What did you do over the weekend? We went to look at a property that is for sale – we had not planned to do so but the photograph in our local paper caught our eye and piqued our interest and with Saturday being an “Open Day” for the Selling Agents off we went.
The sun was shining when we arrived. The house looked beautiful even though it clearly needs more than TLC to modernise it and the garden is overgrown. We went inside and were captivated by the property, we walked around the grounds fighting our way through the undergrowth and discovering a beautiful tree peony and medlar tree – we could live there! We went back inside the house and discussed how it could be modernised to make better use of the space and started to think about the numbers. We were not disheartened but over the remainder of the weekend our heads starts to rule our hearts.
There was road noise: where we live at present it is very quiet: would it disturb us?
There was no view: we have a lovely view at present: would we miss it?
On top of that, being a property lawyer I am well aware of:
- The potential for chancel repair liability – the property is not yet registered at the Land Registry;
- The obligations of a riparian land owner – that is being next to a river or stream – keeping the banks clear of anything that would cause an obstruction or increase flood risk, maintaining the bed and banks of the watercourse and the trees and shrubs growing on the bank;
- The greater potential for flood risk;
- The potential risk of becoming the subject of enforcement action for unauthorised works on a Listed Building: this is a strict liability offence;
- The lengthy process it takes to negotiate and obtain Listed Building Consent and Planning Permission for proposed works;
- The need to obtain Building Regulations Approval for the proposed works; and
- Funding option – their pros and cons.
It was certainly more sobering thinking with our heads rather than with our hearts: I am not saying that the move will not go ahead, because I already know where to put the Christmas tree, but there might be more to this potential move than we first thought.
For advice on property selling or buying, please contact our conveyancing team on 0116 262 8596.