Shared ownership flat - renovation questions

angelikastac

I am in the process of purchasing a 25% shared ownership flat (new built).
I absolutely hate the flooring (fake wood panels) in living room/kitchen/hall area and would love to change them to nicer engineered wood panels (ideally I would like to change the bedroom flooring too as they have carpets now and I'm just not a fan), am I allowed to do that? Does anyone come and check the flat after the agreement is signed etc.? And if I do so but was not supposed to, what could be the consequences of doing that?

It is my first property and I appreciate any advice. 

CSI_Yorkshire

I presume that you're buying 25% and renting 75%?

If so, what does the rental agreement say about it?

MultiFuelBurner

Was the process of making changes to the property not explained to you before purchase?

user1977

Your conveyancer will tell you what the "rules" are, or you could ask them now. We'd just be guessing.

christmaslights

If it’s a leasehold flat, then the lease will contain certain rules about what you can do with it. I bought my flat 50% shared ownership and then stair-cased to 100% ownership a few years ago. Clauses in my lease say that if I want to make any changes to the fixtures and fittings in my flat eg install a new bathroom then I should ask the freeholder’s permission and pay a fee of I think around £100; this applied to shared owners and 100% owners alike. But I’ve asked around and people tend to ignore this.  The only possible consequence that has been mentioned of not getting permission first is that when you come to sell the buyer’s solicitor might ask for documentation to support any changes and you might then have to get retrospective permission from the freeholder.  But this seems to me unlikely to happen.  The previous owners of this flat were shared owners and they replaced the carpet in the hall with laminate, fitted a shower over the bath, and installed a satellite dish and I would bet that they didn’t ask for permission to do any of it. But none of that came up at all when I bought the flat.  You have to be a bit careful with replacing carpets, though, if it’s an upper floor flat, because of possible noise issues and some leases contain specific clauses related to flooring because of this.  So you need to read the lease and talk to your solicitor. 

  

gwynlas

If laminate was installed from new then there should not be an issue upgrading it to engineered wood. Problems sometimes arise where lease states floors should be carpeted as this is usually for accoustic reasons. Sound travels easily in flats so you might need to consider your neighbours.

eddddy

angelikastac said:

I am in the process of purchasing a 25% shared ownership flat (new built).
I absolutely hate the flooring (fake wood panels) in living room/kitchen/hall area and would love to change them to nicer engineered wood panels (ideally I would like to change the bedroom flooring too as they have carpets now and I'm just not a fan), am I allowed to do that? Does anyone come and check the flat after the agreement is signed etc.? And if I do so but was not supposed to, what could be the consequences of doing that?

It is my first property and I appreciate any advice. 

Your lease will say whether you are required to have carpets in the bedroom.

Your lease will also say what type of alterations you need consent for - which might include alterations to the floor.

If you need consent for laying the new floor, your freeholder/management company might want you to do things like use sound-proofing underlay - if you're installing new underlay, they might even ask for details of the underlay you plan to use.

I'm no expert on flooring, so I don't know if the existing underlay for 'fake wood panels' is suitable for engineered wood.

angelikastac

Thank you so much for all replies ☺️ I appreciate it. 

In terms of agreement - from what I could see I'm suppose to ask for permission but only after the new-built warranty is over (which I believe is 2 years). I would rather not look at these floors for the first 2 years unless I really have to 😁 hence why I was asking for the consequences of I skip the permission asking process 😜

And as for carpets - it's a ground floor flat so I'm guessing that wouldn't make much difference to noise levels.

Thank you once again!

CSI_Yorkshire

angelikastac said:

Thank you so much for all replies ☺️ I appreciate it. 

In terms of agreement - from what I could see I'm suppose to ask for permission but only after the new-built warranty is over (which I believe is 2 years). I would rather not look at these floors for the first 2 years unless I really have to 😁 hence why I was asking for the consequences of I skip the permission asking process 😜

And as for carpets - it's a ground floor flat so I'm guessing that wouldn't make much difference to noise levels.

Thank you once again!

The consequences for breaching a lease can include forfeiture of said lease.

More likely that would make you pay to undo whatever the change was (if they actually cared).

eddddy

angelikastac said:

In terms of agreement - from what I could see I'm suppose to ask for permission but only after the new-built warranty is over (which I believe is 2 years).

That sounds unusual..

It's more likely that they're saying that any alterations you make won't be covered by the 2 year warranty.

angelikastac said:

I would rather not look at these floors for the first 2 years unless I really have to 😁 hence why I was asking for the consequences of I skip the permission asking process 😜

The consequences probably fall into 2 categories...

1) The freeholder takes enforcement action

Realistically, that would probably only happen if another leaseholder complains to the freeholder about your alterations.

But the problem is... another leaseholder might complain...

• Simply because they are a 'jobsworth' who will complain about anyone who breaks the walls
• Because you have upset them about something unrelated, so they get revenge by complaining about your flooring

2) When you eventually sell

You will be asked things like

• Is the seller aware of any alterations having been made to the property since the lease was originally granted?
• Was the landlord’s consent for the alterations obtained?

If you admit that alterations were done without consent, it might get a bit messy

If you fib, and say no alterations were done - but the freeholder later takes enforcement action - your buyer might sue you for damages.

angelikastac said:

And as for carpets - it's a ground floor flat so I'm guessing that wouldn't make much difference to noise levels.

That's not really the main point.

If the lease says you must have carpets, the floor the flat is on is irrelevant - you will be breaching the lease if you remove them.

christmaslights

2) When you eventually sell

You will be asked things like

• Is the seller aware of any alterations having been made to the property since the lease was originally granted?
• Was the landlord’s consent for the alterations obtained?

If you admit that alterations were done without consent, it might get a bit messy

I guess it depends on what you consider to be ‘alterations’.  You could argue that painting the walls or replacing an internal door, or doing something essential such as replacing a broken boiler is an alteration, but if you had to list this sort of thing in the tiny box provided for such detail on the form you’d soon run out of room!  Thinking about it, I would consider it to cover more major works such as knocking down walls, changing the function of a room, perhaps installing a new kitchen or bathroom that required changes to the plumbing ie changes that might impact on the building as a whole. I don’t think that the OP would encounter any issues replacing a carpet with a hardwood floor in a ground floor flat so long as they get it done properly with appropriate soundproofing etc. If their lease is anything like mine which is the standard shared ownership lease written in modern English, then the carpet clause will be something like ‘lay carpets or suitable floor coverings to reduce noise’ and I think, if challenged, a few rugs on the new floor would satisfy that. All the freeholder is interested in really is to keeping the integrity of the building and avoiding any changes that would impact on that or on the ‘quiet enjoyment’ of the other residents.