Matters / Consent and alterations
Move the alteration towards consent.
Licence to Alter
Corvinus establishes what the lease requires, what the proposed works involve, whether the objections and conditions are supported, and what submission or response is needed to move the application towards a reasoned decision.
What Corvinus does
What Corvinus does on this matter.
The work within Corvinus's control, subject to the agreed scope.
- 01Reads the lease and identifies whether consent is required and on what terms.
- 02Examines the proposed works and the technical issues they genuinely engage.
- 03Tests each objection, condition and fee against the lease and the evidence.
- 04Prepares the submission or response needed to move the application towards a decision.
Typical situations
- Consent has been refused, delayed or left unanswered
- The application is repeatedly met with new requirements
- Technical objections have been raised by the landlord's advisers
- The lease is unclear about whether the works require consent
- Fees, undertakings or reinstatement obligations are disputed
Typical situations
- Consent has been refused, delayed or left unanswered
- The application is repeatedly met with new requirements
- Technical objections have been raised by the landlord's advisers
- The lease is unclear about whether the works require consent
- Fees, undertakings or reinstatement obligations are disputed
How it is examined
How the matter is examined.
- 01
Read the lease first
Identify the covenant, the demise and the consent mechanism before assessing the demands being made.
- 02
Examine the works
Understand the proposed alteration and the issues it may create in the actual building.
- 03
Test the requirements
Separate requirements supported by the lease or technical evidence from those that remain unexplained.
- 04
Prepare the response
Produce the submission or reply that answers the objection and defines what remains outstanding.
The difficulty
Why the matter becomes difficult.
A licence to alter can combine lease interpretation, structural and services issues, fire and acoustic concerns, professional fees, conditions and incomplete technical information. A legal reading alone may not show whether the requirements being imposed are technically justified.
What Corvinus establishes
What is established before any position is advanced.
- 01
Whether consent is required
Whether the lease requires consent for the proposed works, and for which parts of them.
- 02
The nature of the covenant
Whether the relevant covenant is absolute, qualified or otherwise conditional.
- 03
What must be submitted
What drawings, specifications, reports and approvals are genuinely required.
- 04
Whether an objection holds
Whether a technical objection is supported by the proposed works and the available evidence.
- 05
Fees and conditions
Whether fees, conditions, monitoring or reinstatement requirements require challenge, clarification or evidence.
- 06
Which regimes are engaged
Which planning, building-control, building-safety, structural, fire, acoustic or neighbour issues are genuinely engaged.
- 07
What remains missing
What remains missing before the application can progress.
Legal and technical framework
What may govern this matter.
Jurisdiction: England and Wales. Applicability depends on the contract, lease, works, parties and facts. This page provides general information and does not determine the position on a particular matter.
View the legal and technical framework
- The lease is the starting point
- The lease determines whether consent is required and on what terms, including the extent of the demise and the works the covenant captures.
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, section 19(2)
- Where section 19(2) applies to a covenant against making improvements without consent, consent may not be unreasonably withheld. Its application, and the conditions it permits, depend on the lease, the works and the circumstances. It should not be read as a universal statutory duty not to delay consent. Any obligation concerning delay must be identified from the lease, another applicable legal basis and the facts.
- Building Regulations and Approved Documents
- The Building Regulations establish legal requirements. Approved Documents provide recognised guidance on ways those requirements may be satisfied.
- Other regimes, where engaged
- Planning, listed-building, higher-risk-building, fire-safety, structural and Party Wall etc. Act 1996 issues are considered only where they are actually engaged by the works.
- Consents are not interchangeable
- A licence to alter does not replace statutory approvals, and statutory approval does not replace landlord consent.
- The lease is the starting point
- The lease determines whether consent is required and on what terms, including the extent of the demise and the works the covenant captures.
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, section 19(2)
- Where section 19(2) applies to a covenant against making improvements without consent, consent may not be unreasonably withheld. Its application, and the conditions it permits, depend on the lease, the works and the circumstances. It should not be read as a universal statutory duty not to delay consent. Any obligation concerning delay must be identified from the lease, another applicable legal basis and the facts.
- Building Regulations and Approved Documents
- The Building Regulations establish legal requirements. Approved Documents provide recognised guidance on ways those requirements may be satisfied.
- Other regimes, where engaged
- Planning, listed-building, higher-risk-building, fire-safety, structural and Party Wall etc. Act 1996 issues are considered only where they are actually engaged by the works.
- Consents are not interchangeable
- A licence to alter does not replace statutory approvals, and statutory approval does not replace landlord consent.
Resolution
What resolution may look like.
These are the routes the work is intended to make available. Whether any is realistic depends on the lease, contract, works and facts.
- A complete or corrected application
- A focused response to the landlord, managing agent or surveyor
- Agreement on justified technical conditions
- Narrowing or withdrawal of unsupported requirements
- A defined route to a decision
- Referral for specialist legal action where the consent dispute cannot be resolved
What you receive
The output is the product.
The deliverables within Corvinus's control on this matter, subject to the agreed scope.
- 01Lease and Consent Analysis
- 02Consent Roadmap
- 03Submission Requirements Schedule
- 04Technical Objection Matrix
- 05Draft Response or Submission
- 06Evidence and Information Schedule
- 07Professional Briefing
If the matter does not resolve
Prepared for specialist legal escalation.
Corvinus prepares the lease provisions, application history, technical record, disputed requirements, evidence and unresolved legal issues for a specialist property solicitor or counsel.
- Relevant lease provisions
- Application and response history
- Technical record and disputed requirements
- Evidence and information schedule
- Unresolved legal issues
- Briefing for a specialist property solicitor or counsel
Common failure points
What goes wrong, and the better route.
Starting work before consent
The position can move from an application to a breach allegation, with reinstatement or indemnity demands.
Better route
Establish the consent position before the works begin.
Answering objections without evidence
Correspondence continues while the technical question remains untested.
Better route
Answer each objection with drawings, calculations or specialist evidence.
Accepting conditions without review
Monitoring, fee and reinstatement obligations can be assumed that the lease may not support.
Better route
Test each condition against the lease and the works before agreeing it.
Common questions
Questions about licence to alter.
Other matters
- Consent and alterationsRetrospective ConsentCreate a route to regularisation.Create a route to regularisation.Establish what was built, which consents were required, what evidence exists and what route may be available to regularise or otherwise resolve the position.Establish what was built, which consents were required, what evidence exists and what route may be available to regularise or otherwise resolve the position.
- Construction disputesConstruction DisputesEstablish responsibility and the route to resolution.Establish responsibility and the route to resolution.Reconstruct the project, test the competing accounts and determine what the agreement, technical evidence and documentary record support.Reconstruct the project, test the competing accounts and determine what the agreement, technical evidence and documentary record support.
- Construction disputesDefective WorksEstablish what is defective and what should put it right.Establish what is defective and what should put it right.Compare the delivered work with the obligations that apply, examine causation and responsibility, and define the remedial and evidential position.Compare the delivered work with the obligations that apply, examine causation and responsibility, and define the remedial and evidential position.
Present a matter
Move the alteration towards consent.
Present the issue first. Corvinus will determine whether the matter is suitable, what information is required and what the proposed scope should address.
Initial enquiry · No obligation to proceed