Flat Refurbishment Putney

Flat refurbishment is the everyday refurbishment job in Putney, because 75% of homes here are flats. They range from floors of converted Edwardian houses to post-war blocks and riverside homes, and 27% of all homes here were built in 2000 or later. In every one the lease, the managing agent and the neighbours below set the terms. We renew the kitchen, bathroom, wiring, heating and floors inside your flat and work to the block's rules while we do it.

For Putney, 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 Putney: 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.

Which kind of Putney flat you own shapes the job

The type of building your Putney flat sits in decides what can change and who has to agree. Three kinds of job come up, because Putney's flats sit in converted houses, post-war blocks and modern developments. A floor of a converted house has old timber joists, shared walls with little sound separation and services that often run through another flat. A post-war block has concrete floors, a communal heating or riser layout and a caretaker to deal with.

The third kind is the newer block. 27% of Putney homes were built in 2000 or later, so a refurbishment in a recent block is mostly finishes, kitchen, bathroom and flooring on a sound structure, under detailed block rules. A block at least 18 metres or 7 storeys high with two or more homes is a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act. Building work there that needs approval then goes to the Building Safety Regulator rather than the council, except work done under a competent person scheme. Your managing agent will say so when you ask for consent.

Housing in Putney

About 20,990 homes are listed for Putney, and the mix is 25% houses to 75% flats, with 54% built after 1945, 8% in 1919 to 1939 and 36% earlier.

Licence to alter and block rules before work in Putney

Before anything is stripped out of a Putney flat, read the lease and ask the freeholder or managing agent what consent the works need. Structural changes almost always need a licence to alter, and some leases forbid them outright. Many leases extend that to new wiring, plumbing runs and hard floors, and the agent may ask for drawings, a method statement, a programme and the contractor's details. Allow for that in the start date, because an agent's surveyor can take some weeks to reply.

Anything on the outside of the building is a planning matter as well as a lease matter. Wandsworth's conservation area guidance states that permitted development rights do not apply to flats or houses converted to flats, so any external change to them needs planning permission. For a Putney flat owner that means replacement windows in a different style, a new external flue or a vent through the front wall should be checked with the council and the freeholder before we order anything.

Letting a refurbished Putney flat under licensing and MEES

A buy to let flat in the East Putney or West Putney ward now needs a property licence before the next tenant moves in. Wandsworth's Selective Licensing Designation 2 covers East Putney, West Putney and Northcote wards, was made on 1 December 2025 and came into force on 1 April 2026. From that date any landlord renting out a property in those wards must apply for a licence, regardless of how many people live there. The designation ceases to have effect on 31 March 2031 unless revoked earlier.

The landlord applies; we refurbish so the flat is ready for the licence inspection, with sound electrics, working smoke alarms and no obvious hazards left. The energy rules run alongside. Since 1 April 2020 landlords cannot let or continue to let a property covered by the MEES Regulations with an EPC below E without a valid exemption, and local authorities enforce this. In a Putney flat, gains come from heating controls, efficient lighting, draught stripping and insulation where a floor or wall is open.

Floors, leaks and the flat below in a Putney block

In a Putney block the neighbours below judge the refurbishment by what they hear and what drips through their ceiling. Where the lease requires sound insulation under hard floors, we lay an acoustic underlay or a floating floor before the new boards or tiles go down, and we keep the finished floor height clear of door thresholds. In a converted Edwardian house, where one timber floor separates the flats, that layer matters more than in a concrete framed block.

Leaks are the other risk. We isolate and cap supplies before stripping a kitchen or bathroom, pressure test new pipework before it is boxed in, and tank the shower area before tiling. The consumer unit and new circuits are certified by a registered electrician. The front door of the flat and the fire separation around it belong to the building's fire safety arrangements, so a new entrance door is agreed with the freeholder or responsible person first.

• Leak repairs, and making good after water has reached the flat below
• Hard floors, carpet and vinyl laid over a level, sound base
• Condensation control with extract fans and trickle vents

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Putney Embankment & Lower Common, Putney Town & Wandsworth Park, Putney West and East Putney. Counts rounded by the VOA.

If this is your first project in Putney, these are worth a look: bathroom renovation in Putney, flat refurbishment across Wandsworth, flat renovations in London, bathroom fitters in London for flats, flat refurbishment across London and Painting and Decorating Cost.

Trusted Flat Refurbishment in Putney

We refurbish flats in occupied buildings as a matter of routine. Common parts and lifts are protected and materials go up at agreed times. Noisy stripping is kept to the hours the block allows, and waste is bagged and removed the same day. We prepare the method statement and programme the managing agent asks for, work only inside the consent you hold, and keep one point of contact from the first visit to handover.

• Photographs kept at each stage for your records
• Fire doors and compartment lines left as the building's fire strategy needs them
• 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).