Alterations to your property

How it works

Under the terms of your lease, landlord’s consent is required before making any alterations or additions to your home. Landlord’s consent is required for any work that will alter the structure or layout of your home; even if the work will not affect the main structure of the property, such as removing an internal wall.

The formal consent in writing given by the council for alterations is known as a Licence for Alteration. You must not start works until you have received the Licence for Alteration from us. 

You may also need to apply for building control and planning approval. Landlord’s consent is independent of planning permission and building control approval. In some instances, landlord’s consent can be refused even if you have been granted planning or building control approval.

Check the bottom of this page for detailed application advice for common alterations.

When you need permission

You need permission when changing the structure or layout of your home including:

• All structural work, such as building an extension or converting a loft.
• If you intend to alter the internal layout of your home.
• Changing the use of a room

The council does not normally allow residents to change the use of a room, for example using a bedroom as a living room. This is because most flats have a similar layout; bedrooms are above bedrooms and living rooms are above living rooms, which helps minimise noise nuisance.

However, the use of a room may be changed if:

• It can be proved that there is a complementary layout in the flat below
• The proposed works are in a maisonette and the proposed works only affect your property

When you do not need permission

You do not need permission for general internal decoration, renewal or replacement work for anything like for like, for example kitchen units and bathroom suites. You must not alter communal pipework.

How to apply for permission

Granting consent for alterations involves several council departments and you must give yourself plenty of time to apply. We cannot process an application for permission if you owe any service charges including major works. If this applies to you, you will need to contact the Home Ownership team to discuss clearing your arrears first.

To apply:

1. Contact the Home Ownership team by calling 020 7527 7715 or emailing homeownership@islington.gov.uk. The Home Ownership team will do some initial checks and let you know whether your proposed alterations are in line with the council’s current alteration criteria.
2. Once they have received your completed application, relevant supporting documentation and paid the relevant fees, they will pass this to the Diagnostics team who will review and assess your application. Site inspections may be required.
3. If they are happy for you to continue with your proposed alterations, they will provide you with the provisional consent and conditions and if required, ask you to send a payment for the council’s legal fees of preparing your Licence for Alteration and Deed of Variation.
4. If applicable, the council’s legal department will contact you and/or your solicitor and draw up your Licence for Alteration and/or Deed of Variation. The Licence for Alteration will give you permission to do the proposed work and will state any conditions for the building work and future maintenance. You should not commence any work until you have received your completed Licence for Alteration.

Once the work has been completed, if required under the terms of the Licence for Alteration you should contact the Home Ownership team to arrange a post-work inspection.

Other permissions to apply for

You may also need to apply for permission from the Building Control team and Planning team:

• Check if the proposed alterations need building regulations approval via the Full Plans application route through the Building Control team. Submit a Building Control application.
• You may also need to get planning permission from the council.

Please include Building Control’s approval or decision notice and Planning permission with your alterations application. Neither Building Control nor Planning Permission constitute as landlord's consent.

For alterations within flats in a higher-risk residential building, you must apply to the Building Safety Regulator.

Costs and fees

You are responsible for the cost of administration, letter of consent, inspections, valuations, Licence for Alteration, Deeds of Variation and supplemental leases.

Find out what fees we charge for home improvements and alterations. These fees are subject to change on 1 April.

Any costs incurred during the alterations approval process are non-refundable irrespective of the outcome and does not constitute landlord’s consent.

Pay an alteration fee

If permission is granted

If permission is granted, please think about the impact on your neighbours and show consideration by ensuring the following: 

• Works are only carried out between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.

• No work should be carried out on Sundays.

• Noise and dust must be kept to a minimum.

• No building materials or equipment can be stored in communal areas.

• Rubbish must not be left in communal areas, and must be disposed of responsibly. Please refer to the council’s website for disposal of building materials.

• Any part of the building that is damaged must be made good at your own cost.

If you employ someone to carry out work for you, remember to check that they are suitably qualified and that they have appropriate insurance. 

Doing work without permission

If you do work without getting the required permissions including landlord's consent, you will be in breach of the terms and conditions of your lease. You may also be breaking Planning and Building Control regulations.

We may, if your lease permits alterations with consent, request that you apply for retrospective consent. You will need to follow the same process as requesting consent in advance including the payment of any fees. You will be expected to pay punitive penalty fees more than what you would have been charged had consent been correctly obtained.

If we are not satisfied with the works carried out, we may request that further works/modifications are carried out for you to bring the property back to a safe standard before we can grant retrospective consent.

Failure to make good the property to the agreed standard could result in Islington Council pursuing legal action to stop any further works and to make you reinstate the property as it was. This could prove extremely costly for you as you would have to pay not only our legal costs and associated fees but also the additional cost of any re-instatement works.

Buying extra land including loft space

We will consider all requests to buy extra land or other unused areas that are not shared or owned by anyone else. The council has to sell the land or space to you at its current market value. If you're not sure whether an area can be sold to you, talk to us. All homes are different and every application is viewed on a case by case basis.

For example, if you are interested in doing a loft conversion and the loft space doesn’t belong to you, you will need to buy that space. We class this as buying extra land.

There are some areas of land we usually cannot sell. These include:

• garages in a separate block
• loft spaces with shared water tanks or other communal services
• roof terraces situated above another home.

The council also does not allow leaseholders to buy communal areas such as basement well areas, internal stairs and communal or tenanted gardens.

To apply to buy extra land or find out more, contact the Home Ownership team by calling 020 7527 7715 or emailing homeownership@islington.gov.uk.

Application advice for common alterations