Improving or Altering Your Home
Getting Permission to Make Changes
If you wish to make improvements or alterations in your home, you must ask our permission by completing this form.
We want to help you make your home the way you want it. But we need to make sure your home stays safe and meets important rules. This keeps your home a good and safe place for you and your family to live.
What Happens After I Apply for Permission?
We might need to come and look at your home to check everything is okay. After that, we’ll send you a letter to let you know if you’re allowed to do the work you asked for. This will happen within about 4 weeks.
Sometimes there are special rules you’ll need to follow when doing the work. Please don’t start anything until you’ve signed the form we send you and got all the permissions you need.
Who Can Make Alterations to Their Home
- Full assured or secure tenant: You have the right to make alterations to your home and garden. However, you must get written permission first.
- Assured shorthold and starter tenancies: You can decorate your homes, but you do not have the right to alter your home in any other way.
- Leaseholders (shared owners): You may also need written permission for some home improvements, depending on the age of the development.
If you are unsure of your tenancy type please contact us.
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Any changes, other than decorating your home, are classed as an alteration.
Some examples of alterations that you need permission for:
- Installing your own bathroom or kitchen
- Changing the layout of your home
- Knocking down or putting up walls, inside or outside your home
- Taking doors off or installing additional doors
- Installing a driveway
- Fitting satellite and phone dishes
- Installing CCTV or smart doorbells
- Changes in the provision of services in your home such as changing the position of gas, electrical or water supplies
- Installing sheds, greenhouses, lean to’s or outbuildings
- Installing laminated or wood flooring
- Painting the outside of your property
- Installing a cat flap
- Installing a hot tub
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There are some alterations that are not permitted. These are:
- Structural alterations such as construction of porches, loft conversions, extensions, car ports or garages, unless through a disabled adaptation request
- Conservatories
- Carports or garages unless through a disabled adaptation request
- Loft conversions
- Decking
- Ponds
- Extensions
- Log burners
- Laminate flooring (if you live in a flat)
- Spy holes in already installed fire doors
If you are unsure about the alteration you would like to do, please contact us.
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Insurance and Accreditation
Your chosen contractor must hold professional indemnity and public liability insurance. They must also be accredited by their governing body, such as FENSA, Gas Safe or NICEIC. You need to send this information in with your application.
Building Control and Planning Permission
Depending on the type of work you plan to carry out, you may also need to get permission from other services, such as Planning Services or Building Control.
Health and Safety
We closely monitor alterations in our properties to make sure you are safe. If alterations do not meet the required standard they can be dangerous. If in doubt, please ask.
Unauthorised Alterations
If you carry out an alteration without permission, we will need to carry out an inspection to grant permission after the fact. You will be charged for this inspection. If permission is not granted you will be asked to remove the alteration at your cost.
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Notify Cornerstone when the work is complete?
Depending on the type of work you have carried out, we will need to inspect the work. You will also be required to send us any relevant certificates relating to electrical or gas work.
Will I have to pay for permission?
We do not charge a fee. However, fees may be charged by other services, such as Planning, Building Control or County Council Highways department. All applications to carry out alterations should be sent in writing. We will give you a written response telling you if permission has been granted or refused.
Repairs and leaving your home
You will be responsible for maintaining any alterations and any associated repairs, including kitchen repairs. Please also be aware that you may be asked to remove the alteration and return the property to its original condition when you leave your home.
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The installation of CCTV at your home is considered a tenant alteration. You must first get permission from us in writing. All requests will be looked at on a case by case basis.
Some things to consider:
- The system must be fitted by a suitably qualified technician. We may ask that you provide evidence of this
- You will be responsible for maintaining the equipment and must remove the CCTV system when you move. You must also repair any damage caused to the property, such as where holes have been drilled in walls
- The CCTV cameras must only record images within your boundary. We will not give permission for CCTV to be fitted to flats that would monitor internal or external communal areas. Any CCTV installation must not breach data protection legislation
- The CCTV camera must not cause a nuisance to neighbours, for example be directed onto another person’s property. This would be a violation of privacy or harassment
When asking for permission to install CCTV you must tell us:
- The reason you wish to install CCTV
- Details of the number of cameras and where they will be positioned
- Information about what the cameras will be monitoring
We reserve the right to review or withdraw permission should the CCTV be misused or is the subject of a complaint. Once we have reviewed your application we will give you a decision in writing.
For more information on CCTV in your home click here.
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We will give permission to lay laminate flooring if you live in a house, bungalow or ground floor flat.
Please be aware that you will be responsible for lifting and relaying the laminate flooring to enable work to be carried out in your home (such as a rewire). If you do not do this, we will instruct a contractor to do this and you will be recharged for this. We will not take responsibility for any damage to your flooring caused by this.
| Type of work | Plan/sketch showing layout or location | Photo | Detailed description of work | To be carried out by a contractor who is part of an accreditation scheme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Installing a water meter | – | – | – | Yes |
| Installing an external satellite dish * | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Putting up a shed, summer house or scooter store* | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Installing CCTV | – | Yes | – | – |
| Replacing external doors* | – | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Redecorating the outside of your home, including doors and windows* | – | Yes | Yes | – |
| Fitting laminate flooring | – | Yes | Yes | – |
| Installing an outside tap* | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Installing a gas supply or relocating the meter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fitting a shower over the bath | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fitting a stair lift* | – | – | Yes | Yes |
| Installing a water butt* | Yes | Yes | – | – |
| Bathroom or kitchen alterations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Laying of patio or paths* | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Creating a driveway or dropped kerb* | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Altering electrics, including replacing light fittings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Installing fencing* | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Constructing a garage* | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Landscaping your garden, such as replacing grass with shingle* | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Altering heating systems, including replacing or relocating a boiler or radiators | Yes | – | Yes | Yes |
| Internal changes, including removal of walls | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Soundproofing or other insulation, including external wall insulation | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Replacing windows* | – | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Any works that require building consent or planning permission | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |