Licence to Alter Process for London Flats

Licence to Alter is private law, not planning

A Licence to Alter is the freeholder’s formal consent under the lease to works that would otherwise breach lease covenants. It is separate from planning permission and from building regulations approval. Many London flat projects need all three — and starting with only one is how programmes stall mid-strip-out.

This guide sets out a practical process for leaseholders. It is not legal advice on your lease; leases differ and freeholders set their own information requirements.

1. Read the lease against the proposed works

Identify what the lease reserves to freeholder consent: structural alterations, moving wet areas, changing floor build-ups, altering windows, and sometimes even hard flooring. Purely cosmetic redecoration in the same layout often falls outside, but assumptions are expensive — check the actual clauses.

Note freeholder, managing agent, and any estate rules (Grosvenor, Cadogan, mansion-block house rules). Those bodies may have their own drawing and method standards.

2. Confirm whether planning is also required

External change, extensions, roof works and some window alterations can need planning even when freeholder consent is the main conversation. Flats do not enjoy the same permitted-development rights as houses. Confirm designations and route before freeholder packs freeze a layout that planning will not accept.

See Licence to Alter drawings guide and Licence to Alter packages.

3. Survey and design one measured model

Freeholder surveyors typically want existing and proposed layouts, structural opening information, and notes on acoustics, fire stopping, waterproofing and services where wet rooms or floors change. One measured survey should feed freeholder packs, planning drawings and building regulations drawings so the three audiences do not get three inconsistent designs.

4. Assemble the freeholder pack

Typical pack contents: existing/proposed plans; opening-up details for the engineer; specification notes for floor build-ups and wet areas; method statements freeholders request for noisy or structural works; contractor insurance and programme notes where the building rules require them. Incomplete packs create query loops that can take longer than planning determination.

5. Sequence consents before site start

Do not start works until the Licence is signed if the lease requires it — even if planning and building control are in hand. Programme freeholder surveyor review and legal drafting with realistic lead times. Party wall notices may still apply for structural works near neighbours.

After consent, building regulations drawings and tender information let contractors price like-for-like. See after planning permission for the public-law track that often runs in parallel.

Costs to separate

Your design/drawing fee, freeholder’s reasonable surveyor and legal costs (often recoverable from the leaseholder under the lease), engineer fees, council fees if planning is needed, and build cost are different lines. Fixed design fees should state exclusions clearly.