Licence to Alter: Why Freeholders Control How You Renovate Your Flat
In a leasehold building, your flat is rarely yours in the way a freehold house is. A Licence to Alter exists because your renovation doesn’t just affect your home. It affects the building, the neighbours, the structure and the freeholder’s long-term liability.
Why a Flat Is Never an Independent Object
Most homeowners purchasing a flat imagine their new space as a self-contained domain. The walls define the home, the floors belong to them, and the ceilings sit politely overhead. A renovation seems like a private matter, something that happens entirely within the boundaries of their property. This idea collapses quickly the moment building work is planned.
Flats do not exist independently. They are components of a single structural system. Your floor is someone else’s ceiling. Your proposed steel is part of the building’s load path. Your new bathroom affects the drains that serve other homes. Leasehold law evolved to manage this interconnectedness, and Licence to Alter provisions sit at the heart of that logic. A Licence to Alter is not bureaucracy. It is a framework for managing shared risk.
The Freeholder’s Perspective: Liability Never Disappears
Freeholders carry long-term responsibility for the building’s structure, common parts, integrity and insurability. When a leaseholder alters their flat, the freeholder assumes potential liability for the consequences. This includes structural failures, water ingress, acoustic problems, fire safety issues and disputes between neighbours.
This is why freeholders demand professional drawings, structural calculations, acoustic specifications and sometimes even method statements. They are not trying to obstruct the renovation, but are protecting themselves from future claims. The freeholder’s oversight exists because the consequences of a mistake do not fall solely on the person making it.
Structure: The Part of Your Home That Isn’t Yours
One of the biggest misconceptions among leaseholders is the belief that interior walls, floors and ceilings belong entirely to them. In many buildings, especially older ones, these elements form part of the structural frame. Removing a wall, altering joists, or cutting into floors can destabilise neighbouring flats. Even seemingly modest changes, such as shifting a kitchen or adding a bathroom, may require structural intervention.
The freeholder’s responsibility is to ensure that these interventions are designed by competent professionals and executed safely. A Licence to Alter formalises this process, documenting what was approved and how the building’s integrity was preserved. When you renovate a flat, you are intervening in a shared system; the Licence to Alter recognises this in legal form.
Sound Transmission: The Invisible Neighbourhood Issue
Acoustics is one of the most contentious aspects of flat living. Many Victorian and Edwardian buildings were not designed for modern impact noise standards. Floors transmit sound far more readily than homeowners expect. A change from carpet to timber, a misplaced bathroom, or poorly insulated floors can transform neighbourly relations for the worse.
Freeholders insist on acoustic testing and compliant floor systems because they know how quickly sound disputes escalate. The Licence to Alter protects the building community as much as the structure itself. It creates records that demonstrate what measures were approved to mitigate noise. Sound is the single most underestimated element of leasehold renovation.
Fire, Escape Routes and the Quiet Complexity of Older Buildings
In older buildings, compartmentation, escape routes and fire-stopping measures are often inconsistent or degraded. A renovation that opens ceilings, alters internal layouts, or introduces new materials can disrupt the building’s fire strategy without the homeowner even realising it.
Freeholders require detailed fire compliance for this reason. They must ensure that the building does not become more vulnerable due to uncoordinated alterations across flats. A Licence to Alter allows them to enforce consistency, document interventions and maintain a defensible fire safety record.
Plumbing and Drainage: A Web, Not a Line
Water is the enemy of old buildings. A small leak in one flat can cause thousands of pounds of damage in another. Many older blocks have fragile cast-iron stacks, shared drainage routes and inconsistent repairs accumulated over decades. When a leaseholder reroutes plumbing, changes bathroom locations or fits new appliances, the risk of future water damage increases.
Freeholders review drainage proposals not because they doubt the leaseholder’s good intentions but because they understand the fragility of the system. The LTA ensures that plumbing alterations are coherent, competent and coordinated.
Insurance: The Silent Anchor Behind Every Approval
The building’s insurance policy dictates much of what a freeholder can and cannot allow. Insurers care deeply about structural integrity, fire risk, acoustic performance and the qualifications of those carrying out the work. A poorly executed alteration can jeopardise the building’s entire insurance position.
This is why freeholders require evidence of contractor insurance, professional indemnity for designers and sometimes even homeowner extensions to cover works. A Licence to Alter creates the documentary trail that keeps insurers satisfied that risks were controlled. Without this record, the whole building’s insurance becomes vulnerable.
Why Freeholders Aren’t Simply Being Difficult
From the homeowner’s perspective, the Licence to Alter can feel like a hurdle: fees, drawings, approvals, conditions, inspections. But the process exists because renovations in one flat have consequences for everyone in the building. The LTA ensures that work is competent, safe and respectful of the shared structure.
It also protects the homeowner. A properly granted Licence to Alter becomes evidence of approval, compliance and responsibility. It safeguards future resale, avoids disputes and provides clarity long after the work is complete.
When viewed in context, the Licence to Alter is not an obstacle. It is the structure that allows renovation to happen in a shared building without destabilising the lives of others.