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Frequently Asked Questions
Residential Leaseholds
This depends on the terms of your lease and the landlord’s interest in the property. For example, a management company may also need to give consent.
Leasehold Houses
This depends on the terms of your lease, any estate regulations, planning or schemes of management in place for your estate, and on the landlord’s interest in the property. For example, a management company may also need to give consent.
Note
In most circumstances, landlords own the freehold interest but sometimes they own a superior leasehold interest. In this case we also need to review the terms of the superior lease to see if it can grant you consent without breaching its own lease terms.
If consent from a management company or a superior landlord is required, you will also need to comply with their requirements for obtaining consent and you will be responsible for their associated costs, which could include legal and survey fees.
Depending on the type of alteration you wish to carry out, you may also need to get building control approval and/or planning permission and, in some cases, listed building consent.
Neither HomeGround nor the landlord are qualified to advise you on this and you will need to seek specific advice either from the local authority or your architect/builder/surveyor.
Commercial Properties
It may be necessary to obtain consent from a third party, other than the landlord.
For example: if the landlord owns a leasehold interest in the property they may need to get consent from the superior landlord; a management company may need to give consent; and/or where there is a guarantor in your lease.
In these circumstances you will be responsible for meeting any third party costs, in addition to paying the landlord’s reasonable costs.
A condition of the Licence for Alterations is that you have acquired, and covered all the costs of, all relevant planning permission, building control approval, CDM Regulations compliance, insurer’s consent and any other consent required under statute.
Neither HomeGround nor the landlord are qualified to advise you on this and you will need to seek independent professional advice.
Residential Properties
The cost depends on a number of factors, including:
- whether a Letter Licence or a Licence Deed is required (and therefore whether solicitor/surveyor fees are payable)
- whether the landlord charges a premium for granting consent
- whether a surveyor’s site visit/ongoing monitoring is required
- whether other parties need to be involved in granting consent (i.e. management company or superior landlord)
- the complexity of the works.
The table below shows you an estimate of the likely costs.
Please note that these only relate to costs for HomeGround, the landlord and their appointed surveyors and solicitors. If the application is complex or if a surveyor’s site visit or ongoing monitoring is required, HomeGround and the landlord reserve their right to provide a bespoke fee quote.
This table does not include a landlord premium, if applicable; you will need to pay any third-party costs separately.
| Form of Licence | Administration Fee | Surveyor’s Costs | Solicitor’s Costs | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter Licence | Initial assessment fee: £60 for houses £120 for flats £350 administration fee |
N/A | N/A | Houses: £410 Flats: £470 |
|
Licence by Deed |
Initial assessment fee: £60 for houses £120 for flats £360 administration fee |
N/A | Cost to be advised on completion of initial assessment |
Houses: £420 plus legal fees Flats: £480 plus legal fees |
|
Licence by Deed |
Initial assessment fee: |
£750+VAT | Cost to be advised on completion of initial assessment |
Houses: £1320 plus legal fees Flats: £1380 plus legal fees |
Additional requests or changes to your original submission may incur additional fees.
Commercial Properties
The landlord is entitled to recover reasonable legal and other costs in connection with the application for and grant of a Licence for Alterations, which include but are not limited to third party professional fees, such as surveyors’ fees and/or HomeGround’s fees.
The initial assessment and Due Diligence Report fees are payable when you submit the commercial alterations request form. If a Letter Licence is then granted, the Due Diligence Report fee will be refunded.
Additional costs for surveyors’ site inspections/ongoing monitoring, legal and/or HomeGround fees (if applicable) will vary.
This table summarises the estimated overall fees payable in each case. You will be advised of any further costs or additional fees that may be required:
| Form of Licence | HomeGround Administration Fee | Surveyor’s Costs | Solicitor’s Costs | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter Licence | £250 initial assessment fee £400 administration fee |
N/A | N/A | £650 |
|
Licence by Deed |
£250 initial assessment fee £800 administration fee |
N/A |
Cost to be advised on completion of initial assessment |
£1050 plus legal fees |
|
Licence by Deed |
£250 initial assessment fee |
£875+VAT |
Cost to be advised on completion of initial assessment |
£2100 plus legal fees |
Leasehold Flats
For the majority of applications for consent to alterations, a premium payment to the landlord will not be required.
If the alterations that you wish to carry out are outside of the demise of your property (for example, alterations involving a structural wall or that extend into loft space or areas that belong to the landlord), these are outside the scope of your lease and therefore consent may be granted at the landlord’s discretion.
In such cases, the landlord may request an additional payment, or premium, as a condition of consent, to reflect the additional rights and value being granted to you over and above the terms of your lease.
Commercial
If the alterations that you wish to carry out are outside of the demise of your property or will interfere with the landlord’s reserved structures (for example, mounting air-conditioning condensers on an external structural wall, creating mezzanine levels or creating openings in structural walls), these will be outside of the scope of your lease and consent is at the landlord’s discretion.
In such cases, the landlord may request a premium as a condition of consent, to reflect the additional rights and value being granted to you over and above the terms of your lease.
The process can take 10–14 weeks, provided we receive all the relevant information and fee payment. But it does depend on the complexity and individual features of each application.
As both a Letter Licence and a Licence Deed are legally binding documents we recommend that you take legal advice. Neither HomeGround nor the landlord can advise you on the implications of signing these documents; and you may need to consider other factors, for example, your lender’s consent where the property is mortgaged.
Residential Leases
It is extremely important that you get consent to alterations as required by your lease before you start. If you carry out work without getting prior consent, you are contravening the terms of your lease, which is known as being in breach. This can have serious consequences.
If you have carried out unauthorised alterations, you will need to contact us with information on the works. We will then investigate and report back to you on the landlord’s position.
Commercial Leases
It is extremely important that you get consent to alterations as required by your lease before you start. If you carry out work without getting prior consent, you will be in breach. This can have serious consequences for you as, in addition to increased costs, failure to remedy the breach could result in the lease being forfeited.
If you have carried out unauthorised alterations, you will need to contact us with information on the works. We will then investigate and report back to you on the landlord’s position.
HomeGround and the landlord are only able to grant consent to the owner of the property.
Consent to sublet might still be required even if you are purchasing a property with the intention to rent it out. All mortgage providers will need to see the freeholder’s consent to sublet.
Your solicitor should have obtained consent to sublet or given the landlord notice of subletting, if it was required by the terms of the lease. This consent may have been requested from the developers during purchase.
If this is the case, please send us copies of the necessary documentation so that we can update our records. If this is not obtained, our sublet process will need to be completed.
If you decide to renew your tenancy with the same tenant, we will require written confirmation to keep our records up to date.
If you have acquired a new tenant(s), our sublet process will need to be completed again.
Our online consent to sublet form is easy and convenient. You can upload supporting documents, provide tenant’s details and even pay the sublet fee.
You will need to have registered on the HomeGround portal. If you have not yet registered, you can click here. You will need your alphanumeric security key and 12-digit customer reference number. If you need help with your password to gain access to your personal account, please click here.
We charge a fee of £75 to review your consent to sublet form, which is paid during the application process. If your lease does not require landlord’s consent and/or a notice of registration to be served, we will let you know and will refund you the £75. We do not store payment details, so you will need to supply your bank or card details for a refund. HomeGround can only send refunds to the account or card which was used to make the original payment. Please note that refunds can take up to ten working days.