Do I need my freeholder's permission to do work in my flat?

The lease decides, and it usually distinguishes between work you may not do at all and work you may do with consent. Doing it without asking creates a problem that surfaces at sale.

Difficulty: intermediate
Time: 20 min
Read: 5 min

Short answer

Read the alterations clause. An absolute covenant means the work is prohibited outright; a qualified covenant means it needs the landlord's consent, which by statute cannot be unreasonably withheld. Structural work, anything touching the exterior or common parts, and hard flooring in a flat with a carpeting covenant are the usual triggers. Get consent in writing before starting.

This is separate from planning permission and building regulations, and all three can apply to the same job. A leaseholder who satisfies building control and never asks the freeholder has still breached the lease, and the point at which it surfaces is almost always a sale, when the buyer's solicitor asks for the licence to alter and there is not one.

Step by step

Find the alterations covenant in the lease.Look for clauses about alterations, improvements, structural works, and any specific prohibitions on flooring, plumbing, gas appliances, satellite dishes, windows and external appearance.
Work out whether the covenant is absolute or qualified.Absolute prohibits the work outright and the landlord is under no obligation to consider a request, though they may agree by deed of variation. Qualified requires consent — and where a covenant requires consent for improvements, statute implies that it may not be unreasonably withheld.
Identify what belongs to the freeholder.In most flat leases the structure, external walls, roof, windows in some leases, and everything outside the demised area belong to the freeholder. Work touching any of it engages the lease even if it is done from inside your flat.
Treat flooring as its own question.Many flat leases require floors other than kitchens and bathrooms to be carpeted, specifically to control noise transmission. Replacing carpet with hard flooring is one of the most common breaches, and it is enforceable by the freeholder and often by neighbours under mutual enforcement provisions.
Apply for a licence to alter.Submit drawings, a specification, contractor details and insurance. Expect to pay the landlord's reasonable legal and surveyor's fees, which the lease normally allows them to recover, and expect conditions about hours, protection of common parts and making good.
Deal with planning and building regulations in parallel.They are separate systems with separate consequences. GuideHQ has guides on both. Building regulations approval does not cure a lease breach and lease consent does not cure a building regulations breach.
Notify the buildings insurer.The building is usually insured by the freeholder under a block policy, and works can affect cover. The freeholder normally requires notification as a condition of consent.
Keep the paperwork permanently.The licence to alter, drawings, building regulations completion certificate and any electrical or gas certificates. This is the pack a buyer's solicitor asks for, sometimes twenty years later.
Regularise past work if you find it.Retrospective consent is often obtainable, and indemnity insurance is a common conveyancing fix where the freeholder is uncontactable. Deal with it before marketing rather than mid-sale, when it becomes a price negotiation.

Tips

Ask the managing agent for their alterations procedure before you design anything. Most have one, and it tells you exactly what they will want to see.
Budget for the landlord's professional costs as part of the project. They are payable, they are rarely small, and they surprise people.
Photograph the works in progress, particularly anything that will be covered up. Buyers' solicitors ask, and so does building control.

Common mistakes

Assuming that needing no planning permission means needing no permission — The lease is a third, private layer on top of planning and building control. Internal work that needs no planning permission at all can still be a clear breach of the lease.
Starting while the consent request is outstanding — It turns a request into a breach and removes any negotiating position on the conditions and the landlord's costs, both of which are otherwise open to discussion.

If it doesn't work

A neighbour is complaining about noise from a new floor

Cause: Hard flooring laid without consent, or without the acoustic underlay the lease requires — Fix: Check the flooring clause first. Where consent was needed and not obtained, ask for it retrospectively and expect to add acoustic treatment. Managing agents do enforce this and neighbours can often enforce it directly.

The freeholder has not answered a consent request

Cause: Slow managing agents, or a request that arrived without enough detail to decide on — Fix: Resend with full drawings, a specification, contractor details and their insurance, and ask for a decision by a stated date. Where the covenant says consent is not to be unreasonably withheld, unreasonable delay is itself arguable.

A sale has stalled over an alteration nobody consented to

Cause: The buyer's solicitor has found the breach — Fix: Ask your conveyancer whether retrospective consent or an indemnity policy is the better route, and in which order. Approaching the freeholder first usually makes a policy unavailable, so the order matters.

Questions people ask

Can my freeholder refuse permission?

Where the covenant is absolute, yes, and without giving reasons. Where it is qualified and the work is an improvement, statute implies that consent may not be unreasonably withheld, and an unreasonable refusal can be challenged.

Do I need permission for a new kitchen or bathroom?

Often yes, because they usually involve alterations to plumbing, waste and sometimes structure or the position of a soil pipe. A like-for-like replacement in the same position is more likely to be permitted; read the clause.

What if I already did the work?

Ask for retrospective consent. It is commonly granted on payment of the landlord's costs. If the freeholder cannot be traced, a conveyancing indemnity policy is the usual solution, but arrange it before a sale rather than during one.

Can I put wood or laminate flooring down?

Only if the lease allows it, and a great many do not. Where consent is available, an acoustic underlay meeting a specified standard is the usual condition. Hard flooring laid without consent is the most commonly enforced breach in blocks of flats, and neighbours complain about it more than anything else.