Listed buildings and conservation areas
A roof window has been cut into the slates of a listed house. Can the survey grant, or refuse, listed building consent for that opening?
No, the survey cannot grant or refuse listed building consent for the roof window cut into the slates of this listed house. Listing covers the building. Consent is a decision for the authority that deals with listed building applications, not a line a surveyor can write. The inspection can describe the opening, the slates around it and the condition it could see. It cannot allow the window and it cannot refuse it. Those are not survey powers.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Historic England's list entry is about the building being listed, not about a survey substituting for consent. A roof window cut into slates may matter because the whole building is listed, which is why you ask the solicitor what consents exist. The surveyor's photograph of the kerb and the slates is evidence of what is there now. It is not an approval, and a critical comment is not a refusal. Do not tell the seller the survey has settled the consent either way.
Put the survey note next to the listing and any papers the seller has about the window, and let the solicitor ask whether consent was obtained. If nobody can produce it, that is a legal gap, not a gap the surveyor fills by choosing. Do not remove the window, or promise to keep it, on the strength of the report. The home survey has described an opening in a listed roof. It has not granted or refused listed building consent.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you describe the roof window, rather than decide consent?
- What did you actually see at the slates and the opening?
- Is consent a matter you have left outside the survey?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor whether listed building consent exists for the window.
- Do not read the survey as granting or refusing that consent.
- Keep the condition note on the slates separate from the consent question.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the window looks well fitted, has consent been granted?
No. A neat opening is condition and workmanship on the slates. It is not listed building consent, which the survey cannot grant or refuse.
If you dislike the window, has the survey refused it?
No. Dislike, and even a poor condition note, is not a refusal of consent. The authority decides applications. The survey does not.