Leasehold alterations

As a Tower Hamlet Council leaseholder, you can make changes to your home to suit your style and needs. However you must seek permission from Leasehold Services before making certain alterations to your home. This follows your lease terms. It also includes any Planning and Building Control approval that may be needed. 

The council has a duty to consider requests for alterations from leaseholders. They have produced a set of guidelines to help you through the application process. Please read the guidance notes before making your application. 

A leaseholder breaks their lease if they make changes to their home without our written permission. To fix this breach, they may need to restore their home to its original state.

Alterations that require our formal permission include: 

• changing the front entrance door or a secondary means of escape door
• installation of central heating/replacement of boiler 
• any change to the internal layout of your property 
• works affecting the structure of the building 
• works affecting any services to the property, for example, electricity, gas, drainage, water 
• changing or removing any internal doors 
• rewiring 
• installing new kitchens and bathrooms
• asbestos removal  
• replacing kitchen and bathroom units - if it alters the electrical, gas or drainage systems. 

The list is not complete. We strongly advise leaseholders to contact us before doing any work.

Making an application  

You need written consent for alterations from Tower Hamlets Council. This is in addition to any necessary Planning and Building Control approvals.

If your proposal is accepted, you will usually get a conditional consent letter. This letter will list conditions you must meet before receiving full written consent.

Remember, you must get this written conditional consent from the council first. Only then can you contact the Planning Department or Building Control. Without full written consent from the council you will breach your lease. If you make unauthorised alterations, you may have to restore the property to its original state. The council could also take legal action against you.

Getting Building Regulations approval

In the past, leaseholders needed to get Building Regulations approval from Building Control for building works. This included minor or major changes to their flat, altering its layout, or installing a new fire doorset.

This process has changed for flats in higher-risk buildings (HRBs). ‘Higher-risk’ usually means buildings with seven or more storeys or those that are 18 metres or taller. If you live in an HRB, you must now get approval from the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) before making any changes to your flat.

All applications for building works in HRBs must now go to the BSR, which is part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This rule applies to both minor and major changes to your flat. The BSR will handle the approval of applications, inspections, and sign-offs. Building works in an HRB cannot start until the BSR has granted approval.

Once you have applied to the BSR and received their approval, you still need to get our consent before carrying out the works.

Read more about the Building Safety Regulator and familiarise yourself with these new requirements and procedures.

Check the building control application form for higher-risk buildings.

You can contact the BSR on 0300 790 6787.

To get full landlord consent, you may need additional permissions for your application. This could include Building Control, Planning permission, or meeting fire regulations. You should only contact these departments after receiving written conditional consent from Leasehold Services.

You will need to be clear in your application exactly what you are planning to do, who and how you will carry them out. Your contractor may need to be an approved contractor (e.g. for gas appliances) and may need insurance cover. 

Complete an application to seek written consent carry out alterations to a leasehold property.

Get consent

To carry out an alteration to your property, you have to receive written conditional consent from the landlord. 

• Ensure your alteration is only proposed to the part of the building/land under your ownership.

• Provide us full details of the works proposed (including plans, drawings, and measurements where possible) you intend to carry out (before and after). Ensuring that the proposed area is owned and demised to you. 

• Provide details of a reputable contractor with public liability insurance of up to £1 million who will carry out the work to an acceptable standard that meets health and safety requirements. 

• Provide a Structural Engineer's report if removing internal walls (whether partition or supporting walls) and to ensure that the application does not cause damage or depreciation to the structure or value of the building. 

Ensure your service charge account is paid up in full with no monies left owing on the account.    

• Once you received conditional landlord consent you may be required to contact the Planning Department (planningandbuilding@towerhamlets.gov.uk) and Building Control Section (buildingcontrol@towerhamlets.gov.uk). You can contact them on 020 7364 5009 for further information.  If your property is in a building that has at least seven storeys or is at least 18 metres high and falls within the description of a High Rise Building (HRB), you will be required to submit an application via the Building Safety Regulator website. Manage a building control application for a higher-risk building - GOV.UK (call 0300 790 6787).

After you submit the application

When we get your request and the fee, the Alterations Officer will check your application. They will also contact you. If you need to change your plans to meet our requirements, we will inform you about what needs to be done.

Once the Alterations Officer and Surveyor agree to your changes, the landlord’s team will review your application. They aim to grant conditional consent. You don’t need to be involved in this part; we’ll handle it for you. We will notify you when we receive the landlord’s conditional consent. The Leasehold Services Manager will send the application to the landlord’s team with their recommendations.

Asbestos 

Your changes might impact an area of the building with asbestos. For instance, if you add sound insulation, you could disturb your property or need to enter the council's reserved area (with our permission).

After getting landlord consent, you must hire a contractor to do the work and/or remove the asbestos.

Fees 

The following fees apply for alteration requests: 

Additionally, we will charge; 

• £50 an hour for additional significant administrative work   

We will carry out a post inspection before a final consent (licence to alter) is issued. Sometimes we may have a complete Deed of Variation to your lease.