Flat Refurbishment Stevenage

Flat refurbishment in Stevenage is the smaller half of the housing work, because 24% of homes in the town are flats and 76% are houses. The flats sit in council-built blocks where some flats have been sold under Right to Buy, in newer schemes among the 14% of homes built since 2000, and in houses converted into flats. Each comes with a lease, a freeholder and neighbours above and below. We renew the flat inside those limits: consents first, then services, kitchen, bathroom and floors, with the common parts protected throughout.

For Stevenage, 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 (Checkatrade and MyJobQuote, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Stevenage: 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.

The kinds of Stevenage flat we refurbish

Three kinds, each with its own landlord. By the council's own figures, its housing stock has fallen from 32,000 homes to fewer than 8,000 since Right to Buy began in the 1980s, so a Stevenage block can hold owner-occupied, privately let and council-rented flats side by side. At the 2021 census, 20.4 per cent of households still rented from the council, and where the council sold a flat under Right to Buy it normally kept the freehold of the block, so it is still the landlord that grants consent.

The second kind is newer: 14% of Stevenage homes were built in 2000 or later, and the flats among them often sit in blocks run by a managing agent for a freeholder or residents' company. The third is a house split into flats, where the freeholder may be a private landlord or the owners jointly. Before we price, we ask which of the three you own, because it decides who grants consent, what the building rules say, and how long that reply takes.

Housing in Stevenage

The Council Tax list puts Stevenage at about 38,430 homes, 24% flats against 76% houses; 2% went up before 1919, 1% between the wars and 96% after 1945.

Licence to alter for a Stevenage leasehold flat

Read the lease before the scope is fixed. A flat bought under Right to Buy is leasehold, with a lease that controls alterations, and the same is true of a flat in a newer Stevenage block. Moving a kitchen, taking out a partition, replacing flooring or changing the heating can each need the freeholder's written licence. Ask your conveyancer or managing agent for the lease plan and any block regulations, so the specification we price is one the freeholder can approve.

The licence often sets conditions: approved working hours inside the building, protection to the lift and stair, a named contractor, drawings of any new services, and sometimes a surveyor's inspection at the end. Stevenage construction noise hours of 7:30am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturday are the outer limit, and block rules are often tighter. We take the licence conditions into the programme, and nothing is stripped out until the letter is in hand.

Floors, leaks and fire safety inside a Stevenage block

Three things change when the flat shares a building. Many leases require sound insulating underlay or a resilient layer under any new hard floor, because timber or tile laid straight onto a concrete slab carries footfall into the flat below. In a Stevenage block we lay the floor to the build-up the lease names, keep it clear of the walls so sound does not bridge into the structure, and leave the skirting to cover the gap.

Water is the second. A new bathroom or kitchen in a flat is tested under pressure before it is boxed in, and isolation valves are fitted where the next plumber can reach them, because a leak here becomes a ceiling repair downstairs. Fire safety is the third. The flat entrance door and the walls to the common stair are usually the freeholder's or responsible person's concern, so we do not alter them without written agreement, and any cable or pipe passing out of the flat is fire stopped. Notifiable work is inspected through Hertfordshire Building Control or a registered approver.

Refurbishing a Stevenage flat to let

A let flat has two extra tests: its energy rating and the council's housing standards. A privately rented flat needs an Energy Performance Certificate and has to meet the minimum energy efficiency standard, which since April 2020 means an EPC rating of at least E for new and existing lets unless a valid exemption is registered. A refurbishment between tenancies is the time to upgrade heating controls, lighting, loft or roof insulation where the flat has it, and draught sealing. Stevenage's proactive HMO inspection programme names flats in multiple occupation and self-contained flats, and any privately rented home can be assessed under the housing health and safety rating system.

Converted buildings bring one more rule. Stevenage says a building converted into self-contained flats may be a section 257 HMO if the work predates 1 June 1992 and under two-thirds of flats are owner-occupied. HMO rules then apply to the building, so a landlord refurbishing a flat in an older Stevenage conversion may find fire separation, alarms and escape upgrades added to the scope. We price those items separately so you can see what the building needs and what your flat needs.

• Common parts protection: floor sheeting, corner guards and lift lining
• Electric heating upgrades: high retention heaters, or a heat pump where the building allows
• Condensation control with extract fans and trickle vents

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 12 statistical areas in Stevenage. Counts rounded by the VOA.

People planning flat refurbishment in Stevenage may also want bathroom renovation in Stevenage, flat refurbishment in Hitchin, London builders who work inside occupied blocks, renewing a bathroom inside a leasehold flat, flat refurbishment anywhere in London and Small Kitchen Ideas.

Trusted Flat Refurbishment in Stevenage

A flat is refurbished in a building other people are living in, so the job succeeds or fails on the paperwork and the logistics as much as on the finish. We work from the licence conditions, protect the common parts, bag and carry waste out rather than leaving it in the stair, and keep neighbours told of noisy days. A registered electrician certifies the new consumer unit and circuits, and a Gas Safe engineer handles any boiler work. You get one programme and one point of contact.

• Honest updates if a date or a detail has to move
• Void periods between tenancies planned to a fixed handover date
• Consumer unit and circuits certified by a registered electrician at completion

Reviewed jobs near Stevenage

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

• Kitchen worktops, Stevenage, 24 Jun 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).