Listed Building Consent in London: Converting a Listed Building to Homes

What needs listed building consent

The test is in section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Any works to demolish a listed building, or to alter or extend it in a way that affects its character, need consent. That applies whether or not planning permission is also needed.

The grade does not narrow it. For grade I, II* and II alike, the listing covers the whole building, inside and out, unless the list entry says otherwise. It also covers objects fixed to the building. Structures in its curtilage, such as walls, railings or outbuildings there since before 1 July 1948, are treated as part of it.

On a conversion, almost every drawing touches the test

A change to homes rarely leaves the interior alone. These are the works that usually affect character:

• Subdividing principal rooms, or inserting floors into a banking hall or chapel nave
• Removing or moving a staircase
• New openings in walls and floors
• Replacing windows, doors, shopfronts or roof coverings
• Dormers, rooflights and roof extensions
• New services routes through historic floors and ceilings
• Fire and sound upgrades to floors, walls and doors between flats
• External plant, flues and vents

A conversion needs listed building consent and planning permission

Two regimes run side by side. Planning permission is needed when the works would need it if the building were not listed. Listed building consent is needed for anything that affects the building's character. A change of use to homes almost always needs both.

The fast route is closed. Class MA turns Class E buildings into homes by prior approval, without full planning. It does not apply to a listed building or land within its curtilage. So a listed office, shop or bank needs a full change of use application. Our guide to Class MA permitted development covers the route for unlisted buildings.

The council has the same duty on both. When it decides the planning application, it must have special regard to preserving the building, its setting and its features. So the heritage case shapes the change of use decision too.

Many listed buildings in London also sit in a conservation area, and some streets carry Article 4 directions. Check all three layers at the start. For a listed office or bank, see our commercial to residential conversion service.

The listed building consent application

The Act sets the minimum. The application must include a plan identifying the building, the drawings needed to describe the works, and any other particulars the council asks for. Each London borough adds its own local validation list.

A conversion pack usually holds these documents:

1. Measured survey drawings of the building as it stands, floor by floor.
2. Proposed plans, sections and elevations, with the historic fabric to be removed marked.
3. A heritage statement that describes the building's significance and the impact of the works on it.
4. A design and access statement, which can contain the heritage assessment.
5. Schedules and details of works to joinery, plaster, floors and services, where the council asks for them.

National guidance expects the heritage statement to be proportionate to the building's importance. It must still show you understood what makes the building special before you designed. That is the document that decides which walls you may move.

There is no council fee for listed building consent. The planning application for the change of use pays the normal fee. Before you submit, pre-application advice from the council's conservation officer tests the layout while it is still cheap to change.

How long listed building consent takes

The council has 8 weeks from a valid application to decide. For a major development, such as 10 or more homes or a building of more than 1,000 m², the period is 13 weeks. You can agree a longer period in writing.

Those are decision periods, not the whole programme. The survey, the heritage statement and any pre-application advice come first. If the council refuses, or does not decide in time, you can appeal within 6 months. There is no fee for appealing.

Once granted, the consent runs with the building, not with you. The works must start within three years, unless the council sets a different period.

What the council and Historic England look at

The legal test is short. The council must have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building, its setting and its features of special interest. National guidance then asks two questions.

Harm to significance, weighed against public benefit

First, does the scheme harm the building's significance, and how much? Harm is either substantial or less than substantial. Substantial harm is a high test: it means a serious impact on a key element of the building's special interest.

Second, is any less than substantial harm outweighed by public benefits? Securing the building's optimum viable use counts as one. Guidance says putting a heritage asset to a viable use is likely to fund its long-term upkeep. Where several viable uses exist, the optimum one causes the least harm.

That is the conversion's strongest argument. A bank, chapel or warehouse with no viable use decays. A well-designed residential scheme can keep it in repair.

When Historic England is told

The council must notify Historic England of applications for any works to a grade I or II* building. For a grade II building, it must notify Historic England of "relevant works". These include demolishing a principal external wall, or a substantial part of the interior. Removing any staircase, load-bearing wall, floor structure or roof structure counts as that.

National amenity societies are notified of any demolition of part of a listed building. They include the Georgian Group, the Victorian Society and the Twentieth Century Society. On a typical conversion, expect them to see your drawings.

Why listed building consent applications are refused

A conversion scheme is most exposed at six points:

1. Lost plan form. Principal rooms split into small flats, or a banking hall or nave cut up by new floors.
2. Lost historic fabric. Staircases, panelling, cornices or floorboards removed for services or upgrades.
3. The roofline. Dormers, extensions and plant that harm the building or its setting.
4. A thin heritage statement. Significance described in general terms, with no link to the design choices.
5. No public benefit case. Harm shown, but no argument that the new use secures the building.
6. Too many units. A layout that needs more flats than the plan form can take.

The last one is commercial, not legal. It starts with an appraisal that assumed the floor area, not the building, set the unit count. Test the layout against the building before you fix the price you pay for it.

Works without listed building consent are a criminal offence

Section 9 of the 1990 Act makes it an offence to carry out works that need consent without it. Breaking a condition of a consent is an offence too. In the Crown Court, the penalty is up to two years in prison, a fine, or both. The court must consider any financial benefit gained.

The council can make you put it back

The council can also serve a listed building enforcement notice. It can require the building to be restored to its former state. The notice is served on the owner and the occupier, and section 38 sets no time limit for issuing it.

That is why buyers inherit problems. Before you exchange, ask for the consents behind every past alteration. Consent for works already done can be applied for, but it is not guaranteed.

When listed building consent is not required

Consent is not required for works that do not affect the building's character as a building of special interest. The difficulty is that the council judges that, not you.

For certainty, apply for a certificate of lawfulness of proposed works. It confirms that the proposed alterations or extension do not need consent. It cannot cover demolition, cannot be obtained after the work, and protects works started within 10 years of issue.

Two less common routes exist. A heritage partnership agreement can grant consent in advance for agreed works to a building. A listed building consent order can grant it for a described class of works. Neither is a shortcut for a one-off conversion.

How design and build works on a listed building

On a listed building, the survey and the design decide the build. Here is the order that keeps consent and cost under control.

Survey and significance first

Start with a measured survey and a heritage assessment. Map every original feature before anyone draws a flat. Opening up historic fabric to investigate can itself need consent, so agree it with the council first.

Design to the building, not the floor area

Let the plan form set the layout and the unit count. Keep principal rooms whole where you can. Route services through areas that matter least. Then price the scheme while it is drawn, so the appraisal and the drawings agree.

Building Regulations still apply

Energy efficiency requirements do not apply where compliance would unacceptably alter a listed building's character. Fire and sound separation between flats still has to work. In a listed building it has to work without destroying the ceilings and floors that make the building special.

Conditions are part of the contract

Consent usually arrives with conditions. Councils often reserve details such as new joinery, materials or services routes for approval before that part of the work starts. Breaking a condition is an offence, so the site team must build to the approved details.

One team under one contract closes the gaps between those stages. The designers who wrote the heritage case answer the questions on site. We started in 2016 as a carpentry and joinery company, and around 60% of our labour is still in-house. Our planning consultancy team prepares the applications, and we take on construction projects from £100,000.

Seven checks before you buy or design

A listed building can make an outstanding home, and its consent is the first thing a buyer, a lender and a valuer will ask for. Send us the address and the use you want, and we'll tell you which consents it needs. Get a free route check for your change of use application.