Flat refurbishment
in Tooting, SW17
In-house RIBA Chartered Architects, structural engineers and build delivery under one contract.
Survey. Design. Consent. Build.
Tooting flats include Totterdown Fields' cottage flats, built as separate ground-floor and first-floor homes, and the converted houses and maisonettes of the Heaver Estate.
The consent route for a Tooting flat refurbishment
Where a Tooting flat sits in a converted house, Wandsworth Council's householder guidance directs a proposal requiring planning permission to the full application route rather than the householder form. The building type therefore changes the application route, not just the paperwork.
That is why tenure and building type are confirmed at the survey stage rather than assumed from the postal address: a purpose-built flat, a converted flat and a maisonette can each face a different consent picture for the same physical scope of work.
Alongside the council route, the lease and proposed alterations determine whether a leasehold refurbishment needs the freeholder's consent, so the licence-to-alter requirements are read together with the planning position before the programme is fixed.
A conversion flat before an application route
For a Tooting flat, start with the proposed alterations and whether they need planning permission at all. Where an application is needed, confirm the appropriate form for the building type. Alongside that check, survey shared drainage, floors and access and read the lease before committing to a new kitchen or bathroom position.
Refurbishing a Tooting cottage flat or conversion: what it covers
A Tooting flat may be half of a Totterdown Fields fourth-class cottage, built as separate ground-floor and first-floor flats, part of a converted terrace house, or one of the late 19th-century flats the Heaver appraisal records. Each shares walls, floors or drains with another home, and those shared parts shape the work.
Source: Totterdown Fields conservation area appraisal, approved March 2008 · Heaver Estate conservation area appraisal and management strategy, part one, approved 1 March 2010
An upper flat's bathroom sits over a neighbour's rooms, so learn who controls the shared stack, the isolation valves and access through the ceiling below before moving any fitting. Then fix the drainage falls, the extract route and the waterproofed floor ahead of choosing tiles, and follow any damp back to its cause.
Source: LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When Building Regulations approval is needed
Have any partition checked for load, the joist direction confirmed and earlier pipework notches found before it comes out. Where a house has been divided, Approved Document E applies to relevant building work, so plan sound insulation and the floor build-up between the two homes alongside the lease's conditions.
Source: When Building Regulations approval is needed · GOV.UK: Approved Document E, resistance to sound · LEASE: alterations and home improvements
Consents to confirm before altering a Tooting flat
Where Wandsworth Council is the landlord, most of its leases prohibit structural alterations and additions, windows included, without its permission, while renewing a bathroom needs none unless the work is structural or affects communal services. With any other landlord, read the alterations clause to see whether written consent is required and on what terms.
Source: Wandsworth: alterations to a council leasehold property · LEASE: alterations and home improvements
Rearranging a flat's rooms is rarely development, but a flat has no Part 1 householder rights, so any change to the outside, new windows included, needs its own planning check. On the Heaver Estate, the appraisal records an Article 4 direction made for houses converted to flats, and Wandsworth's Totterdown Fields page lists visible window and door replacements among works needing permission.
Source: When planning permission is required · Householder permitted development technical guidance · Heaver Estate conservation area appraisal and management strategy, part two · Wandsworth: Totterdown Fields Estate conservation area Article 4 direction
New plumbing, or electrical work close to a bath or shower, may need Building Regulations approval, unless an installer registered with a competent person scheme carries it out. In a listed building, interior alterations can need consent. Joining two flats into one is a separate question, since Wandsworth's LP25 accepts the net loss of a home only in exceptional circumstances.
Source: When Building Regulations approval is needed · GOV.UK: Building Regulations approval · Historic England: listed-building consent · Wandsworth Local Plan 2023–2038: policy document
Running flat works around Tooting neighbours
Work out how materials and rubble will pass through any shared front door, hall and stair, and agree with the landlord how those common parts are protected and on which days a shared supply can be isolated. Tell the neighbours below and alongside before strip-out begins.
Source: LEASE: alterations and home improvements
Check TfL's map for the frontage: at the points read, Tooting High Street and Upper Tooting Road were red routes, where Wandsworth cannot license a skip and TfL considers one only in rare cases. On a council road, a skip licence lasts at least five days; for a Merton or Lambeth address, check that council's arrangements.
Source: TfL: red routes and the TLRN map · TfL: highway licences on red routes · Wandsworth: red routes in the borough · Wandsworth: apply for a skip licence · Find the council for the property
A lease or block rules can be stricter than the council's hours. Wandsworth normally permits noise audible at the boundary on weekdays between 8am and 6pm and on Saturdays between 8am and 1pm, never on Sundays or bank holidays, and Merton and Lambeth publish matching hours. If you will live in the flat, arrange temporary washing facilities.
Source: LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Wandsworth: building noise and permitted hours · Wandsworth Construction Code of Practice, January 2022 · Merton: building noise and permitted hours · Lambeth: building noise and permitted hours
Preparing a Tooting flat brief for quotation
Say whether the flat is in a Totterdown Fields cottage, a converted house or a block, which floor it occupies and how it is reached. Photographs of each room to change, the shared entrance and any damp or leak marks, with the soil stack's position if known, help define what the survey checks.
Have the lease or title ready, together with any licence already granted, existing plans and earlier planning or building control records. Note whether Wandsworth Council is your landlord, which council you believe covers the address, and any listing, conservation area or Article 4 direction you have found.
Source: LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Find the council for the property
Mark the decisions that wait on lifting floors, an engineer's visit, a drainage survey or the landlord's reply, and ask for them to be priced as provisional sums. Decide who writes to the landlord, applies for street licences and books inspections, and how agreed changes will be logged.
What does a flat refurbishment cost in Tooting?
A flat refurbishment in Tooting 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 work | Guide rate | Typical total |
|---|---|---|
| Full flat refurbishment (2-bed) | £900–£1,700/sqm | £60,000–£110,000 |
| Typical programme | 16–32 weeks on site | |
Guide rates exclude VAT and are set by depth of work, not by property type. Compare scopes in our London refurbishment cost-per-square-metre guide.
Cottage flats, converted houses and maisonettes
Some of Tooting's flats were built as flats a century ago. Totterdown Fields' fourth-class cottages consisted of a separate ground-floor and first-floor flat, each of three rooms, within cottages that look like the rest of the terrace.
On the Heaver Estate, the appraisal records houses converted to flats and multi-occupied homes alongside purpose-built maisonettes in Louisville Road, and a separate Article 4 direction covers houses converted to flats, reaching windows, doors and stained glass facing the road.
In a cottage flat the outside of the building is shared. The Totterdown appraisal keeps pipes, flues and vents off the street elevations and wants windows repaired in wood, painted white, to match the originals.
Inside, the lease sets what the landlord must approve, and LEASE notes that changes made without a consent it calls for can come to light when the flat is sold or remortgaged.
Outside Tooting: Chevalier House, Knightsbridge, a Knightsbridge apartment refurbished throughout.
In a ground-floor or first-floor cottage flat we settle the hours of work, and how the shared front door and path will be protected, with the other flat's owner before work starts.
Sources: Wandsworth: Totterdown Fields conservation area appraisal and management strategy; Wandsworth: Heaver Estate conservation area appraisal and management strategy, part two; GOV.UK - Leasehold property; LEASE: alterations and home improvements.
Flat Refurbishment in Tooting: Questions
Do flats on the Heaver Estate have extra planning controls?
Yes. One of the estate's two Article 4 directions covers houses converted to flats, bringing changes to road-facing windows, doors and stained glass under planning control.
Where do the pipes go when a Tooting flat gets a new bathroom or kitchen?
Inside where possible. On Totterdown Fields no extra soil or water pipes, flues or vents should be fixed where they can be seen from the street, and any external pipework is kept to a minimum at the rear.
Can a Tooting cottage flat have new windows?
Repair comes first. The Totterdown appraisal says complete renewal of the timber sashes and casements is seldom necessary, and where it is, the new windows should be wood, painted white, matching the original glazing bars.
Which planning route applies to a Tooting flat refurbishment?
Inside work is usually not development; external changes are. A flat has no permitted development rights, so new windows, doors or vents need planning permission, and on the Heaver Estate converted houses have their own Article 4 direction.
What do you confirm before pricing a Tooting flat refurbishment?
The lease, the floor construction between the two flats and the route of the shared services. In a Totterdown cottage flat the other flat is directly above or below, so the sound insulation and the pipework are designed with it in mind.
How much does a flat refurbishment cost in Tooting?
The guide rates on this page apply, and the figure for a particular flat is set after a survey of its condition, its services and the depth of work, before VAT.
