That is a shame, over here we have similar laws to Britain, but the penalties for going ahead and demolishing a house listed by the National trust is pretty minor, in the grand scheme of things. When I was still in the Regular Army, I had to move my unit from a Historic mansion called "Grosvenor" on the outskirts of the city, to a new building in one of the larger metro Army bases.
Part of my job was to escort prospective buyers around the building and grounds. This was a beautiful old place over 100 years old, set on a couple of acres across the road from Albert Park, where Australia's F1 GP is held each year. The place was a bit run down, but structually sound, and back then (1998) the price tag was around 2 million bucks.
I'd been told that the "buyer of choice" was Michael O'Brien, of O'Brien Catering. Michael had just sold his catering concession at the MCG for many milions of dollars, so he wanted to buy the house and restore it back to it's former glory. He brought his wife with him, and they were great people and told me that if they were the successful buyers, they'd invite my headquarter staff back for a party once the renovations were complete. I really hoped they'd get it.
The next guy to visit was Lindsay Fox, of Linfox Transport fame. Lindsay and I had some history back then, as I'd done some part time security work for him a few years before. Lindsay is a decent enough bloke for a billionaire, but when it comes to business, he's got no morals. I asked him what he was going to do with the place, and he explained that he'd convert the main building to office space, and he'd pull down the heritage listed ball room and stables, rip up the gardens, and build a 7 story office block in their place.
I was horrified, and I foolishly said, "You can't do that Lindsay, it's protected", to which he just about wet himself laughing, and told me, "Terry my lad, do you know what the fine is? It's 25 thousand bucks, so I'll just add that to the selling price when it's all finished." And that's exactly what he did. For "political" reasons, (Lindsay's company had just missed out on a lucrative defence contract and was threatening to sue the federal government) Lindsay became the "preferred buyer" over the O'Brien family, and the rumour was that he bought the house for 1 whole dollar. I drove past it recently, and almost cried. Cheers, Terry.
