Flat Refurbishment Catford

Two in three Catford homes are flats (66%), so for many owners here a refurbishment happens inside a shared building. A flat in SE6 may sit in a converted Edwardian house, a post-war block or a newer block, and 17% of homes here were built in 2000 or later. Each comes with a lease, a freeholder or managing agent and neighbours on the other side of the floor. We renew the flat inside those limits: services, kitchen, bathroom, floors and finishes, to a standard you can live in or let.

For Catford, published UK averages put a full flat refurbishment at £33,000 to £48,000 and a basic one, with budget kitchen and bathroom fittings, at £15,000 to £18,000, and London flats usually cost more (Checkatrade and MyJobQuote, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Catford: we refurbish the flat within the terms of your lease and licence to alter, protect the common parts throughout, and a registered electrician certifies the new consumer unit and circuits.

Refurbishing a leasehold flat in Catford

A flat refurbishment in Catford starts with the lease, because two thirds of homes here are flats and each one shares its structure with other homes. The lease sets which works need a licence to alter from the freeholder, and structural work, a change of floor finish and a moved bathroom are items leases commonly list. The managing agent may set its own working hours, access routes and rules on protecting the common parts, so ask for them before you fix a start date.

Floors need particular care. Swapping carpet for boards over a neighbour's ceiling can carry impact noise straight down, so a lease may insist on an acoustic underlay or a floating floor. We lift the old finish, check the joists and fit the sound layer the lease calls for before the new floor goes down. Rubble goes out through agreed routes, and the stair and hall are protected for the length of the job.

Housing in Catford

Around 7,650 homes make up Catford on the valuation list; 66% are flats and 34% houses, and 61% date from before 1919, 4% from between the wars and 33% from after 1945.

Converted houses, older blocks and newer blocks in Catford

The kind of building your Catford flat sits in decides the logistics. With 61% of homes built before 1919, a flat may be one floor of a converted period house, reached by a shared stair with no lift, where every board and bag goes up and down by hand. There the floor between you and the flat below is often an old timber floor, so sound and leaks travel easily and the neighbours hear the strip out.

The 33% of homes built after 1945 include post-war blocks, which often have concrete floors, sometimes a lift, and a managing agent with written contractor rules. A block from 2000 or later tends to have plasterboard linings and services in risers, and the managing agent may ask for method statements before work starts. We ask for the building rules at survey stage and plan deliveries, lift bookings and waste removal around them.

Windows, hours and parking for a Catford flat

Outside changes to a Catford flat need more care than inside ones. Lewisham says flats and subdivided houses in conservation areas have no permitted development rights and must seek planning permission for changes to the exterior. New windows on a converted house in one of those areas therefore start with the owner or their designer applying for consent, and the freeholder's approval as well, because the window frames often belong to the building rather than the flat.

Inside the building, two sets of hours apply: Lewisham's limits on construction noise, and the block's own rules, which may keep drilling to a shorter window. The stricter of the two is the one we work to, and we tell the neighbours on the shared landing before the noisiest days. Where a van or skip needs a bay in a controlled parking zone, Lewisham asks for the suspension at least five working days ahead, so we book it with the start date.

Letting a refurbished flat in Catford

A flat let in Catford has to meet the energy rules before the tenant moves in. Since 1 April 2020, landlords can no longer let or continue to let a property covered by the MEES Regulations with an EPC rating below E unless a valid exemption applies. MEES is enforced by the local authority. In a flat the usual gains are heating controls, a modern electric or gas heating system, insulation where a floor or roof is exposed, and secondary glazing where the frames cannot change.

Licensing is the second check. Lewisham's selective licensing scheme came into effect on 1 July 2024 and covers around 20,000 properties, so a landlord should confirm whether the address is inside it and what the licence conditions require. A refurbishment between tenancies is the time to put right damp, electrics, smoke alarms and worn kitchens. We carry out the work and give you the certificates from the registered electrician and the registered gas engineer for your file.

• Flat entrance door replaced as a certified fire door set, with the freeholder's written agreement
• Full and basic flat refurbishments within the existing layout
• Leak repairs, and making good after water has reached the flat below

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Catford East & Mountsfield Park and Catford Bridge. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Useful next reading for a flat refurbishment project in Catford: bathroom renovation in Catford, flat refurbishment across Lewisham, London builders who work inside occupied blocks, fitting a new kitchen inside the flat footprint, our London flat refurbishment page and Painting and Decorating Cost.

Why Choose GS Renovation in Catford

A flat refurbishment is judged by the neighbours as well as by you. We agree the building rules with the managing agent before we start, protect the common parts, and run strip out, first fix, plastering, kitchen, bathroom, flooring and decoration as one sequence with our own trades. A registered electrician certifies the wiring and a registered gas engineer handles any gas work. You get a written quotation after a survey, a written programme and one named point of contact.

• Kitchens and bathrooms renewed within the existing footprint and drainage
• New pipework pressure tested so nothing leaks into the flat below
• Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder

Reviewed jobs near Catford

1 MyBuilder review from Crofton Park, with each customer's own job title:

• Replace small section of wooden worktop, sink, tap and gas hob, Crofton Park, 17 Apr 2024 (5 out of 5)

Read all 31 on our reviews page.

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254).