Landlord and Tenant Services
Licences, variations and consents. Where a leaseholder needs something from you, that consent may have a value — and it is easily given away.
Who we act for
Freeholders and portfolio landlords
Private investors and corporate owners holding one building or many, where consents and variations arrive continually and each carries a value.
Resident freehold companies
Where the leaseholders own the freehold through a company, the directors are volunteers dealing with requests from their own neighbours. We provide the independent view that makes those decisions defensible.
Residents’ management companies
RMCs carry the obligations under the lease without owning the reversion. The questions are often the same, and the exposure for directors is real.
Housing associations, charities and institutional owners
Where governance requirements mean decisions must be evidenced, not simply taken.
Managing agents
Instructing on behalf of any of the above, with reporting in a form that can be passed straight to the client.
In short
Can a freeholder charge for a licence to alter?
Yes. Where consent is required under the lease, the freeholder is generally entitled to recover reasonable costs, and where the works add value a premium may also be payable. Most leases require consent not to be unreasonably withheld, which constrains but does not remove the freeholder’s position.
What is a deed of variation?
A deed of variation is a document that changes the terms of an existing lease by agreement. Common reasons include correcting a defect, altering service charge apportionments, removing an onerous ground rent provision or extending the term.
Should a freeholder be paid for a deed of variation?
Usually. A variation almost always shifts value between the parties. Removing a doubling ground rent clause, for example, benefits the leaseholder considerably and reduces the freeholder’s income, and should be priced accordingly.
What is a deed of covenant?
A deed of covenant is an agreement by an incoming leaseholder to be bound directly by the covenants in the lease. Many leases require one on assignment, and a gap in the chain of covenants causes difficulty for the freeholder later.
Consents and variations
01
Licences to alter
A leaseholder proposing works will generally need your written consent. The lease sets out what requires it, and most leases provide that consent is not to be unreasonably withheld — which constrains you but does not remove your position.
Two questions matter. Is the consent reasonably withheld or granted, judged against the terms of the lease and the nature of the works? And what is the consent worth? Where works add value — a loft conversion, taking in roof or airspace, an extension, or the removal of structural walls — a premium may be payable in addition to your costs.
The commercial point is that a licence to alter is frequently the only opportunity to be paid for value the leaseholder is about to create using your building. Given away for a nominal fee, it does not come round again.
We also see works already carried out without consent. That is a different conversation, usually resolved by a retrospective licence, and one where the leaseholder’s position on a future sale gives them a reason to regularise it.
Typical process
Review the lease and the proposed works, inspect where required, value any uplift the works create, advise on a defensible premium and on conditions, then Arcadia prepares and completes the licence.
Typical timescale: 4 to 10 weeks, longer where structural works require survey input or where consent is retrospective.
02
Deeds of variation
A deed of variation changes the terms of an existing lease by agreement. Leaseholders seek them to correct defects, alter service charge apportionments, remove or restructure an onerous ground rent, extend the term, or add rights the lease does not currently grant.
A variation almost always shifts value between the parties, and the direction is not always obvious. Removing a doubling ground rent clause benefits the leaseholder considerably and reduces your income stream permanently. Correcting a defective service charge apportionment may increase or decrease what you can recover. Adding a right of way or a demise of roof space transfers something of value out of your interest.
The mistake we see most often is a variation agreed as a favour, or to unblock a sale, without anyone establishing what it is worth. Consideration should reflect the value passing, and that is a valuation exercise before it is a drafting one.
Where the variation is being sought to satisfy a lender or to rescue a transaction, the leaseholder is generally under time pressure. That is relevant to the negotiation and should not be ignored out of politeness.
Typical process
Establish what is proposed and why, value the effect of the change on your interest, advise on consideration and on any conditions worth attaching, then Arcadia drafts and completes the deed and deals with registration.
Typical timescale: 4 to 12 weeks, depending on lender consent and the complexity of the change.
03
Licences to assign
Where the lease requires consent to assignment, you are entitled to satisfy yourself as to the incoming leaseholder and to recover your reasonable costs of dealing with the application.
The practical value of the process is that it is the one moment when you have the leaseholder’s full attention. Arrears, subsisting breaches, unauthorised alterations and outstanding service charges can all be addressed as a condition of consent, rather than inherited by an incoming leaseholder who knows nothing about them and has no reason to cooperate.
That said, consent should not be unreasonably withheld where the lease so provides, and using the application to extract unrelated concessions invites a challenge. The distinction between a proper condition and an improper one is worth taking advice on.
Typical process
Review the lease and the application, obtain and consider references, identify arrears and breaches, advise on conditions, then Arcadia prepares the licence and any accompanying deed of covenant.
Typical timescale: 2 to 6 weeks, and usually driven by the leaseholder’s completion date.
Consents, reviews and enforcement
04
Deeds of covenant
Many leases require an incoming leaseholder to enter into a direct covenant with the freeholder or the management company, binding them personally to the lease obligations.
It is straightforward, and precisely because it is straightforward it is frequently overlooked on assignment. The consequence is a gap in the chain of covenants, which surfaces years later when a buyer’s solicitor raises it or when enforcement is needed against a leaseholder who never covenanted directly.
Where gaps already exist in a building, they can usually be closed on the next assignment of each affected flat. We can audit the position across a building and deal with them as they arise rather than discovering the problem under pressure.
Typical process
Check the lease requirement, prepare the deed, obtain execution on completion of the assignment and retain the record.
Typical timescale: 1 to 3 weeks, generally running alongside the licence to assign.
05
Ground rent reviews
Where the lease provides for the rent to be reviewed, the provisions must be operated in accordance with their terms — and they are frequently not operated at all.
Reviews come in several forms: fixed increases at stated intervals, doubling provisions, index-linked reviews, and reviews by reference to the value of the flat. Each has its own mechanics, and some require notice to be served within a defined window. Missing that window can mean the increase is lost for the whole review period.
Value-based reviews require a valuation, and are the ones most often left unactioned because nobody arranged one. On a portfolio, unoperated reviews represent income that has simply not been collected.
We would add one note of realism. Ground rents are politically exposed, and proposals to cap them in existing leases remain under consultation. Operating a review correctly is entirely proper; operating an aggressive one on a doubling lease attracts attention. We advise on both the mechanics and the wisdom.
Typical process
Review the lease provisions, diarise the review dates, value where the review requires it, serve any notices within the prescribed window, and deal with any dispute.
Typical timescale: 6 to 12 weeks where a valuation and notice are required. Longer if disputed.
06
Service charge and breach
Recovering what the lease permits, and dealing with leaseholders who are in breach of it.
On service charges the questions are what the lease actually allows you to recover, whether the sums are reasonable, and whether the statutory consultation requirements have been complied with. Failure to consult properly under section 20 caps recovery at a nominal amount per leaseholder, regardless of what has been spent — which on a major works programme is a very expensive oversight.
On breach, the remedies range from correspondence through to an application to the tribunal for a determination, and in serious cases forfeiture. Forfeiture is a blunt instrument with significant procedural requirements and is rarely the right first step, but the ability to seek a determination of breach frequently produces compliance without further action.
For resident freehold companies and RMCs this is often the most uncomfortable area, because the party in breach is a neighbour. An independent professional view, and correspondence that comes from a firm rather than from a fellow resident, changes the dynamic considerably.
Typical process
Review the lease and the recovery position, advise on consultation requirements before expenditure is committed, correspond with the leaseholder, and where necessary apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a determination.
Typical timescale: Varies widely. Consultation on major works runs to several months by statute; a breach determination typically 4 to 9 months.
Working with managing agents
Much of this work reaches us through managing agents rather than the freeholder directly. We are used to taking instructions from agents and reporting in a form that can be passed straight to the client.
Where a client holds several interests, or a resident freehold company or RMC wants a standing arrangement rather than instructing afresh each time, we act on a retained basis. Requests come to us, are dealt with on parameters you have set, and are reported back — so consents are handled consistently and nothing sits in a director’s inbox for three months.
Where we act
myfreehold is based in London and acts for freeholders, portfolio landlords and managing agents across all 32 London boroughs and the City of London, and regularly for clients with property interests throughout England and Wales.
Had a request for consent?
Tell us what has been requested and we will advise on the value, the terms and the documentation — before you agree anything.
Make an enquiry
Valuation
Blakes Surveyors Ltd
Company no. 9184264
RICS regulated firm no. 752265
Legal
Arcadia Law Ltd
Company no. 10043933
SRA no. 629605
myfreehold is a joint enterprise between Blakes Surveyors Ltd, regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and Arcadia Law Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA no. 629605). Both companies are registered in England and Wales.
Registered office: 15 Approach Road, Raynes Park, London SW20 8BA
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