More than one budding developer has come a cropper trying to 'reinterpret' stringent guidelines regarding work that can be carried out on Listed buildings. As Charles Seligman puts it: 'You'd be nuts to do it. All that happens is that you are forced to undo what you've done, so you pay twice, and you potentially damage the essential character of the property, which was its selling point in the first place.'
Similarly, changes to a property conducted without necessary permissions can return to bite you in the backside. 'These days, if a buyer even vaguely suspects that an improvement didn't have permission, they assume it's dangerous and want it sorted out,' explains an estate agent in Leeds. 'Once upon a time people were more fatalistic. They'd enjoy the badly put up lean to for the room it gave them. Now they want quality or they want the space to do it themselves.'
While not regarded as a complete deal killer on its own, putting a carpet in these generally splash happy zones was unanimously thought to be a bad idea that would put buyers off paying the full asking price. 'After all,' as one lady from a Manchester based agency put it, 'if they've done something as daft as that, what else might they have done?'
Many things can make us laugh about homes collections of humorous garden gnomes, extravagant Christmas decorations, Jamie Oliver's crockery collection, even a fibre glass great white shark that has been made to look like it has crashed through the roof.
They make us laugh, but do they make us want to purchase the home? No, would appear to be the general consensus. 'You always sound like such a killjoy, but vendors have to understand that buying a home is a serious business, and viewers can be just as easily offended by stuff as they are amused. Any permanent fixtures that will need work to be removed can lose a vendor money,' sighed one Essex estate agent.
The consensus in the panel is that the first impression that a property makes on a seller is crucial to how the rest of the visit goes. Buyers generally find unkempt gardens, derelict fencing and gates, and front garden areas full of cars to be a turn off.
As one Leeds based agent surmised, 'If they're not smiling as they step over the threshold then the rest of the viewing is generally a waste of time. If the vendor doesn't sort it out then you can end up reducing the price. For every eager buyer put off by the surface appearance there's a shrewd old pro waiting for the price to tumble. It's the vendor who loses out.'
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