Consent First, Contractors Second: Untangling the Licence to Alter Process

Few documents in a commercial fit-out carry as much programme weight as the licence to alter, and few are treated with as little urgency. Tenants sign the agreement for lease, appoint the contractor, book the deliveries, then discover that the landlord's consent has not been requested in a form anyone can approve. The works stop before they start, and the delay is rarely attributed to the decision that caused it.

This is not a matter of landlords being obstructive. Under most UK leases, alterations are prohibited without consent, and that consent is usually qualified by conditions on method, insurance, reinstatement and professional fees. The process is well established. What varies is how prepared the tenant is when the application lands.

Where consent sits in the sequence

A licence to alter is a deed, not a letter. It sits between the tenant's design intent and the contractor's first day on site, and it depends on information that the design team produces. Structural calculations, mechanical and electrical drawings, a specification of finishes, a method statement and a programme all feed into it. Where the building is listed, or sits within a conservation area, the timetable lengthens considerably.

Because the licence depends on design, it is tempting to treat it as a downstream item. That instinct is costly. In practice, the consent process should run in parallel with the later stages of design, not behind them. A tenant who waits for a fully coordinated drawing set before approaching the landlord will usually find that the approval period pushes past the lease commencement date entirely.

What landlords and their advisers expect to see

Landlord surveyors tend to work to a recognisable list. Providing it unprompted shortens the exchange considerably.

• A covering letter identifying the parties, the premises, the demised extent and the works proposed.
• Scaled drawings showing existing and proposed layouts, with structural interventions clearly identified.
• A specification or schedule of works, sufficient for a surveyor to assess impact on the building fabric and services.
• Details of any alterations to the base build services, including loadings on the electrical supply and changes to the HVAC distribution.
• A method statement covering access, working hours, hoarding, waste removal and protection of common parts.
• Confirmation of contractor appointments, with evidence of public liability and employers' liability cover, plus all-risk insurance for the works.
• A named project manager or principal designer, with contact details and a clear line of communication.
• A programme that shows the intended start and completion dates, and any phased occupation.

For anything touching a party wall, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 introduces its own notice periods. Where the works affect the structure of a neighbouring building, those notices must be served and the periods allowed to run. No licence shortens them.

The four delays that recur

Most slippage in consent negotiations comes from a small number of sources.

Incomplete submissions. A drawing set that arrives in three tranches, with revisions unmarked, invites questions rather than approval. Landlord advisers are entitled to review a settled proposal, and they will normally say so.

Fee disputes. The lease usually requires the tenant to cover the landlord's reasonable professional costs, and often an administration fee. Disagreement over the estimate can hold up instruction of the surveyor for weeks before anyone has assessed the works at all. Settling the fee position early, ideally with a schedule of rates agreed at heads of terms, removes a predictable friction point.

Unclear reinstatement. Landlords want to know what the building will look like at lease end. A tenant who proposes alterations without stating whether they will be removed, and on what basis, leaves the licence open to conditions that are far more onerous than necessary. Offering a reinstatement undertaking at the outset is generally quicker than negotiating one later.

Insurance and building regulations. Alterations can affect the building's insurance cover and its compliance with the Building Regulations. Where the works involve a change of use, or new thermal elements, a building control application will run alongside the licence. Approval of one does not imply the other, and programmes that conflate them tend to slip.

Assembling the pack before you need it

The practical answer is to treat the consent pack as a deliverable in its own right, owned by a named individual and tracked on the same programme as the design. That person's job is to know what the lease requires, to hold the landlord's standard conditions, and to confirm that every item has been issued in its final form.

Two habits make a measurable difference. First, request the landlord's precedent licence and any standard conditions at heads of terms, before the design is fixed. Reading the conditions early changes what gets drawn. Second, submit a draft proposal for informal comment before the formal application. A surveyor who has seen the scheme once, in outline, tends to review the final version quickly.

It is also worth confirming who has authority. On multi-let estates, the landlord may delegate to a managing agent, and the agent may delegate to a surveyor. Knowing the approval chain prevents the familiar fortnight lost while a document sits in the wrong inbox.

Protecting the programme

No amount of preparation removes the approval period, and it is a mistake to assume it can be compressed by pressure. What preparation does is prevent the period from being extended by rework. A realistic programme allows six to eight weeks for a straightforward consent on a standard office suite, longer for listed buildings, structural works or premises subject to multiple consents.

The reliable sequence is straightforward: read the lease, agree the fee basis, fix the design sufficiently to describe the works, submit once, and respond to queries promptly and in writing. Tenants who follow it still wait. They simply do not wait twice.

For occupiers working to a fixed lease start, the licence to alter deserves a line on the programme board beside the contractor's mobilisation date. It is a regulatory step, but it behaves like a critical path activity, and it should be managed as one.