In today’s Property Surveying blog post topic we are going to be taking a look at licence for alterations procedures.
In particular, we are going to be looking at the common question that we find ourself asked here at Stokemont, which is will I get licence for alterations consent and permission from my freeholder?
If a leaseholder is planning on undertaking construction works at a property, with those construction works meeting the definitions of an alteration as per the property’s lease. They will have a legal requirement to go through the licence for alterations procedures and seek their freeholder’s permission to progress the works.
The licence for alterations procedures are in place to ensure that the overall envelope of the building to which the leaseholder’s property forms part of is considered.
In almost all circumstances a leaseholder will be able to gain the licence for alterations consent from their freeholder, however if the alterations covenant is either a qualified covenant, or an absolute covenant, then there is a risk that the works will be stalled, or prevented from proceeding.
To better understand this we will take a look at the respective covenants.
A qualified covenant is what we would rate as an amber rating on a traffic light scale.
It effectively means that the leaseholder can only proceed with the proposed alterations works if the freeholder is agreeable to giving their consent.
Furthermore, a qualified covenant sets out that the freeholder doesn’t need to give their consent, and in many cases a more business minded freeholder will take the view of requesting some form of premium, or licence sum, for granting this consent.
Here at Stokemont, we have seen this raised from arbitrary figures, to more considered figures such as the increase in value that the overall works will take.
The second type of restrictive covenant in place would be an absolute covenant.
An absolute covenant will essentially fully prohibit the leaseholder from being able to undertake their proposed works, and recent caselaw which you can read a little bit more about here, is likely to mean that the freeholder will not grant consent for the works.
If your works do require alterations consent, we would advise discussions are had with the freeholder at the earliest opportunity. This will not only ensure that you are abreast of the procedures that need to be followed, however will also ensure that the necessary steps are taken to obtain the consent in advance of the works commencing.
Common types of works that fall within the realm of licence for alterations procedures are as follows:
- Changes to floor coverings.
- Changing windows.
- Installing new bathrooms, kitchens or toilets.
- Making changes to services, electrical, gas or water.
- Removing structural and non-structural walls.
- Changing the layout of the flat.
- General works to ceilings or floors.
All of these works will generally speaking fall within the realm of the license for alteration procedures and will ultimately set out that the leaseholder needs to seek their freeholder’s consent in advance of progressing with the proposed works.
Here at Stokemont, we undertake hundreds of licence for alterations jobs every year, and over that time we have dealt with the straightforward, to the more complex.
If you would like to discuss your licence for alterations procedures with our team of experienced and qualified RICS Chartered Surveyors, give us a call today and we would be more than happy to assist and advise you.
