Building work in Haringey: area guide

Haringey Council is the planning and building control authority for Haringey, which covers N8, N4, N6, N10, N15, N17 and N22 and takes in Tottenham, Wood Green, Crouch End and Muswell Hill. This is our area guide to building work in the borough; for whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Haringey.

Count the homes in Haringey and you get about 114,980: 35% built since 1945, 11% between the wars and 54% before 1919, with flats at 64% and houses at 36%. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 36 statistical areas in Haringey. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Planning and building control in Haringey

What Haringey Council publishes about building work in the borough, with each point linked to the council page it comes from:

• The London Borough of Haringey has 28 conservation areas. haringey.gov.uk
• Haringey has an Article 4 Direction removing permitted development rights for change of use from dwelling houses (C3) to houses in multiple occupation (C4), in force since 30 November 2013. haringey.gov.uk
• Haringey has four Article 4 directions within conservation areas that remove permitted development rights such as alterations to windows and doors. haringey.gov.uk
• There are currently 471 statutory listed buildings in Haringey. haringey.gov.uk
• Haringey's householder planning advice service, booked via the planning advice request form, costs £498 including VAT. haringey.gov.uk
• Haringey Council runs its own Building Control Service, which checks that buildings are designed and constructed in accordance with the Building Regulations. haringey.gov.uk
• Haringey offers two building control routes, an application for approval with full plans under Regulation 14 or a building notice under Regulation 13, which contains less information. haringey.gov.uk
• In Haringey, work under a building notice or full plans application can start on site 48 hours (2 working days) after notice of your intention to start has been given. haringey.gov.uk
• Haringey's basement policy says a basement must not adversely affect the structural stability of the application building, neighbouring buildings and other infrastructure, having regard to local geological conditions. haringey.gov.uk

With 64% of Haringey's homes flats, the lease comes first on many jobs. Flats have no householder permitted development, so an extension or most external changes to a flat need planning permission from Haringey Council as well as the freeholder's consent. The 36% that are houses keep the householder rights within the size limits, and in a conservation area a single-storey rear extension survives unless an Article 4 direction removes it. Taking out a wall or a chimney breast is building regulations work, not planning, unless the building is listed.

Reviewed jobs in Haringey

Our MyBuilder profile holds 2 verified reviews from jobs in Haringey. The job titles are the customers' own, as published:

• New kitchen install moving plumbing, elecs, flooring, Wood Green, 19 Jan 2022 (5 out of 5)
• New Kitchen Assembly & Others for Interior Designer, Hornsey, 5 Jan 2022 (5 out of 5)

Read every review, including the ones from elsewhere, on our reviews page.

Haringey climbs from Tottenham in the east up to Muswell Hill and Highgate in the west, taking in N4, N6, N8, N10, N15, N17 and N22. The western half is known for Edwardian housing with unusual original detail, the eastern half for Victorian terraces and interwar and post-war estates, and on VOA figures much is now flats. More than half was built before the First World War, its wiring, heating and insulation patched rather than replaced. A flat starts with freeholder consent, a house with the party wall.

Muswell Hill detail decides the order

The houses around Muswell Hill and Crouch End were built to a high specification and much survives: encaustic path tiles, stained glass in the front door, deep picture rails, moulded cornice and panelled interior doors. Owners want it kept and the services updated. In a converted flat a bathroom renovation turns on the shared soil stack.

So floors are lifted and relaid, not skipped, a rewire lands in existing joinery lines, and plaster profiles are matched where a wall is opened. Haringey Council has designated conservation areas across this part of the borough, with Article 4 directions in places, so side, two-storey and roof additions need planning rather than permitted development, and where a direction applies smaller external changes can too. Internal work such as an open-plan conversion needs no planning unless the house is listed, though a flat needs freeholder consent.

Terraced streets and neighbour obligations come first

Further east through Tottenham, Wood Green and the N15 and N22 streets, the houses that remain whole are terraced, in solid brick on shallow foundations, separated from the neighbours by a single shared wall carrying floor joists from both sides. After purchase the usual work is a rear extension or the whole house brought up to date.

That makes party wall duties routine. A beam bearing into the shared wall, a chimney breast taken out of a shared stack, or foundations dug close to the boundary all require notice under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, served by you as the building owner. RSJ installation and chimney breast removal start with the notice period, with the shared wall supported throughout.

Popular starting points in Haringey: kitchen renovation in Haringey, house extensions across Haringey, builders in London and Listed Building Renovation.