Thatched grade II - advice please

[NualaD1]

Hi, I'm new to this and really need some advice from you guys.....
I am thinking about buying a thatched grade II listed house in Devon.
I'm obviously worried about fire and insurance and wanted to know what the pros and cons are - the biggest pro for me is how beautiful it is but somewhere in my head there is a sensible person trying to talk me out of it. What is the insurance like? Who are the best company for a quote? Will I constantly worry that I've left things on the hob? What is the main advantage and disadvantage to owning a listed thatched property?
Thank you for taking the time to read, any help is appreciated

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Hello NualaD1, and welcome to PPUK! How exciting, a thatched cottage in Devon! I am sure people will soon be along to help you with your question, but in the meantime, based on our sortie into thatched cottages a few years ago, we found NFU insurance very helpful regarding thatche and all that goes with it. You have a double whammy of responsibilities with your Grade 2 listing as well but if you put in some research and take time to consider your findings I am sure you will be able to make the right decision and make your purchase with confidence. Good Luck and enjoy !

 

[88v8]

Hello and welcome.

GII thatch owner here.



Insurance - we pay around £1,000 to County Insurance.
Cottage value only £500k, nothing special. Have two woodburners. Could easily pay double that with someone like NFU.
https://www.county-insurance.co.uk/personal/county-thatch/
Endless fuss: Electrical certificate. Sweeping Certificate. Chimney height. Fire extinguishers. Smoke detectors. The fuss is not County's fault, I recommend them - thatch is an unbalanced portfolio, and one loss blows the year's results. The insurance fuss is just part of owning a thatch with an open fire.

Thatch... warm in winter cool in summer. True.
Combed wheat reed. Not very durable, Perhaps 30 years. Current cost would be c£35,000, The ridge needs redoing after 8/10 years, that will be c£5,000 with the scaffolding that the health-n-safety crackpots insist on. Ours was thatched in 2007, should be reridged next year.

I reckon with the extra insurance cost and the maintenance and allowing for the eventual rethatch, it costs c£2,000 a year for our thatch roof.
If you can afford that, fine. If not, take a picture and have it framed and hang it on the wall of your next house.

Ivor

 

[tobydog]

Hi NualaD1. Unfortunately many people have a built-in preconceived idea about thatched house ownership that will not even allow them to look at one, let alone buy one. I'm glad to see you're not one of them. We took one look at ours and that was it - Sold. Hopefully the photo I took this past weekend is attached.

The idea of thatched ownership can be overwhelming if you let but it's far easier if you address all your issues and then compartmentalise them. Statistically the chance of a fire in a thatched property is no different to other houses which is probably down to the owners being consciously or subconsciously aware of the issues. One of the key features that insurers focus on these days are wood burning stoves. This is mainly down to their ability to generate heat that an old chimney and roof aren't used to dealing with. If the house has one of those then insurers are likely to load the premium. It happened to us with NFU and I fight them every year to get the premium down. NFU literally got their fingers burnt when they found themselves with a considerable book of thatched business just at the time when stoves were becoming all the rage. We pay around £750 a year for full building and contents coverage and that's for a detached two bedroomed / three reception room timber-framed cottage. We worked out that the wood burner costs us an additional £150-200 a year. For the amount of times we use it, it would be cheaper to crank the heating up and burn the oil! Insurers will likely have an extensive list of requirements that will includes a high number of smoke detectors, electrical certificates, and fire extinguishers. They might also make recommendations on fittings heat sensors and certain protective fire boards in the roof, however, retro-fitting some items is not possible until a full re-thatch.

The first thing you should do with your prospective purchase is have it checked out by a good thatcher (not just a surveyor who might say he knows about thatch). They will obviously charge because they're very busy but you need to be very clear on the age and condition of the thatch and when you might start to incur costs for a new ridge or total new thatch. Our roof is water reed and when we moved in 7 years ago the thatcher reckoned we had a good 20-25 years left on the main part. The ridge is probably due in a couple of years. For our house we're looking at £4,000 for a ridge and about £18-20,000 for a full replacement. You must consider it's real condition and future expense in the purchase price of the house.

If the current owner allows, you could try and get the local fire brigade round to have a look and make and assessment, however, this could be awkward if the house is likely to fall short of insurers requirements and highlight issues the owner has been ignoring.

If the house does have a wood burner, make sure that the flue is in very good condition. Some insurers will insist that the top of the chimney pots should be at least 1m above the ridge although this isn't always possible. Am I right in thinking that Devon thatch is combed wheat straw or the like? If so, these thatches can get very thick over time as the old thatch is removed and new thatch is built up. With reed the whole thing is normally replaced and therefore nowhere near as thick. Also check that the flue / chimney has been recently and professionally cleaned and whether there is a spark retarder in the top. Whilst these are intended to suppress sparks, they can get blocked up and make cleaning difficult.

Just follow some simple and obvious guidelines and I'm sure you will love thatched house ownership. I imagine that a Devon cottage with it's thick walls and thick thatch would be really snug in the winter and really cool in the summer.

What are the walls made of? Brick, stone or cob?

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Flyfisher]

I reckon with the extra insurance cost and the maintenance and allowing for the eventual rethatch, it costs c£2,000 a year for our thatch roof.
If you can afford that, fine. If not, take a picture and have it framed and hang in on the wall of your next house.

I've no direct experience of thatched property but that sounds like good advice to me. A friend has just had their Norfolk house rethatched for the second time - the first time was when they moved into it a little over 30 years ago. When discussing the costs they said pretty much the same thing - treat the thatch as a known expense, budget accordingly and there should be no nasty surprises.

 

[mims&pip]

Hi and welcome. NualaD1

Our last house (see attached pic) was thatched, although it wasn't listed.



We insured with Playle Russell, another specialist insurer and if I remember correctly our premiums were around £1000 per annum for a five bed attached house in Wiltshire. The previous owners had insured with NFU, but we found them prohibitively expensive when we obtained a quote.

As part of the extensive restoration works we carried out we had the property hard-wired, which was looked favourably on by our insurers. There was one multi-fuel stove at the property and we did have a chimney fire during our last year there - which Pip thankfully managed to put out without needing to call the fire brigade - as we had an issue with the flue of the stove becoming disconnected......it put the fear of god in me

To be honest, I was never keen on the idea of a thatch. It just happened that in 2011 we were looking across several counties for a good sized period house and as we'd lost out on two previous purchases plus our buyers were getting impatient......when this one popped up on my Right Move search. It was warm in Winter and cool in Summer, but I hated the smell of damp thatch - it's always wet in Wiltshire :roll: - and I never grew to love it in the way Pip did, as I think I was always paranoid about fires......

Ours had been re-thatched in 2008 during the previous owners' tenure, at which time it cost around £20,000, although he had quite a basic job done - for example he didn't have the roof sprayed with the anti-flame stuff!

We sold in 2014 so I guess the premiums may have increased since then. Personally I wouldn't buy another, however lovely it looked, but that's just my opinion!

Good luck and do keep us posted......

Mims x

 

[NualaD1]

Wow thank you everyone.... Lovely to see your houses. The current owner said it was re-thatched in 2010 but it cost 50k and is £240 per month insurance with NFU (YIKES!!) I think I'd better have a chat with the other insurance recommendations too as that was much more than I had anticipated - really like the idea of speaking with the fire brigade too, never would have thought of that - thank you for all your help
Nx (hope to be joining you all soon in thatched loveliness)

 

[Bogart]

Hi
Recent member having just bought a thatched grade II cottage. Regarding the insurance we were amazed at how much NFU wanted, were quoted £3k plus. We have a zero no claims, used to live in France, but still thought it was rather high. Got similar insurance for £1300 so it definitely pays to shop around. Had to install mains linked smoke detectors in loft space and on first floor landing and fire extinguishers. Was supposed to get a visit from the insurers 30 days after moving in to confirm I was not telling porkies but they do not seem to be rushing over it.