In London, building regulations require you to meet certain legal requirements before beginning work on your property. This may include planning permissions, whether from the local authority or from your landlord or letting agent. Failure to comply with these provisions may be illegal or a breach of your lease, both of which would cause difficulties in trying to sell your property at a later date. For your convenience, these regulations are set out below.
Types of Work Covered
Local authority building control regulations list a number of changes as work for which homeowners need to apply to Tower Hamlets building control team to obtain permission, including:
Types of Work Covered
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Creating a New or En-Suite Bathroom or Cloakroom
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Installing a New Kitchen
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Removing a Loadbearing Wall
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Removing a Non-Loadbearing Wall, If It Separates a Room from Your Hall, Staircase, or Landing
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Replacing a Heating System or Boiler
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Installing a New Bathroom, with New or Altered Plumbing
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Installing Fixed Air Conditioning Systems
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Installing Additional Radiators to Some Existing Heating Systems
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Replacing Fuse Boxes and Installing Any New Electrical Installation Connected to the Fuse Box
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Altering Electrical Installations in Bathrooms
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Making Existing Doors Wider or Taller
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Replacing Floors
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Building an Internal Wall
Any new installation or building work must comply with specific fire safety, soundproofing, and ventilation requirements. You should also check that all work is carried out by a qualified member of a Competent Persons Scheme. If you do not comply with building regulations or planning law, you may not be covered by the block building insurance either.
Restrictions
There are several restrictions to the kind of building work you may undertake in a flat. For instance, planning law means it may be illegal to create a new bedroom in a flat without prior permission. Furthermore, your lease prohibits you from:
Restrictions
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Making Any Structural Alteration
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Erecting Any Additional Structure
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Making Any Change Affecting the External Appearance of Your Flat
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Inconveniencing or Causing an Annoyance to Other Owners or Occupiers
It is also important to note that you are forbidden to use your flat for any purpose other than as a private residence used by a single household. Your lease specifies whether your flat is to be a one-bedroomed or two-bedroomed flat or maisonette. We consider that increasing the number of rooms used as a bedroom in your flat to be unacceptable.
Our Terms
As the freeholder for Regent Square, Eastways Management Ltd must give consent before any internal alterations commence. The best way to avoid a later dispute on what alterations are approved in the course of selling or re-mortgaging your home is to submit a plan or schedule for our approval. Failure to comply with any lease requirements will also mean you are in breach of your mortgage agreement, which will become difficult and costly when you want to sell or re-mortgage your flat.
Barring emergencies, we consider that it is unreasonable to carry out works on Sundays, bank holidays, or other public holidays. Our stipulated hours for work are as follows:
Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
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Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
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Saturday, 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Even within these hours, please be considerate of your neighbours while working. If in doubt, please contact us today.