Listed buildings and conservation areas

What should you ask your solicitor if a listed house has a new kitchen and no consent papers?

Ask them to check whether the work needed listed building consent and whether any consent or building-regulations certificate exists. A new kitchen the surveyor can see is a condition and construction fact. It is not, by itself, proof of a breach, and a missing piece of paper in the pack is not proof the paper was never granted.

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?

Listed building consent can be required for internal work that affects character, which is why a kitchen is not automatically “just a fitting”. Historic England’s account of listing is that the building is listed, not only the front. The surveyor reports whether walls have been removed, whether beams have been cut, and whether the result is defective. Your solicitor reports what the paper trail says. You need both if the alteration is obvious.

If papers are missing, do not invent a retention figure. Ask the solicitor what risk they see and whether insurance or a retrospective application is the route they advise. The council, not the surveyor, decides retrospective consent. Meanwhile, read the survey for whether the alteration is structurally sound. An unconsented opening that is also badly built is two problems, not one.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What alterations are obvious, and do any of them look structurally unsound?
Are you able to say whether consent was required? If not, who should we ask?
Which defects would you still flag if the paperwork arrives tomorrow?

What are the typical next steps?

Send your solicitor photographs of the alteration and the survey wording.
Do not strip the kitchen back “to regularise it” before you own the house.
If the opening looks unsafe, treat that as a building issue immediately, separate from the consent issue.

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

Does a listed building consent cover building regulations?

No. They are different. Ask for each paper the work actually needed.

If previous owners did the work, is it your problem?

You inherit the building. Ask the solicitor how that risk is dealt with in the contract. The survey does not transfer it back to the seller.