Leasehold Advice
Alterations to a Leasehold Flat: What Your Lease Allows
Most leases require the freeholder's written consent for structural and significant non-structural alterations. This guide explains what counts, how the Licence to Alter works and what happens on a sale.
The Short Version
Almost every leasehold flat is held under a lease that controls what the leaseholder can change about the flat. The starting point is the alterations covenant, usually titled something like “alterations and additions” or “improvements”. Most modern leases require the freeholder's prior written consent for structural or significant non-structural changes. Painting and routine redecoration are usually fine without asking.
Three things commonly get confused, and untangling them helps. Lease consent comes from the freeholder under the lease. Planning permission comes from the local council, and is mainly about external changes or change of use. Building regulations are safety standards, checked by Building Control. These three systems run separately and a typical flat refurbishment might need any combination of them. None of them substitutes for the others.
This guide describes the law in England and Wales. It covers what the lease usually says, the formal consent (the Licence to Alter), when the freeholder can and cannot refuse, how alterations interact with planning and building regs, what happens if you do works without consent and how all of it surfaces on a future sale.
What the Lease Means by “Alterations”
The lease usually defines what counts. The covenant typically prohibits the leaseholder from making any structural alteration to the flat, and from making any non-structural alteration without the freeholder's prior written consent. A few common categories are worth understanding before reading the lease itself.
Structural alterations
Anything that affects the load-bearing or fabric structure of the flat. Removing a chimney breast, altering a stairway inside a maisonette, or cutting through a floor or ceiling are structural. Knocking down or moving an internal wall is treated as an alteration even where the wall is not load-bearing, because it changes the floorplan; the lease will normally catch it under the alterations covenant whether or not it is strictly structural. The freeholder will almost always require a structural engineer's report for any genuinely structural change.
Non-structural alterations to the services
Moving plumbing, drainage, electrics or gas around the flat counts as an alteration to the building's services. A new bathroom in a different position from the old one, or a kitchen moved to a different wall, brings the building's pipework into play. These works often need consent because they affect parts of the building outside the flat (vertical risers, soil stacks, electrical supply, gas lines).
External changes
Anything visible from outside the flat almost always needs consent. Replacement windows, a new front door, a new balcony rail, painting the front door a different colour, an air-conditioning unit on an external wall or a satellite dish: each affects either the external appearance of the building or its fabric, and the lease will usually require freeholder consent before any of it happens. External changes can also need planning permission, which is a separate matter.
Flooring and sound transmission
Hard flooring is the most common alteration issue in flats with another flat below. Many leases require carpet across all habitable rooms, or at least the underlay of an acoustic specification, to limit sound transmission. Removing carpet to fit wood, laminate or tile can breach the lease even though the change does not look structural. A quick read of the flooring clause is essential before pulling up old carpet.
Cosmetic changes (usually no consent needed)
Painting walls and ceilings in standard finishes, fitting curtain rails and blinds inside the flat and routine redecoration generally do not need consent. The lease usually allows decoration in keeping with the character of the building, and ordinary upkeep is expected. If in doubt, a short note to the managing agent confirming that the proposed work is purely cosmetic costs nothing and avoids later argument.
Reading the alterations clause
The clause is usually one of the leaseholder covenants, often near the alienation clause (which controls letting and sub-letting). Look for the words “alterations”, “additions”, “improvements”, “structural changes” or “not to alter”. The clause will usually divide alterations into two categories: those that are absolutely prohibited (often structural changes to load-bearing parts or external walls) and those that need consent (most other significant changes). The distinction matters because the freeholder's freedom to refuse differs between the two.
Getting the Freeholder's Consent
Where the lease requires consent, the formal mechanism is a Licence to Alter. The leaseholder applies, the freeholder considers and if all is well a deed is signed by both sides recording the agreed works and any conditions attached. The process is straightforward in most cases but it takes time and costs money, and starting early avoids the common trap of works held up at the contractor stage waiting for the licence to come through.
The typical process
The leaseholder writes to the freeholder or managing agent with a description of the proposed works, scaled plans where structural changes are involved, contractor details and a confirmation that the lease will continue to be complied with during the works. The freeholder reviews the proposal, sometimes via a surveyor or in-house technical team. Once approved, the freeholder's solicitor drafts the Licence to Alter, the leaseholder's solicitor reviews it and both sides sign. The leaseholder usually pays all the freeholder's reasonable fees.
What the freeholder usually asks for
The standard request package is plans, a description of the works, contractor and supervising professional details and confirmation that the leaseholder will keep the building's insurance in place throughout. For structural works the freeholder will normally want a structural engineer's report. For works affecting the building's services, the freeholder may want sign-off from a chartered surveyor. The Licence to Alter itself will typically include a reinstatement clause requiring the leaseholder to put the flat back to its original layout at the end of the lease if asked. In practice reinstatement clauses are rarely invoked, but they sit there on the deed.
Timescales and fees
For a simple non-structural alteration, expect 4 to 8 weeks from application to signed licence, with total fees of £400 to £800. For structural works requiring a surveyor's review, allow 8 to 12 weeks and total fees of £1,500 to £3,500. Larger or more contentious schemes can run longer and cost more. The licence is granted on a one-off basis for the specific works described; future alterations need their own licence.
What the leaseholder can negotiate
The fee level is sometimes negotiable, particularly on the freeholder's solicitor's costs. The reinstatement obligation is sometimes flexible, especially where the alteration is genuinely an improvement to the flat. The freeholder cannot demand a payment for the privilege of giving consent on top of legitimate fees; section 19(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 and the case law on it limit what the freeholder can require to reasonable expenses, damages for any diminution in value and (in some cases) reinstatement. If the freeholder is slow to respond, the courts have read into section 19(2) a duty to give a decision within a reasonable time.
Section 19(2) and Improvements
The leaseholder's main legal protection against an unreasonable refusal sits in section 19(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927. The protection is real but narrower than it first sounds, because the section only bites on alterations that count as “improvements”.
What section 19(2) does
Where the lease has a covenant against making improvements (whether the covenant is qualified, requiring consent, or absolute, prohibiting improvements outright), section 19(2) implies a proviso that the freeholder's consent will not be unreasonably withheld. The section effectively converts an absolute prohibition on improvements into a qualified one: the freeholder cannot refuse outright where the work is genuinely an improvement, but can still impose reasonable conditions. The section also allows the freeholder to require, as a condition of consent, payment for any damage to or diminution in the value of the building, payment of the freeholder's reasonable expenses in considering the application and (for non-improvement alterations to the building) reinstatement at the end of the lease.
The “improvement” test
An improvement is judged from the leaseholder's perspective, not the freeholder's. The leading case is Lambert v F W Woolworth & Co Ltd (1938), which held that almost any alteration that makes the property more useful or valuable for the leaseholder's purposes counts as an improvement, even where the freeholder objects to it. A new kitchen layout, a refitted bathroom, a removed wall to open up a living space, replacement double-glazed windows: these are almost always improvements in the section 19(2) sense, and the freeholder cannot unreasonably refuse consent.
What the freeholder can still require
Even where section 19(2) applies, the freeholder is entitled to charge reasonable fees, to require professional reports, to impose conditions about how the works are carried out and to require reinstatement at the end of the lease (though only in the case of certain types of alteration). The protection prevents an arbitrary refusal; it does not give the leaseholder a free hand.
If the freeholder refuses
The leaseholder can challenge an unreasonable refusal in court (the County Court or the High Court depending on the value at stake). The action is for a declaration that consent has been unreasonably withheld and that the works can proceed. The process is slow and the costs are real, so most refusals are resolved by negotiation rather than litigation. A useful first step is a written request asking the freeholder to set out the specific reasons for any refusal, which the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 requires within a reasonable time.
Where section 19(2) does not help
Section 19(2) only catches covenants against improvements. The test for an improvement is whether the work adds value or utility from the leaseholder's perspective (the Lambert v Woolworth test), and most alterations a leaseholder would actually want to make pass that test. The narrow exceptions are alterations that genuinely do not improve the flat: a downgrade, a change of personal preference that reduces value or a structural change of no obvious utility. For those, an absolute prohibition in the lease stands and the freeholder can refuse outright. In practice this exception almost never matters for normal flat alterations. Where a leaseholder does need to vary an absolute prohibition that section 19(2) does not reach, a deed of variation to the lease itself is the available route, which is more involved and expensive than getting a Licence to Alter.
Lease Consent, Planning Permission and Building Regs
Three separate systems sit around any significant alteration. Each is granted by a different body and each is concerned with a different question. A flat refurbishment often needs more than one of them, and confusion between the three is the most common avoidable mistake at the planning stage of the works.
Lease consent (the freeholder)
The Licence to Alter is granted by the freeholder under the lease itself. It is the consent that matters between the leaseholder and the freeholder, and the one this guide has focused on. Without it, even works that are technically lawful from a planning and building regs point of view are still a breach of the lease.
Planning permission (the council)
Planning permission is granted by the local planning authority and is concerned with whether the works change the use or external appearance of the building in a way the council needs to control. Internal alterations with no external change almost never need planning permission. For external changes the position is different: flats have very few permitted development rights compared with houses, so most external alterations need planning permission. Common examples include new windows of a different design, a new roof terrace, an external door of a different style or an air-conditioning unit visible from the street. Conservation areas and listed buildings tighten this further. A pre-application discussion with the council's planning team is the fastest way to confirm whether permission is needed.
Building regulations (Building Control)
Building regulations are about safety standards: structure, fire safety, drainage, energy efficiency, electrical safety, ventilation. They apply to almost any significant alteration regardless of whether planning permission is needed or whether the lease requires consent. A new kitchen with new electrical work usually needs an electrical certificate. A new bathroom or moved drainage needs a Building Control sign-off. Removing or altering a wall almost always needs a structural calculation and Building Control approval. The certificate issued at the end of the works (a Completion Certificate or, in England, sometimes a Regularisation Certificate for retrospective work) is the document a future buyer's solicitor will ask to see.
How they interact
A typical kitchen refit might need lease consent (yes, because services are being moved) and building regs sign-off (yes, for the new electrics and any plumbing) but no planning permission (no external change). A new front door of the same style might need lease consent (yes, because it affects the building's external appearance) and no building regs (no safety standard triggered) and no planning permission (like-for-like). Each project needs the question asked separately for each of the three systems.
What Happens if You Do Not Get Consent
Doing alterations without consent is a breach of the lease. The risks during ownership are real but rarely catastrophic; the bigger problem usually surfaces on a future sale. Knowing what the freeholder can and typically does do takes some of the fear out of the position.
The freeholder's remedies
The freeholder's main legal remedies are an injunction to stop or reverse the works, damages for any cost or loss caused and ultimately forfeiture of the lease (the nuclear option). Before any forfeiture claim, the freeholder must serve a Section 146 notice under the Law of Property Act 1925, giving a reasonable time to remedy the breach. Courts almost always grant relief from forfeiture if the leaseholder remedies the breach and pays the freeholder's costs, so an outright loss of the flat is very rare in alteration cases. The realistic worst case is the cost of reinstating the works and paying the freeholder's legal fees.
Retrospective consent
The most common practical fix is a retrospective Licence to Alter. The freeholder confirms that the works can stay, on the same terms as a fresh consent, usually for an extra fee covering the additional administrative work. The leaseholder pays the freeholder's professional fees as before. The result is a clean deed sitting on the title alongside the lease, which is what a future buyer's solicitor wants to see.
The freeholder's leverage
Where consent should have been obtained and was not, the freeholder is in a strong negotiating position because the breach is real. Some freeholders use that leverage to charge a higher fee for retrospective consent than they would have for prospective consent. Others ask for additional conditions, such as a survey at the leaseholder's expense or a structural sign-off after the event. None of this is unusual, and most cases settle on terms both sides can live with.
Why the sale risk is the bigger one
Most freeholders will not actively pursue a leaseholder who is in occupation and not causing trouble, even where the freeholder knows about unauthorised works. The position changes on a sale, because the buyer's solicitor will see the works in the survey and ask for the licence. Without a licence, the sale needs either retrospective consent (which costs money and adds weeks) or indemnity insurance (faster, but cheaper protection). Sellers who address the licence position before listing avoid the issue holding up exchange.
How Alterations Affect a Sale
Alterations come up at three points in a sale. First, on the seller's property information forms. Second, on the buyer's solicitor's enquiries after seeing the survey. Third, on the lender's valuation if the works are visible and unusual. Tidy paperwork makes all three of these straightforward; missing paperwork is the most common alteration-related issue at sale stage.
Disclosures on the TA6 and TA7
The seller's TA6 (general property information) asks about any alterations made during ownership and any consents obtained. The leasehold-specific TA7 asks the same questions in more detail, including whether the freeholder has objected to anything, whether any reinstatement has been required and whether the Licence to Alter was registered against the title. A seller should locate and provide the Licence to Alter, any structural engineer's reports and any Building Control certificates with the conveyancing pack.
The buyer's solicitor's enquiries
A buyer's solicitor will follow up the TA6 and TA7 answers with specific enquiries. Common ones include: when were the works carried out, who carried them out, was a Licence to Alter obtained, was Building Control approval obtained, were there any complaints from the freeholder or other residents and have any reinstatement obligations been triggered. The solicitor will then ask for copies of the supporting documents. Clean paperwork answers all these questions in a single exchange of emails.
Indemnity insurance versus retrospective consent
Where the original consent is missing, two options exist. Indemnity insurance is a one-off policy (typically £100 to £300 depending on the value of the flat) that covers the leaseholder and the buyer against any future enforcement action by the freeholder. It is cheap and fast but the cover is limited: it does not cover building safety issues, only the lease-breach risk. Retrospective consent is more expensive (often £1,000 to £3,000) and takes weeks, but it produces a clean position on the title that satisfies the lender as well as the buyer. The lender's preferences often decide which route is taken: some lenders accept indemnity, others insist on retrospective consent for structural works.
Lender pickiness
The buyer's mortgage lender has its own view on unauthorised works. Mainstream lenders typically accept indemnity insurance for cosmetic-leaning issues but want retrospective consent for structural works or anything that affects the building's services. Specialist or short-lease lenders sometimes refuse to lend at all where major works lack a licence. The buyer's solicitor will check the lender's requirements before recommending which route to follow.
Cash buyers and alteration issues
Where the works are substantial, the paperwork is incomplete and the seller wants a clean exit without the time cost of retrospective consent, a cash buyer can take the flat as-is and resolve the licence position themselves after completion. The price reflects the additional work the buyer is taking on. For sellers caught between a defective paper trail and a closing window (a probate, a sale chain, a relocation), this is a working option.
Relevant Legislation
Alterations sit at the intersection of lease law, planning law, building safety and consumer protection. The main statutes are:
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, section 19(2) applies to any covenant in a lease against making improvements, whether the covenant is qualified (consent required) or absolute (prohibition with no consent route). The section implies that the freeholder's consent will not be unreasonably withheld where the work is an improvement from the leaseholder's perspective. It also allows the freeholder to require payment for damage or diminution in value, reasonable expenses and (in some cases) reinstatement at the end of the lease. Almost all alterations a leaseholder would want to make qualify as improvements, so the protection is broad in practice.
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 imposes a statutory duty on a freeholder considering an application for consent to sub-letting (or assignment, charging or parting with possession) to give a decision within a reasonable time and to set out reasons for any refusal. Breach of the duty entitles the leaseholder to damages. The Act covers alienation covenants, not alterations: for alterations, the equivalent reasonable-time duty arises under section 19(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 itself, as interpreted by the courts.
The Law of Property Act 1925, section 146 requires the freeholder to serve a formal notice before starting forfeiture proceedings for a breach of covenant, identifying the breach, requiring it to be remedied if remediable and requiring compensation. It is the procedural gate to any forfeiture claim, including one based on unauthorised alterations.
The Building Act 1984 and the Building Regulations 2010 set the safety standards (structure, fire, drainage, electrics, energy efficiency, ventilation) that apply to most building work in England and Wales. Building Control issues the certificates that confirm compliance. Wales has its own Building Regulations administered by the Welsh Government.
The Town and Country Planning Act 1990, together with the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015, governs whether planning permission is needed. Flats benefit from very few permitted development rights, so most external alterations require planning permission. Conservation areas, listed buildings and Article 4 directions tighten the position further.
The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced stricter regulation of building work on higher-risk buildings (broadly, residential buildings over 18 metres or 7 storeys). Alterations to flats in higher-risk buildings now face a tighter Building Control regime under the Building Safety Regulator. For most ordinary flats, the regime is the same as before.
Further Reading
Two related guides sit alongside this one: how to read your lease to find the alterations covenant, and what a leasehold management pack contains when you come to sell.
Frequently Asked Questions
For most non-cosmetic alterations, yes. Almost every leasehold flat is held under a lease that requires the freeholder's written consent before any structural or significant non-structural change to the flat. Painting and routine redecorating are usually fine without consent. Anything that affects the structure of the building, the services (plumbing, electrics, gas), the windows or any part of the building outside the flat will almost always need a formal consent called a Licence to Alter. Read the alterations covenant in the lease before you start.
Anything that changes the physical fabric or services of the flat beyond ordinary redecoration. Knocking down or moving internal walls is an alteration. Fitting a new kitchen or bathroom where pipes, drainage or electrics are moved is an alteration. Replacing windows or the front door is an alteration. Installing new flooring is sometimes treated as an alteration because of the sound transmission risk, depending on the lease. Painting walls in the same finish or fitting curtain rails is usually not an alteration. The lease itself usually defines what is caught, so reading the relevant covenant is always the starting point.
A Licence to Alter is a formal written consent from the freeholder, signed as a deed, that permits the leaseholder to carry out specified works to the flat. It sits alongside the lease and records what has been agreed: which works are permitted, on what terms, with what conditions (such as a requirement to use a qualified contractor, to maintain insurance during the works or to reinstate at the end of the lease). The deed protects both sides and produces a clear paper trail that will be checked on a future sale.
For a straightforward licence on minor non-structural works, expect £400 to £800 in freeholder and solicitor fees. For structural works that need a surveyor or engineer to review the plans, the total can run from £1,500 to £3,500 or more, depending on the complexity. The leaseholder typically pays all the freeholder's reasonable costs as well as their own legal fees. The lease will usually say the leaseholder must pay the freeholder's costs of considering and granting consent.
Three things can follow. The freeholder may demand that the works are reversed at the leaseholder's cost, though this is rare in practice. The freeholder may grant retrospective consent on the same terms as ordinary consent, usually after charging an extra fee for the inconvenience. Or the freeholder may take no action while the leaseholder is still in the flat, but the issue surfaces on a future sale when the buyer's solicitor finds that no licence exists for visible works. The biggest practical risk is the sale problem, not enforcement during ownership.
It depends on the lease wording and the type of work. Where the work is an “improvement” (genuinely improving the flat from the leaseholder's point of view), section 19(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 implies that consent cannot be unreasonably withheld, even where the lease appears to prohibit the alteration outright. Almost all alterations a leaseholder would actually want to do count as improvements. The narrow exception is an alteration that does not improve the flat at all, where an absolute prohibition can stand. A refusal that seems unreasonable can be challenged in court but the process is slow and the costs are real.
Three separate things that often get confused. Planning permission is granted by the local council and deals with whether the work changes the use or appearance of the building in a way the council needs to control. Building regulations are about safety standards (structure, fire, drainage, energy efficiency) and are signed off by Building Control. Lease consent is granted by the freeholder under the lease itself. Each system runs independently: you can have planning permission but no lease consent, or building regs sign-off but no licence to alter. A typical flat refurbishment might need building regs and lease consent but not planning permission.
Yes, in two ways. The seller's property information form (the TA6 and the leasehold TA7) asks specifically about alterations and any consents obtained. A buyer's solicitor will then ask for the Licence to Alter and any related building regulations and structural engineer's documents. Missing paperwork slows the sale, can spook the lender and may require either retrospective consent or indemnity insurance to satisfy the buyer's side. Tidy paperwork on properly consented alterations causes no problem; missing paperwork on unauthorised works is the most common alteration issue at sale stage.
Yes, usually. Most freeholders will agree to grant a retrospective Licence to Alter for works that should have had consent at the time, on the same terms as a fresh licence and usually with an extra fee for the additional work. The leaseholder pays the freeholder's legal and surveying costs. The retrospective process can take longer than getting consent before starting, because the freeholder will want to verify what was actually done, and may ask for a structural engineer's report or a Building Control certificate after the event. For a sale, retrospective consent is often the cleanest fix; the alternative of indemnity insurance is faster but covers a narrower set of risks.
Painting and routine redecoration in normal colours and finishes are generally fine without consent. New flooring is more nuanced: a leaseholder fitting hard flooring (wood, laminate, tile) in a flat with another flat below should check the lease, because many leases require carpet over much of the floor area to limit sound transmission. Removing or changing flooring that affects sound transmission can be treated as an alteration even though it does not look structural. The same applies to anything that changes the look of windows from outside (such as new blinds visible from the street, replacement window glass or door colour). The cosmetic-versus-alteration line sits in the lease itself, and a quick read of the covenant settles most cases.