to source the often-specialist building materials that are used.
As well as this, because historic buildings need to be preserved as much as possible and cannot, for example, have walls broken to access areas that have been lost to history, advanced technology is often used to conduct these surveys in a non-invasive way.
These include using drones to survey parts of the building inaccessible to people, cameras to check the quality of the roof, hydrometers to measure water vapour in confined spaces and thermal imaging cameras that have a range of functions in determining condition.
It also involves contacting and working with the local planning authority to determine what types of alterations can be legally undertaken to the listed building without affecting its historic character.
