If you own a leasehold flat in London, most alterations need your freeholder’s formal consent before work begins. We design the alterations, secure the licence to alter, and build the project — one team for the whole process.
A beautiful design means nothing if the works breach your lease.
Almost every long residential lease in London requires the leaseholder to obtain a licence to alter before carrying out structural or material works — removing a wall, reconfiguring a layout, moving a kitchen or bathroom, altering services, or laying new floors in a portered building. Proceeding without it is a breach of covenant that can stall a sale, trigger dilapidations claims, or require works to be reversed.
We handle the whole picture: reviewing your lease, designing the alterations, preparing a complete application package, coordinating with the landlord’s surveyor and managing agent, and building the project once consent is granted.
Removing or altering walls, forming openings, steelwork and any change affecting the building structure.
Reconfiguring rooms, relocating kitchens and bathrooms, and altering the demised plan.
New soil and waste runs, plumbing, electrical and mechanical alterations affecting risers or common parts.
New flooring and acoustic build-ups, frequently controlled in mansion blocks and portered buildings.
Alterations to windows or external elements, often also requiring planning or listed-building consent.
Method statements, working-hours undertakings and reinstatement conditions imposed by the landlord.
We read your lease and confirm exactly what consent the works require.
Our architects prepare the drawings and specification the landlord’s surveyor will need.
We submit to the freeholder or managing agent and coordinate the surveyor’s review.
We agree conditions and undertakings, and the licence is executed before works begin.
Our teams deliver the works to the consented design, respecting building access and hours.
Licence-to-alter work sits at the intersection of design, surveying and construction. Our in-house architects design the alterations and our RICS-regulated sister practice, Hampstead Chartered Surveyors, supports the consent and party-wall side — then we build the project. Related services:
A licence to alter (sometimes called a licence for alterations) is the formal written consent a leaseholder must obtain from the freeholder or landlord before carrying out works that the lease controls — typically structural changes, alterations to the layout, removal of walls, new bathrooms or kitchens involving waste runs, or works affecting common parts. Carrying out controlled works without it is a breach of the lease.
Most long residential leases require consent for any structural or material alteration, and many require it for non-structural works too. If you are reconfiguring a flat, removing or altering walls, moving a kitchen or bathroom, installing new flooring in a portered block, or altering services, you almost certainly need a licence to alter. We review your lease at the outset and tell you exactly what consent is required.
Typically four to twelve weeks, depending on the landlord, the managing agent and the complexity of the works. Mansion blocks and estate-managed buildings can take longer. Because delays usually come from incomplete drawings or specifications, we prepare a complete, professional application package up front to keep the process moving.
It generally involves submitting detailed drawings and a specification to the freeholder or managing agent, the landlord’s surveyor reviewing them (at the leaseholder’s cost), agreement of conditions and undertakings, and execution of the deed before works begin. Our architects produce the drawings and our RICS-regulated sister practice can act on the surveying and consent side.
Yes — that is the advantage of working with us. We design the alterations, prepare the licence-to-alter application, coordinate with the landlord’s surveyor and managing agent, and then build the project once consent is granted. One team manages the lease consent, the planning and building-regulations requirements, and the construction.
We’ll review your lease, design the works and secure your licence to alter — then build it. Book a free consultation.
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