What is a License to Alter?
A License to Alter is a legal document granted by a building’s owner that allows a tenant to make specific changes to a property.
The document sets out the terms and conditions under which a tenant may vary the ordinary use of the property—for instance, if they wish to add a bathroom, change the floor plan, or make any other significant alterations to the property.
Freeholders may also impose conditions to ensure that the freehold value remains intact or to protect other tenants from negative effects that might arise from the alteration. The document is prepared by the freeholder’s lawyers and is usually long and complicated. However, your surveyor can help you make sense of it and ensure that it is politically correct.
Which Types of Work Need a License for Alteration?
The following types of work are examples that require a license to alter:
- Structural changes
- Installation of services (such as plumbing or heating)
- Removal of walls or alterations to wall sizes
- Changes to windows
- Adding new openings (like doors)
Is a Licence to Alter Required?
Are you considering making alterations to your leasehold property to bring it up to date or to improve its accessibility? If so, do you know what’s involved in obtaining a Licence to Alter, or what restrictions may apply to you?
If you’re a leaseholder or a freeholder, you can get expert and impartial assistance from a surveyor on these questions. The help you get will ensure you have the peace of mind for the investment you made in your property. A chartered surveyor affiliated with the RICS or CIOB or RPSA can help you protect that investment, the integrity of the building, and the safety of its occupants.
The team can help with buildings that are pre-let, that are listed or of heritage importance, have common parts contracts, or are otherwise unfamiliar to us—one-off or large-scale buildings, for example. Your surveyor can also review lease terms and covenants and serve as a liaison between you and your tenants. They can additionally inspect your building before work starts and then accurately assess how the changes have been implemented.
Benefits of Licence to Alter
Before contacting your landlord to request consent, it is recommended that you have your plans ready. You can do this by hiring our panel of accredited surveyors to draw up or review your plans. The experts can provide all the relevant documentation necessary for understanding the proposed works, which includes:
- construction specifications
- design drawings
- structural drawings
This ensures that the proposed alterations to working and the building’s common parts can be understood by all who need to know.
Surveys of Commercial Property
If you’re thinking of acquiring, leasing, subletting, disposing of, or altering commercial premises in Manchester, you would be well advised to locate a surveyor skilled in the nuances of commercial building surveying – should you spot a defect in a commercial building you can use that information to negotiate an asking price for the property that’s considerably lower than what the seller originally wanted, or you can talk your way out of a bad deal altogether.
Our Manchester-based team of RICS-compliant commercial building surveyors is equipped to handle matters throughout Manchester.
Contact
Our team prioritizes client care above all else. We look forward to being in touch with you so you can instruct a surveyor in Manchester, London, Bristol, Birmingham or Cardiff. You can reach out to us easily. Just fill out our form, and we’ll get back to you with a free quote for your survey. All our surveyors are qualified as members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and we are one of the UK’s leading providers of building survey and valuation services:
- Accredited Professionals: Certified by organizations like RICS, CIOB, and RPSA.
- Customized Survey Reports: inspections to meet your specific requirements.
- Local Expertise: Deep understanding and specialized knowledge.
- Expert Guidance: Professional recommendations and support.
The property survey you commission will be carried out by an accredited professional. Your chartered surveyor will be a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), or will belong to some other industry-standard professional body. Rest assured; you will receive highest quality of professional service for your survey.
