Selling your listed property – things to know

What is a listed property?

These are homes that are considered to have certain architectural or historic importance and are therefore “listed” as such to give them a special status. This status places certain restrictions on what can and cannot be done to the properties in order to maintain their appearance and structure for the foreseeable future.

Listed buildings are ranked as Grade I, which is the highest and most-protective level of listing, followed by Grade II* and lastly Grade II. It’s said that about 2.5% of listed buildings in England and Wales are Grade I, with 5.8% being Grade II* and 91.7%. Historic England is a non-departmental public body of the Government responsible for maintaining an index of listed buildings.

The goal of listing is to ensure that properties of which there are not many examples left, or that have particular importance, are preserved. Any building before 1700 that is still standing in its original structure and condition will typically be a listed property, as well as most homes constructed from 1700 through to 1850. The more recent a home was built, the harder it will be to win listing, particularly if the house or flat is less than 30 years old.

Can I sell my home if it’s a listed property?

Absolutely, no matter what the reason you might have for wanting to sell your house, there are no major restrictions on selling a property just because it’s listed, however there are some things you should know.

If you’re getting ready to sell, you should search your home’s history to make sure that no prior owner did any work to alter the property that would be considered illegal. A prospective buyer will conduct such searches through their solicitor, and neither they nor you want to be liable for any such changes to the listed property. It’s vital to know as much of the history of your house before you sell so that you can address such issues if they arise.

Steps you can take to make your listed home even more enticing to sellers

Make sure that while you’re owning the house you follow any rules or other requirements that apply to maintaining the listed property. Many older buildings are not designed to adequately protect against moisture damage, but it can be very hard to win planning approval to install new materials to prevent such harm. As a result you should constantly keep parts of the buildings that will help stop water damage (such as gutters) regularly cleaned and maintained.

Keeping a listed property in good condition before sale also means ensuring the outside is protected, but if you have to make changes to windows or another exterior point it is recommended that you contact a professional surveyor who can assess the work you want to have done. They will be able to tell you whether the work will be acceptable.

What to do if your listed home needs structural repairs before selling

One potential hurdle you might have to overcome with selling your listed property is if the building has some type of structural damage. This can include many issues, for example if there is asbestos present at the property, leaks, dry rot, damp, subsidence and other flaws.

Given the unique and protected status of listed properties, you would likely need to obtain permission from your local authority before being able to start any structural repair work at the building, as the website Heritage Survey notes. And this could potentially be a lengthy and costly process, which isn’t ideal for those owners want to sell fast and with minimal expenses.

You also run the risk of having your application for repair work turned down, which would mean that you’d still be in the position of trying to sell a listed property with structural damage but several months will have passed since you initially thought about seeking a buyer. If your aim is sell your property as fast as feasible, this would not be a good development for you.

Even with the possible barrier of needing approval first to do the repair work, some owners might nevertheless accept that because they think it will be more beneficial to the property sale compared to trying to sell the home “as is” without first resolving the problem.

These owners might worry that a potential buyer could lose interest in making an offer entirely because of the structural problem. Or they might believe that someone could still be interested, but significantly lower their offer to account for the cost of fixing the issue as the next owner. Repairing a fault before selling therefore would prevent either scenario from occurring.

But you might not have the time, interest or money available to launch any repair work before selling, especially once you factor in the complications of trying to get approval first.

If this applies to your situation then do not worry that it will be impossible to sell the property because of the damage. You still have viable options, including getting in touch with an honest quick home buyer like LDN Properties. These companies make competitive and fast offers to buy all types of homes, even those that have large-scale physical flaws.

And selling to a quick buyer has additional perks, including that you won’t have to pay any commission and the entire process should be completed within just a few short weeks.

Options for selling your listed property

There are usually four options available for selling your listed property: selling through an estate agent, selling with an auctioneer, selling to a quick home buyer or selling on your own.

Property buying companies tend to give homeowners an accelerated way to sell their home with minimal fuss and the added benefit of not having to pay any fees to the buyer.

Estate agents might have expertise selling listed buildings and could be a good choice as they know how to find you a buyer. But there’s no deadline for selling this way and it can take many weeks or months, and you’ll also have to pay the estate agent fees for finding a buyer.

Auctioneers will also charge you fees, although the perk of selling this way is that the date of the auction gives you a firm time for when your house or flat will sell.

And finally, selling on your own means without any help from an estate agent or an auctioneer, and whilst this option lets you avoid paying commission, it can also be very stressful.

Keep reading to learn more about the specific pros and cons of all four selling methods, and to assess which of the strategies might be the most suitable for your situation. As you review the choices, bear in mind your goals with selling your listed property, such as how quickly you want to complete the selling process, whether you are open to paying any fees, and more.

Selling through an estate agent

You will not have to put much effort into selling your listed home if you decide to use an estate agent, as it will be their responsibility to take care of most of the tasks needed to sell.

This includes creating a listing that describes the property and features photographs of the interior and exterior, then advertising the listing in their office, online, and in local newspapers. They will next schedule viewings for anyone interested to tour the property, and finally hear offers from buyers, attempting to get one to the last stage of exchanging contracts.

You might find that this can be a very slow process and it can take a number of months or even more than an entire year to find a buyer. Even if you get an offer, there’s the danger that the person making it might change their mind and cancel it, which would make the sale fall apart. There’s nothing that can be done to penalise them if you have not yet exchanged contracts. You would then need to start again with seeking a buyer, delaying the process much further.

Remember also that if you sell with an estate agent then you will have to pay them commission if they are able to sell your property. This fee will be deducted from the sale proceeds wright away, which will add to your costs. Many estate agents charge this commission within a range from 1.15 percent to 1.40 percent of a property’s final sale price, but always ask about this rate because some estate agents’ fees may be below this range and others could be above it.

Also, when you sell with an estate agent you might experience a situation where they quote you a promisingly high sale price for the property, even if they know it will only attract offers at a much lower value. They do this to convince you to sell using their services, so that they can benefit from the commission that they’ll charge you if they manage to sell your home.

But it’s easy to avoid falling for this trick through some fast and simple steps. First, ask a number of estate agents to give you free, no-obligation quotes on your home’s possible sale price. Second, visit property sales websites like Rightmove or Zoopla and write down the price of listed homes like yours. Finally, calculate the average of all these amounts and this should show you a more accurate rough estimate of your property’s eventual sale price.

Selling with an auctioneer

As noted earlier in this guide, selling this way does have the benefit of giving you a specific date on which the auction will take place, which provides some certainty. But there is no guarantee that your home will sell, and if it does not receive any bids then it will be deemed unsold. You’d then have to restart the search for a buyer, further delaying your selling schedule.

Selling at an auction is not the best choice for those owners that want to find a buyer for their home as fast as they can. There is a lot of waiting involved, including many weeks or months between when you decide to sell using this method and when the auction happens. And then if your home does sell, the winning bidder will usually have about 28 days to complete all of the legal papers and other tasks need in order to finalise the purchase of your property.

When you sell at an auction, you will also be required to pay commission to the auctioneer if your home finds a buyer. This is often charged at about 2.5 percent of a property’s auction sale price, and the fee will add to your costs as it will be subtracted from the sale proceeds.

You should bear the commission in mind when you devise your reserve price – this is the lowest price at which you can accept your home selling at the auction. A single bid at the reserve price is considered a binding legal agreement to sell your property, and the winning bidder could sue you to enforce the sale if you try to walk away from it after the auction. Therefore, pick a reserve price that should produce a profit from the sale even after the commission is subtracted.

Selling to a quick home buyer

You could also sell your listed building to a quick home buyer, like LDN Properties. These companies have the financial resources available upfront to buy homes right away, so they don’t have to wait for weeks or even months to first get authorised for a mortgage to fund the transaction. This reduces the typical timeline when selling using this method down to just a handful of weeks, and that includes the vital last step of exchanging contracts.

In addition to the rapid timeline, quick buyers are also good for those homeowners that are trying to reduce their total expenses when selling. That’s because the honest companies will never an owner any fees when purchasing their property, compared to an estate agent or an auctioneer that will charge commission that is deducted immediately from the sale proceeds.

Quick buyers are also experts at making fast and fair offers to buy homes regardless of their age, condition, location, shape, size or type. Therefore, they can be a great solution for selling if you are in the situation where your listed property has structural damage but you do not want to go through the complicated process of seeking approval for work to repair that damage.

It’s also a no-stress, zero-hassle and straightforward process for selling to a quick buyer. It begins when you call them to discuss selling your property, and within the first hour you should be given an initial offer. There is no pressure to decide immediately on whether to accept this offer, because the quick buyer should give you at least a full week to consider it.

Should you accept the initial offer, the quick buyer will then plan to have a representative come to your home in order to assess the interior and exterior before a final offer is made. You will only have to agree to this single viewing when selling to a quick buyer, compared to potentially dozens or more viewings if you choose to sell using any of the other methods.

And the last step when selling to a quick buyer happens if you accept the final offer, after which the company will work with your solicitor or other legal representative to rapidly complete all of the required legal documents and other tasks. From the beginning to the end, it should only be a few short weeks before the entire process of selling your property is finished.

Selling on your own

This can be a very stressful way to sell your listed home because you will have to take care of every task, from the initial creation and advertising of a listing through to organising viewings, hearing offers and then trying to guide one to the last stage of exchanging contracts.

The only clear advantage of selling this way is that you would not have to pay any commission to an estate agent or an auctioneer once you find a buyer, so this helps lower your costs. But you could discover that any saving you make this way is easily eliminated by the money that will have to spend on promoting your listing and various other tasks needed to secure a buyer.

It can also be a very slow option for selling your home, and you should be prepared for it take many months, or even more than an entire year, to find a buyer. Even then, someone can make an offer but then cancel it, which would cause the sale to fall apart. You would then have to restart the search for a buyer, and this will extend your selling timeline even further.