Help when you want to make alterations to your flat...

The Freeholder/Freehold Company has a duty to protect the structural integrity of the building and the services installations within from overload or failure. This duty is usually delegated to the agent who is appointed to uphold the lessee's covenants within their lease.

Alterations can include any of the following actions and to protect the interests of all in the building it is not for the lessee to determine whether their proposed works are alterations but the responsibility of the Freeholder/Freehold Company and their advisers.

• Internal layout changes & other internal alterations
• External alterations
• Loft conversion
• Install an additional bathroom/shower/toilet
• Add an extension
• Add a conservatory
• A Structural Engineer's perspective
• Help with drawing up a new lease plan
• Do I need planning permission to...
  • Add an Extension or Conservatory To My Home?
  • Do I Need Planning Permission for Gates, Fences and Walls?
  • Porches
  • Garages
  • Loft Conversions
  • Satellite Dishes
  • Windows & Doors
  • Garden Buildings, Greenhouses & Sheds
  • Buying a Flat That Does Not Have Planning Permission
• Advice on how to get building regulations consent
• Valuation Issues - Premiums Payable to Convert/Extend a Demise

Do I need a licence to alter?

If you can answer yes to any of the following questions, then a License to Alter is required.

1. Will you proposed alterations affect any face of the building (changing a window/door, putting a skylight in etc...)
2. Will you proposed alterations cut through any wall?
3. Will you proposed alterations remove any part of any wall (internal, external or partition wall)?
4. Will you proposed alterations increase the amount of waste water/sewerage leaving the flat? (E.g. new kitchen, bathroom, toilet, show etc...)
5. Will you proposed alterations involve any modification to a communal service? (eg. Removing a radiator attached to a communal heating system, re-routing a communal waste pipe.)

Useful links

• FENSA
• SAP Ratings
• NICEIC
• CORGI