Flat Refurbishment Hackney

Flat refurbishment is the everyday version of this work in Hackney, because 83% of the borough's homes are flats. They range from Victorian houses split into flats to post-war council estates and newer apartment blocks, and 23% of homes were built in 2000 or later. Each type brings its own lease, managing agent and block rules, and a Hackney flat that is let must also meet the energy and licensing standards before the next tenant moves in.

For Hackney, 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 Hackney: 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 Hackney

A leasehold flat in Hackney needs the lease checked before the price is fixed, because the lease decides what can be changed. Leases differ: some forbid structural alteration outright, many need the freeholder's licence to alter before new floor finishes or moving a kitchen or bathroom, and a few allow non-structural work without asking. A licence may come with its own drawings and conditions. The managing agent may also set its own working hours, lift protection rules and access for deliveries, and those can be tighter than the council's.

Floors are the usual sticking point. Replacing carpet with hard flooring in a flat above another home changes how much footstep noise travels down, and a Hackney lease may require an acoustic underlay or a floating floor. The licence often names the detail to be used. We build the floor to the detail the licence sets, protect the common parts on every working day, and keep the flat secure and weathertight between visits. Deliveries are booked with the managing agent so the lift and entrance are protected when materials come in.

Housing in Hackney

Hackney has about 120,710 homes on the Council Tax list: 35% pre-1919, 8% interwar and 56% post-war, with flats making up 83% and houses 17%.

Converted houses, estates and new blocks across Hackney

The kind of block changes the job more than the size of the flat does. Hackney's flats sit in post-war council estates, split Victorian terraces and newer apartment blocks, and 56% of homes date from after 1945. A flat in a split Victorian house has timber floors, a shared stair and often one old supply feeding several flats, so a leak into the flat below is the risk we plan for when a bathroom comes out.

An estate flat in Hackney is often built with concrete floors and walls, so chasing for a new consumer unit, sockets and lighting is slower and louder and needs careful timing. A flat in a block built since 2000 has plasterboard linings, service risers and a fire strategy the freeholder owns. There, the flat entrance door and the compartment walls belong to the building's fire strategy, so we leave them alone unless the responsible person approves the change in writing.

Landlord refurbishment and Hackney energy rules

A Hackney landlord refurbishment has to leave the flat lettable on energy grounds. Since 1 April 2020 landlords cannot let or continue to let properties covered by the MEES Regulations with an EPC rating below E without a valid exemption. Hackney enforces the private rented minimum energy efficiency standards and says landlords are not expected to spend more than the capped amount to comply, so the scope can be set against the EPC report.

Hackney also says a rented property with an EPC of C or above may be eligible for a discount on the property licence fee. In a flat the measures that move an EPC are narrower than in a house, because the roof and outer walls usually belong to the freeholder under the lease. That leaves draughtproofing, a modern boiler or efficient electric heating with controls, and low energy lighting. We price those energy items separately, so the landlord can see what the assessor needs between tenancies.

Hackney selective licensing and a let flat's condition

A let flat in 17 Hackney wards now needs a property licence, and the refurbishment should leave it ready for one. Hackney's selective licensing designation came into force on 1 May 2026 and runs until 30 April 2031. It covers 17 wards, including Dalston, Hackney Central, Hackney Downs and Stoke Newington, so almost all private lets in those wards need a licence even where a single household rents the flat.

The landlord applies for the licence; we do the building work its conditions point to. Hackney's licence conditions set rules on kitchen and bathroom facilities, gas and electrical safety, and fire and carbon monoxide safety. For a Hackney flat between tenancies that usually means a checked electrical installation and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in the right rooms. It also means a sound kitchen and bathroom, and a gas safety check by a Gas Safe engineer before the new tenancy starts.

• Method statements and product details for the freeholder's licence to alter
• Decoration throughout, with waste bagged and carried out of the block
• Boiler replacement on the flue route the building allows, by a Gas Safe registered engineer

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 30 statistical areas in Hackney. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Once the flat refurbishment work in Hackney is scoped, people usually go on to read bathroom renovation in Hackney, our Hackney area guide, London builders who work inside occupied blocks, bathroom fitters in London for flats, flat refurbishment across London and Small Bathroom Ideas.

The GS Renovation Difference in Hackney

We refurbish flats inside the rules of the building: we read the licence to alter and the block rules before pricing, protect the common parts, and book deliveries with the managing agent. You get a written quotation after a site visit and one contact for the whole job. The founder has more than thirty years of hands-on building work. Electrics are certified by a registered electrician, and gas work is done by a Gas Safe engineer.

• Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
• The lease and licence to alter read before a flat is quoted
• Acoustic floor build-ups laid to the specification in your lease

Reviewed jobs near Hackney

1 MyBuilder review from Stoke Newington, with each customer's own job title:

• Install new dishwasher, Stoke Newington, 24 May 2021 (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).