The drawings are beautiful. The kitchen moves to the window. Then the managing agent reads the lease.
An apartment is not a small house. You own the inside, but the building owns the rules. Structure, services and neighbours are shared. Every one of them shapes the design.
Here is what to settle first. Then the layout you love can be built.
Read the lease before you draw a wall
Your lease may require landlord consent for alterations. Some work may be prohibited outright. That consent is usually called a licence to alter.
Council consent does not override the lease. A planning approval does not give you the landlord’s permission. Both may be needed, and they deal with different things.
Have the specific wording checked before you commit to a scheme. Give the design team the lease on day one. Not after the concept is approved.
Ask for the building’s works pack
Most managed buildings have rules for works. They set out what the managing agent needs, and when. Ask for that pack before design and programming start.
Common requests include drawings, a specification and structural information. Insurance and contractor details are often asked for too. The actual list and any review fees depend on the lease and the building.
Do not assume who the planning authority is from the neighbourhood name. Confirm it from the actual address, along with any listed status or conservation area.
Moving a bathroom is a drainage question
The kitchen or bathroom you want to move sits on shared structure. It drains into shared stacks. It may sit above someone’s bedroom.
Feasibility depends on structure, drainage, ventilation, acoustics and the lease. Many buildings restrict where wet rooms go. Some restrict any new openings through floors or walls.
Check those limits before the layout is approved. Review the service routes and the landlord’s requirements together. The services decisions that lock in early apply twice over in a flat.
Your neighbours are above, below and beside you
In a house, the neighbours are next door. In an apartment, they are on every side. Noise, dust and deliveries reach them all.
A project needs a practical logistics plan. It covers protection, working hours, waste and deliveries. It must reflect any council, landlord or building restrictions.
Working hours depend on the building rules and any consent conditions. Agree them before anyone sets a programme. Ask who the neighbours should contact, and how concerns are recorded.
Work to a wall shared with an adjoining owner may need more. Read our party wall guide.
Lift, access and a quieter floor
Every board, bath and slab of stone has to arrive through the building. Lift size and booking rules decide what can come in whole. Large stone may need templating and cutting to suit.
Floors deserve the same thought. A new timber floor changes how sound travels to the flat below. Acoustic performance belongs in the specification, not in a complaint afterwards.
Some tall apartment buildings fall under the Building Safety Regulator. Have the approval route confirmed before the programme is set.
Can you stay while the work goes on?
That depends on separation, access, safe services, dust, noise and the sequence of work. Deep refurbishment often makes living there impractical.
Plan it rather than assume it. Compare the cost and disruption of staying with the cost of moving out.
Then agree who holds keys, how access is recorded and what may be photographed. A private home deserves a written access and privacy protocol.
The order that works
Lease and works pack first. Structure, drainage and acoustics second. Layout third. The price and programme follow from all three.
Done in that order, the design survives the managing agent. Done the other way, it usually goes back to the drawing board.
Planning work to a London apartment and want the lease and building rules checked first?Fill out the contact form or call 020 7731 6841 and let’s get you booked in for a free call with Nick.
Published 6 October 2026. Written by the NU Projects studio, edited since for house style and accuracy.