During the recent cold weather my mum's house has lost some of its rendering and I'm worried that, because she lives in a conservation area, the cost of repairs might be higher than normal. Does anyone know if she has to apply for permission to have the work undertaken? She lives on the main High Street of an old town, she has been informed in the past that any alterations she makes to the property have to be sympathetic to the original building (this is a double fronted house which I think is Georgian). Also, some of the rendering has fallen off half way up the front of the house, this makes me think it is a serious problem due to underlying damp, although she isn't aware of any internal damp patches. There is an old telephone junction box, or something similar attached to the wall nearby-could this have aided damp to penetrate the rendering?

On a final note, my mum contacted her buildings insurers and was fobbed off that the damage was "wear and tear". I think she should get one of their assessors out at the very least. She hasn't made a claim on her insurance ever, typical that she had to listen to the insurers' 2 minute spiel about their policy on fraudulent claims before she even got to speak to an operator, who barely gave her the time of day before saying she had no right to claim on her insurance-talk about being hacked off on her behalf

Thanks muchly

My mum isn't local I'm afraid, thanks for the offer though. I suggested to my mum that she should get an assessor out to look at the job but I think she is going to get a guy in to do a cosmetic job on it, which is only delaying things unfortunately.