There are many listed buildings in Scotland, not all are as out of reach in terms of value as you may think. However, purchasing a listed building comes with responsibilities and potential costs that you need to consider.

From the highest value properties that are of great national interest to a modest flat in a converted building that has listed status due to its historical interest, it is true to say that listed buildings come in all shapes and sizes.

But what does it mean to you if you are considering purchasing a listed building or a home within a listed building? To start it would help to understand what the listings are and who determines what is listed.

Historic Environment Scotland

Previously known as Historic Scotland (up until 2015), the government body that determines property listing is Historic Environment Scotland, HES for short.

They have the power to grant listed status to a building as well as remove or change a listing if required.

They do a lot more than simply deal with the listing of buildings, you can find out more here.

Categories of listed buildings in Scotland

There are three types of listing shown below, the importance of each is based on the criteria noted. For England and Wales the criteria are essentially the same but instead of A, B, and C they use Grade I and two versions of Grade II.

The responsibility of Listed Buildings

As you can likely imagine, a listed building is important. Therefore it comes with responsibility.

Most importantly, a listed building is expected to be maintained to an acceptable standard. The whole point of the listing is that the building has a special interest and should be preserved for as long as possible.

Given the importance of the building, it may be that you are unable to change it. That means no extensions, modifications to the interior that would affect its historical importance, and so on.

A good example I have seen recently is where an owner wanted to replace the windows from wooden frames to UPVC. Whilst they fully intended to ensure the windows were in keeping with the style of the building, and of course, they had to be replaced, HES refused to allow UPVC. They insisted that the windows be replaced with the same wooden frames matched to the current ones. The difference was significant. The UPVC replacement cost was £35,000, but it ended up costing them £64,000 as the windows had to be individually handmade.

For most alterations and even some maintenance, you will require planning permission from HES. In one instance, HES insisted that repairs to a chimney stack required the owner to use a mortar mix that would have been used when the building was built, not a modern mortar, and replacement stone was to be aged in line with the building. Not an unreasonable expectation for a Grade A listed building, but again, costly.

For those purchasing a flat in a listed building, it is likely that the important element is the exterior. It may be that the interior was important at one time, but it was significantly changed before being listed, and its historic value was lost in relation to what was on the inside. Expect to pay higher fees to a managing agent as there will be costs involved to ensure the maintenance of the exterior.

For those purchasing a flat perhaps without the knowledge of its historic importance, a solicitor should point it out and advise what your share of the annual maintenance cost will be so that you can take that into account when making the decision to proceed with a purchase.

For more information on which buildings in Scotland have a listed status, HES has a search portal available here.