Landlord Consent

A tenant wants to remove a wall in a rented shop, so before hiring a contractor it checks the lease and asks whether landlord approval is required. Building permits and insurer approval may also be separate requirements.

RICS guidance on licences to alter describes an application with drawings, specifications and evidence of statutory permissions where relevant, and it is framed around commercial property practice in England and Wales, not a universal legal rule. The RICS code for leasing business premises addresses assignment, subletting, change of use and fit-out as distinct lease topics, and those actions can have different consent procedures even under one lease.

Read the exact clause, because a lease may prohibit an action, allow it freely, or require prior written consent, and the consequences of silence depend on the words and local law. Identify the right party too, since the landlord might be a company, owner or authorised manager, and a friendly building receptionist's informal approval is unlikely to replace formal authority.

Describe the proposal fully, providing plans, contractor details, timetable and impact on services for alterations, or the proposed subtenant and terms for subletting. Ask about the requested format, as a letter, signed licence, deed or portal approval may be required, and keep a copy of the final issued document and conditions.

Allow review time, because surveyors, lawyers, insurers, lenders or other interested parties may need to assess the request and a tenant should not assume immediate consent. Check costs, since the lease may allocate reasonable professional fees or administration charges for the review, so request an estimate and understand when it is payable.

Separate consent from statutory permission, because landlord approval does not waive planning, building, fire-safety or licensing rules and a permit does not replace required landlord consent. Check conditions as well, since approval may depend on working hours, insurance, reinstatement, use restrictions or approved contractors, and a yes with conditions is not a blanket yes.

Confirm scope, because consent to install a partition may not cover structural work or changing the fire alarm, and a revised plan may require a revised approval. Track expiry and timing, since some permissions must be exercised within a period or only after documents are signed, and work started early can breach the lease.

Preserve evidence of communications, including submission date, plans, requests for information and final response, to help resolve whether the parties discussed the same work. An illustrative decision checklist is lease clause, authorised landlord, proposed action, required supporting evidence and final written permission, which is a process check and not a numeric formula.

Avoid universal claims about refusal, because some jurisdictions and clauses limit when a landlord may withhold consent while others differ, so obtain local advice if refusal or delay matters, plan for reinstatement at lease end, notify facilities, insurance, operations and finance of the final conditions, and review the impact on neighbouring tenants. For owners, landlord consent is a specific permission under a specific lease, and the safest path is to document the exact proposal and wait for the required approval before acting.