Obtaining a Retrospective Licence for works: easy as 1, 2, 3
February 13th, 2014
Reading the fine print in any contract is not something that most of us enjoy doing and ticking the ‘I agree’ option comes naturally to us. This is often the case with long leases too, so although reading every clause, covenant and the finer details of a lease can be, in all honesty, rather dull and time-consuming you should not forget that a lease is a form of contract between you and the Landlord.
Most leases do not allow for a leaseholder to carry out structural (and sometimes non-structural) alterations without obtaining the landlord’s consent first. Regardless, many alterations are carried out to a property by leaseholders without the Landlord’s prior consent putting leaseholders in breach of their lease. Working for a leading residential landlord I have come across these types of situations many a time. Typically the need for consent arises when you are looking to sell your property and this has been raised as an issue by the buyer’s solicitor. Often leaseholders or the previous leaseholders have altered the property without first reading their lease and only become aware that consent is required once works have been carried out…..but all is not lost. To resolve the situation the first and most important thing you will need to do is to make your landlord aware of the alterations.
Most articles on this subject are keen to portray landlords as the ‘bad guys’ who take advantage of the leaseholders’ vulnerable position in order to make a profitable gain. The truth is somewhat different. Failing to obtain consent prior to works being carried out rarely ends in forfeiture of the lease and from experience, simply results in the leaseholder compensating the landlord to remedy the breach committed. Retrospective consents are a great way of rectifying breaches made by leaseholders and can be dealt with in a timely and stress-free manner. The landlord will often require a full and detailed description of the works done to the property and will provide you with the most cost-effective solution. Failure to provide the Landlord with such details can result in delay to a sale of the property and which can cause sales to fall through.
Put simply, obtaining retrospective consent can be as simple as:
1. informing your landlord as soon as you are aware of the breach;
2. complying fully with the landlord’s request for an accurate description of the works already carried out; and
3. negotiating with the landlord to remedy the breach.
Click here to find out more about obtaining a Licence for works.
