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Top Tip for Listed Buildings

Updated: Jan 15, 2024


Davitt Jones Bould planning partner and listed buildings expert, Nigel Hewitson, has co-authored the sixth edition of Listed Buildings & Other Heritage Assets.


The book is a comprehensive overview of UK law as it related to the historic environment. In it he shares his top tips for private sector occupiers:


''Removing objects from a listed building can be fraught with legal difficulty. Objects from sculptures to large ornamental clocks and even paintings have been held to be attached to the listed building and therefore to require listed building consent for their removal. In a recent case that ended up in the Supreme Court, the owner of a pair of lead garden urns (which, unknown to him had been listed in their own right – but the risk would be the same if they were just held to be in the curtilage of a listed building and fixed to the ground) sold them at auction to an anonymous buyer and then received a listed building enforcement notice requiring him to put them back. The Council pursued him notwithstanding his reasonable protestation that he no longer owned them and didn’t know who did!"


Purchase the book here.






 

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ABOUT DAVITT JONES BOULD

As the largest, most experienced law firm specialising in real estate in the UK, we have been trusted advisors to the real estate market for 25 years. We have over 75 lawyers, all of whom joined us from senior in-house or private practice roles, and bring an average of 25 years’ post qualification experience each. With their expertise and commercial experience, we advise a prestigious client base in the public and private sector on the full spectrum of real estate legal issues, including commercial property, planning, property litigation, construction, environment, real estate finance and other related areas. Operating in our specialist area uniquely positions us to help other professional firms, and through our Real Estate Support solution we support teams in the silver circle, UK Top 30, US Top 50, the Big Four and beyond.

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