Planning Permission vs Licence to Alter in London

The short answer

Planning permission and a Licence to Alter answer different questions. Planning permission (or a lawful development route) decides whether a change is acceptable under public planning law. A Licence to Alter is freeholder consent under your lease to carry out alterations that would otherwise be restricted. One does not replace the other. Building regulations approval is a third track for how the works are safely built.

On mansion blocks and converted houses in areas such as Marylebone, Kensington, Chelsea and Notting Hill, freeholder packs are as common as householder planning for wet-area moves, structural openings and fire separation changes.

What planning permission covers

Planning applications and planning drawings test principle, appearance, neighbour amenity and local policy. They are assessed by the local planning authority against the development plan and material considerations. Conservation areas, Article 4 directions, listing and mixed-use settings change the route on many central London pins.

Planning does not grant you rights under a lease you do not have. A grant of planning permission cannot create freeholder consent for works the lease prohibits.

What a Licence to Alter covers

Licence to Alter drawings answer freeholder and managing-agent risk: structure, drainage stacks, waterproofing, fire separation, acoustics, common-part protection and construction method. Surveyors often want detail closer to building control than to planning sketches.

Cosmetic works may fall outside the Licence; structural and services works usually do not. Read the lease and any agent process notes before freezing a kitchen layout.

How to sequence the three tracks

Typical sequence for a leasehold flat: (1) lease and freeholder process review; (2) measured survey; (3) design freeze for openings and wet areas; (4) freeholder pack issue in parallel with any planning submission if external works apply; (5) building regulations drawings for building control and tender once principle is clear.

Starting with furniture drawings alone is how freeholder refusals and redesign fees start. Our Licence to Alter guide and planning vs building regulations guide cover the drawing products in more detail.

Estate regimes that sit beside both

Some neighbourhoods add a further private-law layer: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust consent, Dulwich Estate Scheme of Management approval, or Grosvenor-style estate design standards. Those tracks sit beside planning and freeholder Licence to Alter. See our Dulwich Estate dual-consent guide, the Hampstead Garden Suburb area guide and the relevant borough planning page for the address-specific sequence.