Planning permission for internal alterations is, in most cases, not required at all. The Planning Portal is unambiguous: you should not need to apply for planning permission for internal alterations including building or removing an internal wall. If you own a house, are not listed, and are not changing what the building is used for, you can reconfigure the inside of it without asking the council.
That clean answer is also why so many London projects stall. The permission that is not needed gets all the attention, and the four consents that genuinely do apply get discovered late, usually by a solicitor during a sale.
The general rule, and why it holds
Planning control is concerned with the use of land and with external appearance and amenity. Moving a stud wall inside your own house affects neither, so it falls outside the system. That is why you can knock a kitchen and dining room together, move a bathroom, build an internal partition or reconfigure a hallway without a planning application.
What it does not mean is that the work is unregulated. It means the regulation happens somewhere other than the planning department.
Exception one: listed buildings
If the building is listed, the position reverses completely. The Planning Portal states that if you live in a listed building you will need listed building consent for any significant works, whether internal or external.
The point people miss is that listing protects the interior. Fireplaces, cornices, ceiling roses, staircases and balustrades, panelling, original joinery, shutters, and the historic plan form of the rooms themselves can all be part of what is protected. Removing a wall that defines the original room layout is exactly the kind of work that requires consent, even though nothing is visible from the street.
Carrying out unauthorised works to a listed building is a criminal offence, and enforcement can require reinstatement at your expense. Our guide to interior alterations to listed buildings covers the application process and what heritage officers look for.
Exception two: flats and maisonettes
Permitted development rights, the mechanism that lets homeowners do a great deal without applying, do not extend to flats and maisonettes. That means alterations a house owner could make without a thought may need permission in a flat, and the safe route in London is to ask the local planning authority before starting rather than assume.
Flats also carry a second, entirely separate hurdle: the lease. See below.
Exception three: changing the use
If the internal work is in service of a change of use, converting a house into flats, creating a house in multiple occupation, or turning residential space into something commercial, then planning permission is engaged even though the physical work is internal. The trigger is the use, not the wall.
The consent you almost certainly do need: building regulations
Building regulations are a separate system with separate approval, and internal work engages them routinely. The Planning Portal sets out the areas that apply to internal walls: fire safety, load-bearing walls, sound insulation, structural support and ventilation.
In practice that means most of the following need building control involvement even though no planning application does:
- Removing or altering any load-bearing wall, including a chimney breast, with structural calculations for the replacement beam
- New or altered drainage, including moving a bathroom or WC
- Electrical work in certain circumstances
- Alterations affecting fire escape routes, particularly opening a staircase into an open-plan space
- Sound insulation between dwellings
- Ventilation to kitchens, bathrooms and rooms without an openable window
The completion certificate is what a buyer's solicitor will ask for years later, and its absence is what holds up a sale. Our guides to building regulations for London renovations and removing a load-bearing wall go through the process.
The consent people forget: the licence to alter
If you own a leasehold flat, your freeholder is a separate authority with separate powers. Most London leases require the landlord's written consent, a licence to alter, before structural or significant work. Applying takes time, involves the landlord's surveyor and solicitor, and the costs are usually yours.
This is private law, not planning law. Getting planning permission or building control sign-off does not give you the right to breach your lease, and doing the work anyway is a breach that can affect the saleability of the flat. See the guide to a leasehold licence to alter.
And the neighbour one: the Party Wall Act
Work to a wall shared with a neighbour, cutting into it, removing a chimney breast on it, underpinning near it, requires notice under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. Again, nothing to do with planning, and again, a common cause of a project being halted after it has started. Our Party Wall Act guide sets out the notice periods.
A conservation area is not the same as a listing
Conservation area designation controls the external appearance of the area, so it bites on windows, doors, roofs and extensions rather than on internal layout. If your house is in a conservation area but not listed, internal alterations generally remain outside planning control. If it is both, the listing governs. Our conservation area guide covers where the line falls.
What to do before you start
- Check whether the building is listed, and at what grade. This is the single question that changes everything.
- Check whether it is a flat. If so, ask the local planning authority and read the lease.
- Check the use is not changing. If it is, you are in the planning system regardless.
- Assume building regulations apply and engage building control early, not after the wall comes down.
- Read the lease and identify party walls before the programme is fixed. These are the two that add weeks.
If you would rather have all of this checked at the start of a project than discovered halfway through, that is part of what a designer manages. See the project timeline guide for where each consent sits, or start from our homepage.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need planning permission for internal alterations?
Generally no. The Planning Portal states that you should not need to apply for planning permission for internal alterations including building or removing an internal wall. The exceptions matter more than the rule though: listed buildings, flats and maisonettes, and anything that changes the use of the property.
Do I need planning permission to remove an internal wall?
Not for planning purposes in a house. You will still need building regulations approval if the wall is load bearing, and you will need a structural engineer's calculations for the beam. Removing a wall is a building control matter, not a planning one.
What if the building is listed?
Different rules entirely. Listed building consent is needed for any significant works, whether internal or external, and the listing covers the interior as well as the facade. Fireplaces, cornices, staircases, panelling, joinery and even the plan form can all be protected. Doing the work first and applying afterwards is a criminal offence, not a paperwork problem.
Are the rules different for a flat?
Yes. Permitted development rights do not apply to flats and maisonettes, so alterations that a house owner could make freely may need permission in a flat. Check with the local planning authority before you start, and check your lease at the same time, because the two are separate hurdles.
Is a licence to alter the same as planning permission?
No, and confusing them costs London leaseholders time every year. Planning permission is public law, granted by the council. A licence to alter is private law, granted by your freeholder under the terms of your lease. You can have one and not the other, and you need both where both apply.
What about building regulations?
They apply regardless of planning. Internal work engages the regulations on fire safety, structural support and load-bearing walls, sound insulation and ventilation. Building control approval is the consent most internal projects actually need, and the one most often skipped until a buyer's solicitor asks for the completion certificate.
Sources
- Planning Portal, internal walls and planning permission, and the building regulations that apply: planningportal.co.uk
- Planning Portal, listed building consent: planningportal.co.uk
Guidance checked on 24 August 2026. General information, not planning or legal advice; confirm with your local planning authority before starting work.