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Finchley N3 and N12 · Flat refurbishment

Flat refurbishment in Finchley

Converted villas, 1930s blocks and flats over the parades

Finchley’s flats include converted Victorian villas, purpose-built blocks and homes above shops. Barnet’s records describe each: the converted houses of Moss Hall Crescent, the 1936 and 1961 blocks of Glenhill Close, the flats around Avenue House and the parades along Ballards Lane. This page sets out what those records mean for refurbishing a flat, from balconies and dormers to listed building consent and work above a shop.

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Flat refurbishment in Finchley at a glance

Moss Hall Crescent shows how conversion has shaped North Finchley flats. The 2015 appraisal says its villas stayed middle-class family houses until about the 1970s, when many owners sought a change of use to flats or offices, and that several conversion permissions have been granted, finding that the villas could become satisfactory flats without a loss of character. It also ties the conversions to some unsympathetic rear and side extensions that compromise the gaps between the villas, and notes unsuitable uPVC top-hung windows on some properties. A refurbishment is a chance to reverse those changes rather than repeat them.

Moss Hall Crescent Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 26 August 2015

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

Approved guide prices

What does a flat refurbishment cost in Finchley?

A flat refurbishment in Finchley 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

Finchley’s flats, block by block

Barnet’s records describe three main settings for a Finchley flat: the 1930s and 1960s blocks at Glenhill Close, the flats on the Avenue House Estate and the parades of shops and flats along the main roads.

At Glenhill Close each first-floor flat in the 1936 blocks has a front-facing balcony, reached through doors whose horizontal glazing bars match the windows, and the ground-floor front doors are timber with a chevron pattern. The 1961 blocks are plainer, in fletton brick under hipped pantile roofs, and several have rear-facing flat-roofed dormers that the statement records as later additions. When it was written, none of the buildings was on the statutory list.

Glenhill Close Conservation Area character appraisal statement

Behind the listed Hertford Lodge on East End Road, the 2011 Church End appraisal records a recent yellow-brick block of flats beside a former coach house converted into apartments. Barnet’s register holds permissions from 2005 and 2006 for refurbishing Hertford Lodge itself to form four self-contained flats with balconies at first and second floor, alongside a new block and two flats in another building on the site. Ask for that history before planning changes to any of these homes.

Finchley Church End Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 31 August 2011 · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Much of Ballards Lane, the Moss Hall Crescent appraisal notes, was rebuilt from the early 20th century with parades of shops and flats. Barnet’s Local Plan calls North Finchley the largest district centre in the borough and names it, with Finchley Central, among its priorities for investment. In Church End, the 2011 appraisal found some parade buildings poorly kept above ground-floor level, naming windows, roofs and dormers on King Edward Hall and Nos. 2-20 Hendon Lane.

Moss Hall Crescent Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 26 August 2015 · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Finchley Church End Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 31 August 2011

Permissions and local rules

Consents a Finchley flat owner should check

Small changes to a listed flat

Does a flat in a listed building need consent for outside details?

It can. In 2020 Barnet granted listed building consent, subject to conditions, at a flat in a listed building in Finchley for two handrails on the entrance steps and a change of front-door paint colour. The adopted Local Plan says consent is required for any alterations, including some repairs, that would affect a listed building’s special interest.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing) · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Historic England: listed-building consent

Dishes, roofs and windows on a converted villa

On Moss Hall Crescent, the 2015 appraisal counts satellite dishes on front elevations or fixed to chimneys and roofs, and security lights and CCTV cameras on the fronts, among the harmful additions. It also calls re-roofing the villas’ shallow hipped roofs, with their oversailing eaves, in artificial slate harmful to the buildings’ appearance. These are often shared parts of a converted house, so settle any dish, roof or window change with the freeholder and the other flats first.

Moss Hall Crescent Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 26 August 2015 · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Turning a house into flats

Can a Finchley house be split into flats?

Barnet’s adopted Policy HOU03 makes the conversion of a house subject to criteria, among them public transport access, a family-sized home with its own garden and a minimum floor area where two units are proposed. The council’s 2026 guidance on conversions asks for the least possible change to the outside, avoids an additional front door and wants meter boxes kept away from the front. Large extensions made to fit a conversion are unlikely to 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 between flats and the house next door

Barnet’s conversion guidance says the design of flats in converted properties must allow for sound insulation, fire regulations, plumbing and drainage and other Building Regulations requirements. Where a new flat conversion shares a party wall with a single family house, its design guidance says the council will expect sound insulation at least 5dB better than the Building Regulations value. Approved Document E sets the national standard for sound between homes.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 3, flat conversions and HMOs · Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 2, design and technical guidance · GOV.UK: Approved Document E, resistance to sound

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

What the work covers

What a Finchley flat refurbishment covers

A layout that respects the lease and the block

We start from the lease plan and its alterations clauses, then survey the walls, floors and service routes the flat shares with its neighbours. The layout is drawn so that any change to structure, services or shared parts can go to the freeholder or managing agent as one clear request, before a builder is booked.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Windows, balcony doors and details matched to the building

In a block with a consistent pattern, such as the chevron front doors and barred balcony doors of Glenhill Close, replacement joinery is drawn to the original sub-divisions. In a converted villa we record the sash pattern, the roof and the chimneys first, so any proposal can show that it removes past harm rather than adding to it.

Glenhill Close Conservation Area character appraisal statement · Moss Hall Crescent Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 26 August 2015

Fire, sound and access between homes

Floors, the entrance door and any opening onto a shared hall are specified with fire separation and sound in mind from the start, and work in shared parts is planned with the other residents. In a flat over a shop, access, deliveries and waste routes are agreed with the shop and the building’s manager before work begins.

How we work

How we run a Finchley 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 Finchley. 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. Find your building’s history

    Note whether the flat is in a converted house or a purpose-built block, roughly when it was built, and whether it is listed, locally listed or in a conservation area. Barnet’s appraisals and boundary maps help answer these questions for Finchley’s named blocks and crescents.

  2. Read the lease and ask the freeholder early

    Find the alterations clause, who owns the windows, roof and pipes, and what consent the freeholder or managing agent needs. Send them an outline of the work before design is finished, so their conditions shape the drawings instead of arriving afterwards.

  3. Note what you share with your neighbours

    List the stack, the shared hall, the meter positions and any balcony or garden you use, and note who lives above and below. That shows where sound, fire and access matter most before the scope is fixed.

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 Finchley: questions

Can I add a rear dormer to a Glenhill Close flat?

Start with the lease and with planning, because flats have no householder permitted development rights. The Glenhill Close statement records rear-facing flat-roofed dormers on several units of the 1961 blocks and describes them as not original features, so a dormer is not part of the blocks’ original design. Ask the freeholder first, then seek Barnet’s view on the drawings.

Glenhill Close Conservation Area character appraisal statement · Householder permitted development technical guidance · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Is Gainsborough Court built to the same design as Glenhill Close?

Barnet’s Glenhill Close statement says the builder, George Payne and Co, used the same building design on two other local sites at about the same time, one of them Gainsborough Court on Nether Street, N3. The statement does not say whether Gainsborough Court is protected in the same way, so check Barnet’s conservation-area records and the national list for that address before planning outside changes.

Glenhill Close Conservation Area character appraisal statement · Barnet open data: conservation area appraisals and boundary maps

Is my Rectory Close or Spencer Close flat in a conservation area?

Check the current Finchley Church End boundary map. In 2011 the appraisal proposed taking Rectory Close, Pewterers Court and The Rectory, among other sites, out of the conservation area, but did not propose removing Spencer Close, finding it homogeneous and well screened by mature trees. If your block is inside the boundary, changes to its outside are judged against the appraisal as well as needing the freeholder’s agreement.

Finchley Church End Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 31 August 2011 · Barnet boundary map: Finchley Church End Conservation Area · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents

I own a flat above a shop on Ballards Lane. Does Barnet want homes there?

Its adopted Local Plan does. Policy TOW02 seeks the use of upper floors in town centres and parades, where suitable, for uses including homes, and the plan says residents above ground floor make more efficient use of town centres. For your own refurbishment the practical questions are the lease, access past the shop and noise from it, so settle those with the freeholder and the shop first.

Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents

Does Barnet’s conversion guidance apply if I only refurbish my flat?

Generally not. Barnet’s 2026 guidance on conversions applies Policy HOU03 to turning single family houses into self-contained flats, so it applies when a house is being converted. If your plans would add a flat or change the outside of the building, ask Barnet early which of its policies and guidance apply.

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

What did the Glenhill Close statement count as harm on its blocks?

It named a modern rooflight and a glazed balcony screen at one flat, and white plastic gas-meter boxes fixed to the front walls of some ground-floor flats, while finding that the 1930s blocks otherwise kept all their original doors and windows. A new meter cabinet, rooflight or balcony enclosure is therefore worth discussing with the freeholder and Barnet before it is ordered.

Glenhill Close Conservation Area character appraisal statement

How much does a flat refurbishment cost in Finchley?

Guide rates in Finchley 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 Finchley flat

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

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

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