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Arkley EN5 · Flat refurbishment

Flat refurbishment in Arkley

Council courts, converted houses and leases in Arkley

Barnet’s records name few flats in Arkley: council courts on Quinta Drive, a flat approved within a house extension, and several schemes for new flats that Barnet refused. This page sets out who must agree to work inside a flat here, what changes if the council is your landlord, and how Barnet treats turning an Arkley house into flats.

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Flat refurbishment in Arkley at a glance

If your flat is on Quinta Drive, find out first whether Barnet Council is your landlord. Barnet Homes’ 2017 stock listing, published as Barnet open data, records tenanted council flats in Debenham Court, Elvaston Court and Weardale Court, and sixteen more on Quinta Drive itself, and Barnet’s planning register addresses all three courts on Quinta Drive. Quinta Drive is placed in Arkley here only as Barnet’s records place it, among them a 1981 tree order naming Barnet Road up to Quinta Drive as Arkley, so check the address. If Barnet Council is your landlord, Barnet Homes’ consent rules apply on top of any planning or building control approval.

Barnet open data: tenanted properties managed by Barnet Homes (Barnet Homes Stock Listing 2017) · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing) · Planning Data: Barnet Road from Rowley Green Road to Quinta Drive, Arkley, Tree Preservation Order 1981 (TRE/BA/047)

For the whole area, including conservation areas, permissions and working hours, read our Arkley renovation guide.

Approved guide prices

What does a flat refurbishment cost in Arkley?

A flat refurbishment in Arkley runs £900–£1,700/sqm excluding VAT, and a full two-bedroom refurbishment typically lands between £60,000 and £110,000. Most programmes take 16–32 weeks on site. A written scope and site assessment are needed before any project price can be fixed.

Scope of workGuide rateTypical total
Full flat refurbishment (2-bed)£900–£1,700/sqm£60,000–£110,000
Typical programme16–32 weeks on site

Guide rates exclude VAT and are set by depth of work, not by postcode. Compare scopes in our London refurbishment cost-per-square-metre guide or try the cost calculator.

The buildings

Council courts, flats in houses and refused blocks

Barnet’s records show council courts on Quinta Drive and a flat approved within a house extension in Arkley, together with a run of refused schemes for more flats.

The 2017 listing records five tenanted council flats in Debenham Court, three in Elvaston Court and eight in Weardale Court; it gives neither the size of each block nor the owners of the other flats. Barnet’s register shows applications made in October and November 2007 to replace the windows of 1-18 Debenham Court, 1-9 Elvaston Court and 1-18 Weardale Court with uPVC, with new doors at the last two, each approved subject to conditions. In 2007, window work here was applied for block by block.

Barnet open data: tenanted properties managed by Barnet Homes (Barnet Homes Stock Listing 2017) · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Other records concern flats inside houses. An application made in 1979 for a side extension containing a self-contained flat with a garage under it, at a house on Barnet Road, Arkley, was approved subject to conditions. One made in 1993 for side and rear extensions to turn a house on Garthland Drive, then addressed as Arkley, Herts, into two self-contained flats was refused. If your flat is part of a house, find the permission that created it: its conditions and drawings show what was approved as a separate home.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Applications to create more flats have been refused. On Quinta Drive, one made in 2016 to convert a house into four self-contained flats was refused, and two made in 2022 to replace houses with two-storey blocks of seven and of five self-contained flats, the second with a basement level, were refused too. An application made in 1968 for six flats and six garages on two plots on Barnet Road was also refused. The result lists do not give the reasons, so read the decision notice before planning a similar scheme.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Permissions and local rules

Consents for work inside an Arkley flat

If Barnet Council is your landlord

Whose consent comes first?

Barnet Homes handles alterations for the landlord, the London Borough of Barnet. Before any alteration, its October 2021 guidance says, you must first check whether the lease allows the work and obtain Barnet Homes’ written consent; its leaseholder page adds that going ahead without it could put you in breach of the lease. A planning permission or building control approval from the council is not that consent, and the same page notes that those approvals may be needed as well.

Barnet Homes: guidance on making alterations to leasehold properties, October 2021 (for Barnet Council leaseholders) · Barnet Homes: leaseholder home improvements (for Barnet Council leaseholders)

Windows, frames and front doors

If Barnet Council is your landlord, the Barnet Homes page on leases leaves the main structure with the freeholder, together with your front door, its frame and the window frames, unless a Deed of Variation says otherwise. Barnet Homes’ alterations guidance adds that it usually does not permit a change to a front entrance door, agreeing only where your lease already provides for it. In the Quinta Drive courts, read the lease and any variation before pricing new windows or a door.

Barnet Homes: your lease (for Barnet Council leaseholders) · Barnet Homes: guidance on making alterations to leasehold properties, October 2021 (for Barnet Council leaseholders)

Turning a house into flats

Barnet’s Local Plan Policy HOU03 sets criteria for a conversion. Among them, the scheme should include at least one family-sized home of three bedrooms for four people, with its own private garden, and where two flats are proposed the house should have a gross internal floor area of 135 square metres or more. Barnet’s Part 3 guidance says resistance is likely where a road is largely made up of single family houses and losing one would unacceptably alter its prevailing character; on a mixed road, or one already characterised by flat conversions, a conversion may be acceptable.

Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 3, flat conversions and HMOs

Sound and layout in a converted house

If a converted flat will share a party wall with a single family house next door, Barnet’s Part 2 guidance says the council will expect its sound insulation to beat the Building Regulations value by at least 5dB. Part 3 asks for rooms that generally open off a hall or corridor, for room stacking that spares neighbours extra noise, and for an internal stair to an upper flat, and it says the design must make allowance for sound insulation, fire regulations, plumbing, drainage and the other Building Regulations requirements.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 2, design and technical guidance · Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 3, flat conversions and HMOs

Working hours, skips, parking and the conservation area maps for the whole area are in our Arkley guide. Local guidance checked ; requirements depend on the address, the building and the complete proposal.

What the work covers

Inside the flat: what we take on

Floors, electrics and sound

New floor finishes laid over a build-up that limits noise to the flat below, with rewiring and new heating controls. If Barnet Council is your landlord, rewiring and soundproofing appear among the changes Barnet Homes may agree to. Laminate flooring is different: installing it is usually not permitted, it is usually allowed only on the ground floor, and consent follows only where the lease already allows it.

Barnet Homes: guidance on making alterations to leasehold properties, October 2021 (for Barnet Council leaseholders)

How we work

How we run a Arkley flat refurbishment

  1. First visit

    We see the flat, then the entrance, stairs or lift that serve it.

  2. Lease and consents

    We go through the lease’s consent requirements with you and the managing agent at the start.

  3. Survey and design

    Drainage and services are traced on site. Our own architects and structural engineers design the layout and any structural change around those routes, and any new external vent or window is checked for planning.

  4. Price and contract

    A fixed written price and a JCT contract follow the survey, scope and specification. The price names its allowances and exclusions, with consent fees and any common-parts work shown separately.

  5. Working in the building

    Common parts are protected and their condition recorded; deliveries keep to the building’s rules, and noisy work to those rules and the council’s permitted hours; key decisions go to a director.

  6. Handover

    Commissioning, drawings, certificates and any managing-agent close-out. Completed work carries a 12-month defects-rectification period under the JCT contract terms.

Real projects, clearly located

Examples of our flat refurbishment work elsewhere in London

None of these projects is in Arkley. Each card names where the work was done, so you can judge the finish and the approach before you brief your own.

Your brief

Before you ask for a quotation

  1. Name your landlord

    Say who holds the freehold, whether the council, a housing association or a private company, and who runs the block day to day. Send us the lease, or at least its clause on alterations, and any Deed of Variation.

  2. Find how the flat was created

    If your flat is part of a house, give the year it was converted if you know it and any planning or building control papers. For a flat in a block, say which floor it is on and what lies below it.

  3. List what you share

    Note the shared stack, the meters, the loft hatch, the entrance and the garden, and which of them you can reach without a neighbour. Shared parts usually need the landlord’s agreement before anything is moved.

Ready to take the next step? Send the address and a short outline of the work.

Book a free feasibility visit

Questions before you begin

Flat refurbishment in Arkley: questions

Can I buy the loft above my council flat?

Not if Barnet Council is your landlord. Barnet Homes’ leaseholder page explains that loft space is not for sale and that it refuses landlord’s consent for loft works, since the loft sits outside the lease demise and often carries services that several flats share. The page notes that the council might still give planning permission for loft works, yet Barnet Homes’ refusal stands, so look for extra space within the flat itself.

Barnet Homes: leaseholder home improvements (for Barnet Council leaseholders)

What happens if work was done without consent?

If Barnet Council is your landlord, Barnet Homes says it will ask for a retrospective application, may ask you to return the flat to how it was before the work if that work is something it does not permit, is unsafe, compromises the building or adversely affects your neighbours or their homes, and, if it has concerns about the work, can come in to inspect after giving reasonable notice. Ask the seller for the consent history before buying an altered flat whose freeholder is the council, and budget time for any application still outstanding.

Barnet Homes: leaseholder home improvements (for Barnet Council leaseholders)

Is there a fee for landlord’s consent?

Yes, if Barnet Council is your landlord. Barnet Homes makes an administrative charge for handling each alteration application, keeps it if the application is declined, and asks for it online before it looks at the application. One application can cover several alterations, and nothing should start before the decision, so put every item you want into a single request.

Barnet Homes: guidance on making alterations to leasehold properties, October 2021 (for Barnet Council leaseholders) · Barnet Homes: leaseholder home improvements (for Barnet Council leaseholders)

How does Barnet measure a house for conversion?

By its gross internal area. Barnet’s guidance says any area with less than 1.5 metres of headroom is not counted unless used solely for storage, outbuildings and sheds will normally be excluded, and proposed extensions that are not yet built are excluded too. Measure the house that way before you assume a conversion to two flats meets the Local Plan’s size criterion.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 3, flat conversions and HMOs

Does each flat in a converted house need the garden?

Normally it should have access. Barnet’s guidance says each flat should normally keep access to the garden, usually recommends side access for upper flats in detached or semi-detached houses, and says external staircases will generally not be supported. Plan the route to the garden before you plan the rooms.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 3, flat conversions and HMOs

Can I put up a satellite dish?

If Barnet Council is your landlord, ask Barnet Homes first. Its lease page says you need permission before fixing a radio or TV aerial or a satellite dish to the outside of your home, and that a block with an integrated reception system may mean the answer is no. In a privately owned block, check what your lease says about the outside walls.

Barnet Homes: your lease (for Barnet Council leaseholders) · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

How much does a flat refurbishment cost in Arkley?

Guide rates in Arkley are £900–£1,700/sqm excluding VAT, with a full two-bedroom refurbishment typically between £60,000 and £110,000, over a 16–32 weeks programme. A written scope and site assessment come before any fixed price.

Book a free feasibility visit

Talk to us about your Arkley flat

Tell us the address and what you want to change in your Arkley flat. We reply within one working day, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Or call 020 7101 3168. We serve Arkley from our studio at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN.

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