Leasehold Alterations

When you purchased your lease or freehold the documents involved (lease agreement or transfer document) described to you the premises you have responsibility for maintaining, as well as your rights and obligations, and those of the landlord.

Each lease agreement or transfer document will be specific to the individual property, but most will contain similar descriptions and general rules. You will usually have the responsibility of maintaining the inside areas of your property, including keeping it decorated to reasonable standards, but there will be some things you cannot do tothe property, such as knocking down walls.

These restrictions usually, but not exclusively, relate to altering the structure of the property and adding or removing services or facilities.

You may find that you want to carry out such alterations to the structure, or remove or add facilities and services. This part of the leaseholder handbook is designed to indicate the sort of works or alterations you can or cannot carry out, and to explain what you should do to check this or to get permission to carry out such works.

You should also realise that there may be fees involved with some of the works, either relating to legal costs or technical administrative costs. But remember, if in doubt – seek advice and permission first!

What do you do?

The lease agreement or transfer document generally requires you to get permission from the landlord to carry out any works, such as renewing windows or removing internal walls.

However, planning permission may also be required for some works as a legal requirement, and it should be realised that the two are not the same thing: though the Council is your landlord and also runs the Planning Department that deals with planning regulations, gaining planning permission is not the same as gaining the landlord’s permission to carry out works.

The two requirements must be treated separately.

You must put into writing any application for permission to carry out works, to your Leasehold Management Officer (or to your Housing Officer if your property is within the Lancaster West Estate Management Board area) in the Leasehold Services One Stop Shop. These TMO/EMB officers will process your application for you.

You should also include as much detail as possible regarding the works, including copies of any plans and any diagrams that will show the location of the works within your property. Your TMO/EMB Officer will contact The Borough Valuer and/or the TMO Technical Services staff on your behalf and will send to you a letter advising you which sections will be involved.

The technical staff involved will process the application and make contact with you within 21days, subject to receipt of all relevant information.

What happens next?

TMO Technical staff will advise you in writing of any further information needed to consider the application fully. Once this has been received and any technical concerns are resolved, they will write to you or your agent within 21 days advising that approval is granted in principle, subject to certain conditions being met, which will include the payment of fees for administrative costs.

On receipt of your acceptance of the terms, you will be issued with a formal letter granting consent. If a formal licence/supplemental lease is required, the Council’s solicitors will be instructed to prepare it.

If the alterations include an extension to the demised premises (the area of the building that is given over to you as your responsibility to maintain),The Borough Valuer will also be involved.

The Borough Valuer will write to you (copying the TMO staff) regarding valuation of the property, fees payable and inspections. It is likely that TMO Technical staff will be required to inspect and therefore joint inspections will be co-ordinated wherever possible.

There may be technical implications or restrictions to extending the property’s demise, for example: communal services sited within a loft space, such as water cisterns, lift machinery or gas/electrical services. There may also be safety requirements where proposals affect primary or secondary means of escape, or maintenance issues, which limit the landlord’s ability to carry out essential repairs and maintenance.

The TMO reserves the right to refuse permission on these grounds and/or impose restrictions on proposed schemes where essential landlord access will need to be maintained. All applications to extend the demise (to extend the limits of your flat or house) which have been agreed will need a supplemental lease drawn up by the Council’s solicitors for the works to proceed.

Leasehold alterations, which involve the subdivision of rooms/creation of new rooms, may also result in an increase in the weighted room count, which will increase the service charge to that flat. Where a leaseholder wishes to combine two or more rooms resulting in a reduced room count, there will normally be no reduction in the service charge as the floor space will not be reduced, otherwise other leaseholders would have to pay for the shortfall.

In this circumstance, a provision will be included in the licence stating it is a condition of the landlord granting consent that the weighted room count remains the same despite alterations.

Changes in the weighted room count will be included in the licence/supplemental lease.

For an explanation of “weighted rooms” please see another booklet within the leaseholder handbook, entitled “Service Charges”.

Fees payable

Where technical input is required,Technical Services will charge a standard fee, and hourly rates will apply thereafter. An estimate of these fees will be included within the initial letter sent out by your Contact Officer.

Where an alteration involves extending the demise, the Borough Valuer will also require a fee to carry out a valuation. Where additional hours are required, the Valuer will notify the leaseholder of the extra fee. In cases where a licence and a supplemental lease is required, the Council’s solicitor will charge fees for their preparation.

Premiums

A premium is a sum of money, which represents the addition to the value of the premises created as a result of the consent to alterations or extension of the demise. Where the alteration involves changing the layout of a property and the lease allows for a premium to be charged, your TMO/EMB Officer will forward plans to the Borough Valuer to assess if the works attract a premium.

Premiums would normally only be applied if the demise of the premises is extended. The Borough Valuer will advise if this is the case and will make arrangements to inspect the property and notify you of what the premium will be.

Where there is an extension to the demise, a premium will always be charged, and details and plans will be passed on to the Borough Valuer.

What works are allowed?

At the back of this booklet is provided a table showing a number of different types of work that you may consider doing, and whether or not they are generally allowed.

It also shows the processes involved in giving you permission (or in not giving permission) to do the works. It should be remembered that these are general rules which may vary, however, depending on the particular details of individual alterations and lease agreements.

Unauthorised alterations

There are two circumstances where unauthorised alterations may occur:

1. Where a leaseholder has carried out alterations without consent, and is now seeking retrospective permission for works that have been completed.
2. Where the TMO has been aware a leaseholder intends to do some work, and they have started without formal permission being granted.

In these circumstances retrospective consent must be immediately sought. However, you should realise that this is a breach of the lease agreement or transfer document, and your service charge invoices will be withheld as soon as the breach is known, as a precursor to legal action. This is a legal requirement associated with arrears recovery actions.

Your TMO/EMB Officer will write to you advising that there has been a breach of the covenants of your lease and that invoices are being withheld until the situation is resolved, and will request details of the work from you.

Technical staff will carry out an inspection to ascertain what works have been carried out so far, and to advise the leaseholder what will be required in order for the works to progress. Where the alterations involve an extension of the demise, the Borough Valuer will also be notified.

Your TMO/EMB Officer will monitor the application’s progress and the outcome.

Subject to all the conditions being met and the fees paid, as outlined in the alterations’ procedure, retrospective consent may be granted.

In the event of the leaseholder failing to cease work, or meeting the necessary requirements proposed by technical staff or the Borough Valuer, the Contact Officer will instruct the Council’s solicitors to commence legal action to seek an injunction to stop the work and have it made good.

Where a leaseholder does not comply with these requirements, for example, does not provide plans/diagrams or obtain planning permission; or has carried out work for which the TMO will not grant permission, and the leaseholder is resisting reinstatement; then legal action will commence towards forfeiture proceedings, through service of a S146 notice.

In the event of the leaseholder being granted formal permission, the TMO/EMB Officer will send out all of the suspended invoices.

Subject to these requirements being met, formal consent may be granted depending
on the type of alterations in question.

See the Guide to Leaseholder Alterations, for more information.