Licence To Alter

In order to obtain a licence to alter from your freeholder, you will need to start by informing them of the proposed construction work you intend to undertake to your property.

In our experience, the best way to do this is to send them a set of drawings illustrating the proposed works.

Upon receipt of the drawings, the freeholder will then likely instruct a Chartered Surveyor to review the proposed works and confirm if a licence to alter is indeed required.

Assuming the leaseholder’s proposed works will require a licence to alter, the Chartered Surveyor will then advise the freeholder of the information required in order to consider the licence to alter request.

In our experience, this is commonly all or a combination of the following information:

• Specification of works

• Existing and proposed construction drawings

• Method statements for certain elements of the work

• Structural Calculations

• Contractor insurance policy schedule

• Work Schedules

• Health and Safety Statements

• Building Regulation Approvals

• Planning Permission Approvals

• Other specific information based on the work

Once the freeholder’s Surveyor has all of the information required to hand, the Surveyor will then usually undertake an inspection of the property.

The Surveyor’s visit determines the specific requirements that the leaseholder will need to adhere to, during the course of the proposed work.

In our experience these requirements can commonly include all or a combination of the following information:

• The requirement for a Schedule of Condition Report to be completed of the communal areas, external areas or adjoining leaseholder properties

• A security deposit to be held on account in the event that the works cause damage to the freeholder’s property or another leaseholder’s property

• The requirement for an impartial engineer to review the structural scheme and comment on the applicability or overall design

• Construction work specific changes, for example in certain cases an adjoining leaseholder may have undertaken similar works thereby requiring a structural change

• Working hour restrictions

• Other construction works specific requirements

Once the Surveyor has all of the information he requires to hand, he will then make a number of recommendations to the freeholder, as to the type of clauses that should be entered within the Licence to Alter.

The Freeholder’s solicitor will now draft the licence, include the freeholder’s surveyor recommendations and insertions and will then send this over to the freeholder’s Surveyor for final review.

Once the final Licence to Alter content has been agreed, this will be issued to both the Freeholder and Leaseholder for signature and service.

Once the leaseholder has obtained the licence to alter, they are free to commence their proposed works.

As part of the terms of the licence to alter they will commonly need to adhere to the various protective provisions within the Licence to Alter, in our experience these commonly include:

• Temporary protections to the communal areas of the building, this will usually mean laying protective sheeting to the entrance, stairs, lifts etc

• The use of hand tools or non-percussive tools to ensure the risk of damage is kept to a minimum

• Working within the specified working hours

• Allowing the freeholder’s surveyor access for the interim, or various interim inspections

• Providing building control certificates once issued

• Providing ‘as built’ drawings upon completion of the works

• Providing any other regulatory approvals or construction work specific approvals

• Cleaning the communal areas upon completion of the works

When all of the works are complete, the freeholder’s surveyor will re-inspect and check off those areas that were covered within any Schedule of Condition Reports.

The surveyor will also check the works have been completed in accordance with the Licence to Alter and will conclude matters by signing off the Licence to Alter.