How to refurbish the bathroom without breaking the leasehold rules?

6 months ago

Hi all, first-time poster here! My partner and I bought our first home last year, a long-lease maisonette, and we now hope to refurbish the bathroom. The alteration section of the lease reads as follows:

(13) Not at any time during the said term without the license in writing of the Lessor... to make any alteration in plan or elevation of the maisonette building hereby demised or in any of the party walls or the principal or bearing walls or timbers thereof...

The key bit is that no alterations in load-bearing walls can be made without a license from the lessor (i.e. freeholder). The cost of this license (plus a surveyor visit plus admin) would be over £3k, according to the freeholder's fees. Considering the other costs and benefits, this extra cost would not make the "ideal refurbishment" worth doing.

Our ideal refurbishment would involve 3 bits of work that relate to the walls.

Installing an extractor fan in the exterior wall of the bathroom. (This is a bearing wall, but a vent/grill already exists on the outside.)
Connecting the newly positioned toilet to the exterior soil pipe by passing this through the exterior wall.
Removing the interior walls of a coat room adjacent to the bathroom. We understand from contractors that these walls are not load bearing, and would get a surveyor to confirm this.

I feel points 1 and 3 are likely fine, no license needed, but point 2 is the one I am most unsure about. It depends on the definition of what constitutes an "alteration" to a wall: does creating a hole and feeding a new pipe through the wall count as an alteration, even if it doesn't change the overall size/look of the wall? (All works will be done by a suitably qualified contractor.) Surely it is quite common for people in leasehold properties to have holes drilled through exterior walls (e.g. for broadband cables or utilities), but is there no minimum threshold for what counts as an alteration?

Any ideas or suggestions much appreciated!

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Comments (6)

Jonathan
6 months ago
Given you are taking the cupboard out why not switch the door into the bathroom to the cupboard position…… then flip your plan so that the toilet is on the same side as the soil pipe
Jonathan
6 months ago
Alternative layout
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Al H
Original Author
6 months ago
Okay, so I what I am now considering is adjusting the layout plan as below. (Current layout on the left, potential new layout on the right.) This should not require license to alter, according to the rules of the lease.

This would involve:

1. Confirming with a surveyor that the coat room walls are indeed not bearing, and removing those internal walls to increase the floorspace.
2. Leaving the toilet in the top left of the room and putting the sink in the top right, which should mean that no new pipes need to be fitted through the exterior (bearing) wall. (The sink and bath can both feed into the current bath wastewater pipe.)

If I do this, my inclination would be not to inform the freeholder, as I do not believe I would need to do so under the lease (which only says altering bearing walls needs a license); if I did tell them, the worst case is that they could dispute it or say that that if I want any form of written consent then there will still be a charge.

But, when eventually selling the property, I would then need to state in the sale docs that works had been done in the property - in this situation it would be preferable to have some form of consent from the freeholder in case the buyer's solicitor questions this. Or am I over-thinking it? If the alteration is not prohibited by the lease and I have all the appropriate construction/surveyor documentation, surely that is enough for the buyer?
Jonathan
6 months ago
Can’t agree that your plan is better than mine. Personally I think the bath next to the window makes far more sense.
Sonia
6 months ago
I can’t help you, but I’m hearing so much about lease owners holding people to ransom and how unfair it is! My friend bought a house that was leasehold but after many years she was able to buy the lease getting rid of its ridiculous rules. I hope you are able to find a solution.
minnie101
6 months ago
I can’t really help either but read ” make any alteration in plan……or the PRINCIPAL (walls??)” as not being able to change the internal layout. We’ve just spent 2 years trying to buy 4 different leaseholds and even adding plug sockets for some was prohibited. i thought it was rare to be able to change the layout without consent? Did your solicitor not clarify the clauses when purchasing?

How to refurbish the bathroom without breaking the leasehold rules?

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How to refurbish the bathroom without breaking the leasehold rules?

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Jonathan

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Al HOriginal Author

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