Most flat renovations do not slip because the trades work slowly. They slip because something that should have been sorted before the first wall came down was still being sorted three weeks in: a consent that had not been applied for, a party wall notice that had not gone out, or a delivery that had a longer lead time than anyone checked. This article covers the sequence a London flat renovation usually needs to follow, and where the timeline tends to actually slip.
A workable sequence
The order that tends to work, roughly:
- Survey the flat and agree the scope, room by room, in writing
- Identify what consents the scope needs: freeholder consent, building control, planning permission, and any party wall notices
- Apply for and obtain those consents, or at minimum serve the required notices, before booking trades
- Order materials with long lead times as early as the scope allows
- Strip out, first-fix, then progressively finish room by room
- Final inspection, building control sign-off where it applies, snagging, then handover
The step that gets skipped most often is the second and third: identifying consents early and actually getting them before work starts, rather than assuming they will come through in parallel. A renovation that starts stripping out before a required consent is in hand risks having to stop, or having to make good work that turns out to need approval it did not get.
The permissions that actually apply to a flat
Freeholder or management company consent
Most flat leases require the leaseholder to get the freeholder’s or the management company’s written consent before certain alterations, particularly anything structural or anything affecting shared services. This sits outside building control and planning entirely, it is a matter of your lease, and skipping it can put you in breach even if the work itself is otherwise lawful. Check your lease, and where consent is needed, get it in writing before work starts, not after.
Building control
Building Regulations apply to a wide range of work: structural alterations, most electrical work beyond minor repairs, new drainage, and changes that affect fire safety or means of escape, among others. Where the scope needs building control sign-off, that is arranged either through the local authority or a registered building control approver, with inspections carried out at the relevant stages and a completion certificate issued once the work is signed off. We identify this at survey stage and coordinate the applications and the inspections as part of the project, rather than leaving it for you to chase separately.
Planning permission
Internal reconfiguration of a flat generally does not need planning permission, but anything affecting the external appearance of the building, and almost anything in a listed building or a conservation area, might. Those constraints are identified at survey stage, because they affect both the scope and the timeline: an application, where one is needed, has to be decided before the affected work can start.
The Party Wall etc. Act 1996
Where work will affect a wall or structure shared with a neighbouring property, or where excavation is close to a neighbouring building’s foundations, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 requires notice to be served on the adjoining owner before that work starts. If the adjoining owner does not agree to the notice, a party wall surveyor is appointed to prepare an award setting out how and when the work can proceed. This is a matter for your own solicitor or a party wall surveyor, not something we can advise on directly, but we flag at survey stage where a job looks likely to fall under the Act, because notice has to be served in good time and this is one of the more common causes of a delayed start.
Access and living around the work
Whether you can stay in the flat during the renovation depends on the scope. Where the kitchen, the bathroom or the services are affected, part of the flat will be out of use for a period, and that period is worth getting an honest estimate of at survey stage rather than finding out as it happens. For a tenanted flat, this usually means timing the renovation between tenancies, which is a scheduling decision as much as a construction one. Our article on landlord property management covers how that fits alongside the ongoing maintenance side of letting a flat.
Pricing a renovation
Most jobs are quoted as a fixed price after the site visit. Where a scope genuinely cannot be pinned down in advance, we say so at the visit and agree in writing how it will be charged before any work starts. Renovations are more likely than a routine repair to hit a concealed condition once walls or floors are opened up, older wiring behind a finish, or a joist in worse condition than expected. Our article on fixed price property maintenance goes through what makes a scope genuinely fixable, and what a written scope needs to contain so a concealed defect does not turn into a dispute about the price.
Talk to us about your renovation
The consultation, the site visit and the written quote are free and carry no obligation. See the full detail on our renovation and refurbishment page, or request a free quote and tell us about the flat and what you want done with it. If the project is larger than you want to run yourself day to day, project management for landlords and investors covers how we run a job like this end to end.