Flat Refurbishment Dulwich

Flats make up 55% of homes across the Dulwich and Herne Hill wards the VOA counts together, so a large share of refurbishment here happens inside a shared building. A flat in a converted villa, a post-war block or a newer scheme shares one thing: the lease, the freeholder and the neighbours shape the job as much as the finishes do. We refurbish flats within their existing footprint, renewing the kitchen, bathroom, electrics, heating and floors, and we work to the managing agent's rules from the first day.

For Dulwich, 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 Dulwich: 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.

Leasehold flats in Dulwich: licence to alter and the managing agent

Read the lease before you plan. With 55% of homes in Dulwich being flats, a refurbishment here is often inside a leasehold building, and leases commonly require a licence to alter from the freeholder for anything touching structure, service risers or the floor finish. The managing agent may set its own working hours, protection for common parts and rules on where materials are stored. We work to those conditions, give the agent a method statement and programme, and keep the stair and hallway protected and clean every day we are on site.

The kind of block changes the paperwork. A flat in a converted Victorian house in Dulwich may have a small freeholder company run by the other owners. A flat in a post-war block may answer instead to the council as freeholder, or to a professional managing agent with a standard licence process. Post-war homes are 30% of the Dulwich stock. Only 5% of homes here were built in 2000 or later, so newer blocks with building warranties are the exception. Ask for the licence process early, because it can take longer than the works.

Housing in Dulwich

Count the homes in Dulwich and you get about 14,360: 30% built since 1945, 11% between the wars and 56% before 1919, with flats at 55% and houses at 45%.

Floors, sound and the flat below in a Dulwich block

Floors matter most to the flat below. Many leases require carpet or an approved acoustic layer, so swapping carpet for timber or tile without one can breach the lease. We lay a resilient underlay or acoustic batten system beneath hard floors and leave a gap at the walls so sound does not travel through the skirting. When the ceiling below belongs to a neighbour, we agree access and timings with them before lifting boards for new pipework or wiring. The same care applies to the party walls in a converted Dulwich house, where drilling and chasing carry straight through.

A new kitchen or bathroom inside a Dulwich flat carries one risk a house does not: a leak lands in someone else's home. We keep the new kitchen and bathroom on their existing drainage routes where possible, pressure test the pipework before the floor goes down and tank the shower area before tiling. Moving a wet room over a neighbour's bedroom usually needs the freeholder's consent under the lease. Where the flat has electric heating, we look at storage heaters or a heat pump rather than assuming a new gas boiler and flue will be allowed.

Refurbishing a Dulwich rental flat to the energy and licensing rules

A landlord refurbishment has a legal floor as well as a finish. Southwark states that letting a home with an EPC rated F or G is illegal. GOV.UK adds that since 1 April 2020 a property covered by the MEES Regulations cannot be let, or go on being let, below an E without a valid exemption and local authorities enforce the rules with fines. So a Dulwich flat between tenancies should get the measures your energy assessor lists: draught proofing, heating controls, efficient lighting and insulation where the building allows it.

Licensing sets property conditions too. Southwark's selective licensing designations 3 and 4, in force from 1 November 2023 until 31 October 2028 unless revoked earlier, cover wards including Dulwich Hill, and Southwark's selective licensing ward list also names Dulwich Wood. Designations run by ward, so check which ward the flat is in. A privately rented flat inside them may need a licence with conditions on safety and repair. The owner applies for the licence. We carry out the works its conditions call for, such as alarms, electrical remedials certified by a registered electrician and damp repairs.

Working inside a Dulwich block: stairs, hours and fire safety

Logistics decide the programme in a block. Everything comes up and goes down the common stair, so we protect treads, walls and any lift car before the first delivery and bag the strip-out for removal rather than stacking it in the hall. Southwark limits noisy work to 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 2pm on Saturdays, and a Dulwich managing agent may set narrower hours. We plan the breaking out and cutting for the first days, then move to quieter trades.

Fire safety in a block is shared. The flat entrance door and the compartment walls and floors protect everyone, and in general law they are matters for the freeholder or the responsible person under the fire safety rules, so any change to them needs their agreement. When we run new cables or pipes through a compartment floor in a Dulwich flat, we fire stop the opening to match. In a higher-risk building, at least 18 metres or 7 storeys high with 2 or more homes, the Building Safety Regulator is the building control authority, though work under a competent person scheme does not need its approval. Check with the agent first.

• Condensation control with extract fans and trickle vents
• Consumer unit replacement from the meter onwards
• Flat entrance door replaced as a certified fire door set, with the freeholder's written agreement

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for North Dulwich, East Dulwich, Herne Hill & Dulwich Park and Dulwich Hill. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Once you know the scope of the flat refurbishment in Dulwich, it helps to read bathroom renovation in Dulwich, flat refurbishment across Southwark, London builders who work inside occupied blocks, kitchen fitters in London for flats, flat refurbishment across London and Small Kitchen Ideas.

Why Choose GS Renovation in Dulwich

A flat refurbishment is judged by the neighbours as much as by you, so we plan the access, the noise and the protection of shared parts before we plan the finishes. You get a price after a survey, a programme the managing agent can approve and a method statement for the licence to alter. The firm is led by its founder, Abdelaaziz Saaid, who brings more than three decades of hands-on experience. A registered electrician certifies the electrics, and you keep one point of contact.

• Registered in England, Companies House no. 14611254
• Acoustic floor build-ups laid to the specification in your lease
• Deliveries timed around the lift, the stairs and the parking rules of the block

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