Home improvements

We need to ensure the safety of your property, so we only allow you to make certain types of improvements. And you must always seek permission from us and any relevant regulatory authorities before starting any work. It’s particularly important you don’t do anything that means extra costs for us or your neighbours.

Read our Tenant Improvement Policy

Here’s a list of improvements we don’t allow tenants to make to their homes:

• Layout change (movement or addition of partition walls).
• Change of use of rooms, such as relocating the kitchen or bathroom to a different room.
• Adding extensions, such as conservatories or lean-to structures.
• Installing spotlights in a property which doesn’t already have them.
• Installing cat or dog flaps.
• Replacing external doors or complete window sets (frame and glazing).
• Installing security bars on windows or doors as this can restrict fire escapes.
• Removing chimney breasts and any other structural works.

We won’t normally give permission for you to install laminate flooring due to concerns about noise. But we will consider applications if all the following conditions are met:

• You live in a house and none of the rooms are situated above residential space or a bedroom belonging to someone else, or you live on the lowest floor of a block.
• The property has concrete flooring.
• You agree to put sound insulation pads underneath the laminate. (We recommend acoustical sound insulation which is widely available throughout the UK.)
• You agree that we won’t accept any liability for damage if we need to remove the flooring to fulfil our repair obligations.
• You agree to remove the laminate flooring entirely when you leave the property.