Building Controls

[deadbolt]

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a first floor flat and it's ex LA but the council still own the block and lease it out. I want to knock down some walls/ put others up and i'm not sure if they are load bearing and even if they're not would the council let me do it.

I've attached images of what it is now and what i want to do. Any help or advice would be great.

Thanks.

Untitled

• deadbolt
• 28 May 2010
• 1

Untitled

• deadbolt
• 28 May 2010
• 1

 

[jeds]

Are you buying a freehold or a lease? If the former you can do what you want with it once it's yours. If the latter you can do what is allowed by the terms of the lease.

Most leases include a clause that structural works must be approved by the landlord. That's not to say they wouldn't approve it (in fact they can't not approve it without a good reason) but you would have to provide them with full details of the proposal and method statements etc.

Whether the works are feasible or not depends on how the floor above is supported. You need to know if the floor is made of timber or concrete. Timber floor spans are always linear so it's normally fairly easy to tell. Concrete floors can be more tricky because spans can be multi directional.

 

[deadbolt]

Thanks for the answer, that makes sense. It's a leasehold from the council and i'm told because it's 4 stories high it's concrete block floor but have another viewing on thursday so i'll ask for a copy of the lease then.