Almost every tenancy agreement restricts alterations to the property, and fixing a bracket to a balcony railing is an alteration. So the first thing to know is that you need permission, and the second is that you will usually get it.
Landlords say no to things they cannot picture and cannot bound. The job of the email you send is to make a balcony array both.
The three things a landlord is actually worried about
Damage to the property. Dodgy electrical work. And being left with something they did not want when you go.
Every other objection you will hear is a version of one of those three, and all three have good answers for a balcony system — which is why the consent rate is much better than tenants expect.
Damage
Where the railing allows, the brackets clamp rather than drill, and leave nothing behind. Where a through-fixing is genuinely needed, that is identified at the survey and put to the landlord specifically, before anything is done — not discovered afterwards.
Electrical work
The connection is made by a qualified electrician and comes with an electrical installation certificate. That certificate is a document the landlord can file alongside the EICR. Most landlords relax visibly at this point, because it turns an unknown into a familiar piece of paper.
What happens at the end of the tenancy
The system is yours and it leaves with you. Removal is an hour, the spur is disconnected and made good, and the property returns to exactly the state it was in. Say this explicitly — it is the answer that turns a maybe into a yes, because it means the landlord is agreeing to something temporary.
What to put in the email
Keep it short and answer the three questions before they are asked. Say what is being fitted and where, that the electrical work is done by a qualified electrician with a certificate you will forward, that the network operator is notified as part of the install, that fixings are non-marking where possible and that anything else will be agreed with them first, and that the whole system is removed at the end of the tenancy with the property made good.
Offer to send the survey findings before anything is ordered. A landlord who is asked to approve a specific, surveyed installation says yes far more often than one asked to approve the idea of solar panels.
Here is that email. Copy it, fill in the square brackets, and send it. You do not need to credit us and you do not need to mention us at all — it is your flat and your request.
If you are writing to a factor instead
Much of the letter above works, but three things change. Address it to the factor or managing agent rather than to a person, and say which flat you are.
Ask a question rather than making a request: whether consent is needed at all for a removable fixture on the balcony railing, and if so whose consent — theirs, the owners collectively, or the freeholder. That is genuinely unclear in many buildings, and asking it that way gets you a useful answer instead of a reflexive no.
And ask whether there is a fee. Some factors and freeholders charge for a licence to alter, particularly in England and Wales, and it is much better to know that at the start than after you have paid us.
When the landlord is not the one who decides
A common outcome is that the landlord is willing but cannot authorise it, because they own the flat and not the balcony envelope. In a block, the external structure is frequently common property managed by a factor or a freeholder.
That is not a refusal — it is a redirection, and the landlord is usually the right person to make the approach because they are the owner in the eyes of the factor. Our guide to leasehold, factors and shared buildings covers what happens next.
Consent in writing, before you spend anything
An email saying yes is enough; a verbal yes from a letting agent is not. Get it before you place an order, not after — and we will not ask you to pay for anything before you have it.
If your landlord wants to see what they are agreeing to first, that is entirely reasonable and we will do the survey on that basis. There is no charge for a survey that ends in a no.
Frequently asked
- Do I really need permission for something that just clamps on?
- Yes. It is an alteration to the property and there is electrical work involved. Doing it without consent puts your deposit at risk and gives the landlord grounds to require removal at your cost.
- What if the letting agent will not pass it on?
- Ask, in writing, for the request to be put to the owner and for the owner’s answer in writing. Agents sometimes decline things they simply do not want to administer; the owner’s answer is the one that counts.
- Can I take it to the next flat?
- That is the design, and it is the main reason to buy one as a tenant. The brackets unbolt, the electrician disconnects and makes the spur good, and the kit refits at the new address with a fresh certificate and a fresh network notification. Both visits are chargeable — the hardware is already yours, so you are paying labour rather than buying the system twice.