Home improvements and alterations FAQs

As a homeowner your lease or transfer will contain covenants that refer to asking us for written consent before carrying out certain alterations to your home.

Check your lease agreement. If we're not your freeholder then there may be additional steps in the process where your freeholder will have to review and consider your application.

Until you're the legal owner we're unable to advise of conditions that would apply or review a speculative application/request.

You need to ensure that your solicitor has issued us with the Notice of Transfer (including the relevant fee). This is the legal document that enables us to update our records to reflect that you're the new owner. The Notice of Transfer can take up to 20 working days to process. During that time our team can't issue a formal licence.

In general, permission won't be granted for you to carry out works in areas that aren't demised to you under your lease or transfer deeds.

We may consider the option for you to purchase the area in question; a loft space or basement area, for example; by means of a Supplemental Lease. This option isn't guaranteed. It would be subject to receipt of an open market valuation for the area, as assessed by an Independent Chartered Surveyor. This would be at your cost. It would need to include a review of the impact the works may have to the structure ensuring no undue risk.

Yes. You're required to apply using our online application form. Specify within the form if your improvements are major or minor. We'll confirm, when we receive your application, what category your request falls into and offer advice if needed.

Follow our guidance on home improvements and alterations to prepare your application. It leads you through to the application form.

Minor alterations: Those that will not impact on the structure of the building. Such as installation of boiler or erection/removal of a non-load bearing stud wall.

Major alterations: Those that will impact the structure of the building, either by way of addition or alteration. These can include, but are not limited to, removal of load- bearing internal/external walls, extensions and conservatories.

You'll find a summary of our fees on the Service charges, fees and rent page.

Under the terms of the lease we can charge an administration fee for work carried out for individual home owners. This fee covers the cost of administering your application. You'll be required to also pay all other associated costs including our legal costs.

You'll find a summary of our fees on the Service charges, fees and rent page.

A collateral warranty creates a contractual link between us (the landlord) and a third party (contractor/consultant). This is only required where structural works are undertaken and without one we don't have direct recourse should a third party breach their contract with you the home owner.

The home owner is responsible for all legal fees. Our legal fees for a Deed of Collateral Warranty start from £1,200 including VAT.

We don't unreasonably refuse permission but we must assess any proposed alteration and the impact it may have, as well as ensuring we remain compliant with the terms of the lease. We'll provide a full written explanation if permission isn't granted.

If your service charge account is in arrears your application will only be considered if you can agree a repayment plan.

Our guidance and procedures for home improvements and alterations applies also to cases where retrospective consent is required.

For these applications an additional fee of 50% of the standard minor or major works administration fee will apply. This covers additional costs in terms of time and resources. It's a breach of lease to carry out alterations without permission. We can take action to remedy the breach and recharge to you the costs of such action if retrospective consent is not obtained.

Find out more about fees on our Service charges, fees and rent page.

They're intended to protect us, our properties and homeowners from any incidents or accidents that may arise due to your builder, contractor and/or architect.

• Employers Liability Insurance: £10 million – this is a legal requirement if your contractor employs one or more people. The statutory minimum for this is £10 million and must come from an authorised insurer.
• Public Liability Insurance: £1 million for works we deem as minor or £5 million for works we deem as major. This covers any event where the contractor causes damage/injury through their negligence or poor workmanship. For example, setting fire to a block or causing a property to collapse/subside. Reputable builders carry sufficient cover as standard practice and the amounts advised are industry thresholds which safeguard not only us but you as the owner.
• Professional Indemnity: £250,000 for architects and £500,000 for structural engineers and builders for all works undertaken in houses and street converted properties. £2 million cover for architects, structural engineers and builders for all works undertaken in a purpose-built flat block. This is designed to cover the cost of any claims made against your contractor/builder/architect by us for any losses suffered because of their work or advice. You as the employer, in this case, would be responsible for the financial cost to rectify this. Therefore professional indemnity helps to safeguard your position.

Works carried out to shared ownership properties may affect the value. If you sell your share of the home the valuer won't value alterations separately. Any money spent is of your own choice. Should it increase the value of the property overall at the point of selling your share you'll have increased the value of the share you own, as well as the share we own.

For example, alterations carried out by a 50% shared owner result in an increase in the value of the overall property by £10,000. At the point of selling that increase is shared at £5,000 each to you as the shared owner and us as the freeholder. 

However if you've staircased to own 100% of the property, the valuer would take into account the alterations and calculate the share cost of buying the remaining shares accordingly. Ensuring that you're not paying twice. So you won't pay once to carry out the alterations and again for the increase in value to the property that's created. 

If you're planning to invest significant amounts of money into the shared ownership property for alterations/improvements it's prudent to take into account whether or not you plan to buy the remaining shares. It may have a financial effect to you as the shared owner/owners.

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 requires the owner of an apartment carrying out work (“the Building Owner”) to serve a notice under the Act on all adjoining owners who have an interest in the party wall(s) that are being discussed. 

An “owner”, for the purposes of the Act, is anyone who has an interest which is more than a yearly tenancy. There may be more than one “owner” of an adjoining property (known as “the Adjoining Owner(s)”). For example, this could be a freeholder, a long leaseholder, or someone with an agreement to purchase or lease. All these adjoining owners must be served with a notice prior to commencement of the work.

Licence to Alter Outside of Demise is a document for use where a landlord (freeholder) and a tenant (leaseholder) agree for works that are not within the demise (ownership) of the lease or transfer. 

If your current lease details that an area you wish to alter is not part of your demise we may consider a licence to allow you to carry out these works as long as you enter into a legal document which will state that the repair and maintenance responsibilities remain the landlord's (freeholder). For example if the window frames are not within your demise and you wish to change the windows, then this may be considered as an option.

The home owner is responsible for all legal fees. Our legal fees for a Licence to Alter Outside of Demise start from £780 including VAT.

The Home Ownership team process all applications for a licence to alter a property. In the first instance you'll be asked to complete an application form.

It's important to complete the application form fully and provide documents to support your request to assist with processing the licence to alter.

Please note, our role is to facilitate the process of obtaining a Licence to Alter and meet your obligations in the lease. We cannot recommend contractors or assist with the project management of your proposed alterations.