Renovations to leasehold property

jackms88 · 8 November 2020 at 9:39PM

I’m considering putting an offer in for a property. The flat is part of a small block of flats. However, one of the main reasons I’d buy it is on the condition that the wall between the kitchen and living room could be knocked down making it open plan.

However, the leaseholder is Southwark council, and on their website I can see it says, that they will not accept applications for the removal of structurally significant elements, including ‘load bearing’. The wall that I would like to remove, from what i can see, is load bearing (it runs the length of the house, directly through the middle, and is in the same place in the flats above).

Does anyone have any experience with something similar? Is there any options if it is load bearing e.g. put an archway in the wall instead of removing it completely. Or would any alterations be rejected?

Appreciate any help that people can offer.

davidmcn · 8 November 2020 at 9:41PM

Sometimes easiest to check what other people have done before - have you had a look for similar flats to see what they've done?

macman · 8 November 2020 at 10:07PM

You would need to replace the wall with a suitable RSJ.
But it would be perfectly normal for them to refuse structural work on a leasehold property, for obvious reasons.

jackms88 · 8 November 2020 at 10:30PM

davidmcn said:

Sometimes easiest to check what other people have done before - have you had a look for similar flats to see what they've done?

I’ve seen pictures of the flat above, which is laid out in the same way. Other than that, I haven’t been able to find pictures of any of the other flats in the block.

eddddy · 8 November 2020 at 11:28PM

jackms88 said:

The flat is part of a small block of flats.

What is the construction of the block (and the wall)?

If it's a reinforced concrete building and that's a reinforced concrete wall, removing the wall (or cutting an arch in it) is probably out of the question. (Don't be fooled by any exterior brickwork - reinforced concrete buildings often have brickwork skins.)

But if the wall is blockwork or brickwork, it might technically be possible, by putting in a steel joist (RSJ).

But you still have the issue of the lease and freeholder consent.

If the lease says you cannot make structural alterations "without freeholder consent" - the law says that consent cannot be unreasonably refused.
But if the lease just says you cannot make structural alterations (under any circumstances) - it's much tougher. There's some legislation that implies that a freeholder cannot stop a leaseholder making reasonable improvements to their flat, but you might end up with a court battle over that. TBH, it's not the sort of battle I'd want to get into with a council.