Licence to Alter Drawings in Hammersmith

We open a Hammersmith project with an authority register. The complete address and postcode are checked through the council finder and H&F’s current online planning search; title information, the executed lease and its plan identify the documents that require legal review; the current management contact is asked to show the basis on which it receives or grants an alteration request. These records answer different questions. H&F may be the local planning authority without owning the freehold, and a registered proprietor is not automatically the person delegated to administer the covenant. The register keeps those roles separate.

The private brief is constructed clause by clause. GOV.UK says the lease records whether permission is needed for alterations. LEASE expands that a covenant can prohibit work, permit it, or require written consent, and explains the distinction between the demised premises and parts retained by the landlord. We map every removal, addition, penetration and finish to that wording. If the lease plan does not settle ownership of a wall, window, roof, floor void or service, the drawing flags the interface for legal interpretation instead of assigning it to the leaseholder.

Proposed work is divided into reviewable actions. A partition move is not bundled with a structural cut; a bathroom relocation is not treated as the same operation as a new external grille; a floor finish is not hidden inside a decoration note. The interface schedule gives each action an identifier, existing condition, proposed outcome, relevant drawing, consultant and approval question. This makes comments auditable and helps prevent a late design change from passing unnoticed between landlord, engineer, building control and contractor.

The measured set is proportionate to those actions. Plans establish the internal arrangement and locate retained, removed and new fabric. Targeted sections show crossings through floors, ceilings, structure or external envelopes. Details explain selected junctions only after the underlying construction has been established. Photographs and survey notes carry dates. Inaccessible risers, concealed beams and unverified substrates are recorded as unknowns with a named next step. No street description, postcode stereotype or neighbouring flat is used to fill a gap in the survey.

H&F planning research is address-specific. The council’s provider-change notice records that planning and building-control searches moved in February 2026 and links to the current online planning search, while the H&F INSPIRE conservation-area and Article 4 layers provide separate mapped records. The council’s urban-design page distinguishes conservation areas, listed buildings, Buildings of Merit and directions. A designation is not inferred from apparent age. The register captures the exact record and the operation it may affect. An internal proposal can have a different planning outcome from a replacement window, external duct, plant item, roof alteration or changed entrance, even when the landlord reviews all of them together.

The adopted-policy baseline is stated with a date. H&F’s official Local Plan hub identifies the Adopted Local Plan 2018, and the adoption statement records that it took effect on 28 February 2018. Cabinet approved the next Regulation 19 consultation stage on 6 July 2026; that procedural decision did not itself adopt a replacement plan. We therefore check the live policy hub when advice or an application is prepared and describe draft material by its actual status. Historic wording in an older character profile is not promoted to current development-plan policy.

Article 4 claims are kept within their published subject. H&F’s urban-design page says borough-wide directions in force since April 2018 restrict specified permitted-development rights for basement excavation and certain changes of use. That supports an address-level planning check for a basement proposal; it does not make every internal flat alteration a planning application and does not create a private landlord process. Any other direction is matched to its map, schedule and affected development before being entered in the project register.

H&F’s council-landlord material is a conditional branch, not the Hammersmith default. The live leaseholder form identifies the Council’s Property Compliance Team as the landlord-side recipient and explicitly separates its consent from planning permission and Building Regulations. Its companion checklist asks for the application, the lease and coloured lease plan, relevant supplemental deeds or previous licences, and project documents appropriate to the proposal. We use those requirements only after ownership confirms H&F Council is the landlord. They are not attributed to a private company, housing association or resident-controlled building.

For a private landlord, the submission follows the executed covenant and the current written procedure supplied by the authorised party. We ask for the receiving address, required forms, deposits or undertakings, technical reviewers, inspection stages and document format, but we do not promise that any of those items exists. Likewise, no generic Hammersmith acoustic build-up, contractor hours, loading arrangement or surveyor timetable is inserted. If the manager issues building rules, the issue register names the document and revision; if it does not, the drawings remain limited to verified design and lease information.

Structural design is coordinated, not guessed. The architect records geometry and observed construction, while the appointed engineer establishes the load path, permanent works, bearings, connections and temporary stability. Proposed holes and service routes are checked against that design. Where investigations are outstanding, the package says what must be opened and who will assess it. The landlord can review the effect on retained property, but its response does not certify structural adequacy. Engineer, landlord and statutory comments are each closed against their own revision and authority.

Services and performance details follow the real proposal. A wet-area sheet may trace cold and hot water, soil or waste connections, ventilation, waterproofed extents and maintenance access. A floor or door change may require evidence about sound, fire or smoke performance, but the applicable solution depends on the surveyed construction, lease and statutory design. We avoid universal specifications and do not claim that all Hammersmith buildings publish the same standard. Product data is linked to the selected assembly; it is not evidence of a concealed substrate or existing compartment line.

Building Regulations are evaluated through the national rules. GOV.UK lists many alterations that can require approval and publishes a separate Building Safety Regulator route for building work in higher-risk buildings. The Approved Documents provide guidance rather than project approval. We record the responsible building-control body, application status, design duties and completion evidence for the actual property. Shared drawings are kept geometrically consistent, but a landlord licence, H&F planning decision or consultant report is not represented as the statutory approval.

A Party Wall check starts with construction facts. GOV.UK identifies work to a party wall or party structure, building on a boundary, and specified excavation near adjoining foundations. Tenure and postcode alone trigger none of those categories. If the design may qualify, a Party Wall adviser can use the measured survey and engineering scheme to identify relevant owners and notice requirements. We do not schedule an award as inevitable or confuse a neighbour’s response with landlord consent. Any procedure is tracked independently and updated if the structural scheme changes.

Cost information is presented as a responsibility table, not an area-wide price. The architectural fee states the surveyed area, drawing deliverables, meetings, consultant coordination and included revisions. A landlord or managing agent may charge administration, legal or surveyor costs only according to the lease and current process; H&F Council’s charges apply solely to its own landlord cases and can change. Planning, building control, structural engineering, fire or acoustic advice, Party Wall services and legal work are shown separately unless the written appointment clearly includes them.

Before issue for construction, the consent register is reconciled against the final scope. It records the executed private document, any H&F planning or heritage decision, building-control status, consultant designs, Party Wall position and building-specific access conditions. Each entry names the approved revision. A contractor proposal or site discovery is assessed for effects on every relevant track before it is adopted. At completion, inspection records, certificates and as-built information are stored with the consent set, leaving a defensible record for the identified property rather than a generic W6 narrative.