Property Repairs & Refurbishment in Soho (W1)

Soho is small, busy and old. Most homes here are flats above shops, bars, restaurants and offices, squeezed into the streets between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue. The repair itself is usually ordinary. What makes a Soho job different is the building around it and the street outside it.

This page explains what that means in practice, and what to check before anyone starts work.

What the buildings are like

Many Soho buildings date from the 1700s and 1800s. Some are Georgian houses that have been shops, workshops, offices and homes over the years, and many are listed. Others are later Victorian and 20th-century buildings. The whole area is a conservation area, so the outside of a building — windows, shopfronts, roofs and anything you can see from the street — is more tightly controlled than in most of London.

The typical home is a flat on an upper floor, reached by a narrow shared staircase from a street door next to a shop. There is usually no lift and no porter. Services have been added and re-routed many times, so pipes and cables do not always go where you would expect.

Living above a business

This is the thing that shapes most Soho repairs. When your flat sits above a restaurant or a shop, a small leak is not just your problem — it can close a business below you. That makes speed and careful diagnosis matter more here than almost anywhere.

It also means water, drainage and electrics are often tied in with the commercial unit downstairs. Before any work, it helps to know which pipes and cables serve only your flat and which are shared. If you are not sure, the managing agent or freeholder should be your first call. If water is already coming through a ceiling, see our guide to a bathroom leaking downstairs, and our plumbing and leak detection pages.

Listing and the conservation area

If your building is listed, consent is generally needed for work that affects its character — and that can include the inside, not just the front. Original staircases, panelling, fireplaces and plasterwork can all be protected. The conservation area adds controls on outside changes. Our guides to listed building consent and conservation area rules explain the basics. What applies to your address is for Westminster City Council to confirm, so check before you settle on a design.

If you own a leasehold flat, read your lease as well. Moving a bathroom, changing a waste pipe or putting down a hard floor usually needs the freeholder's consent, often called a licence to alter.

Getting to the door

Soho's streets are narrow and busy all day. Parking is very limited, loading is restricted, and some streets are closed to traffic at times. That means deliveries need to be timed, materials carried up by hand, and waste taken away in small loads rather than left in a skip. Our guide to parking and permits for trades covers the practical side.

Noise matters too. Westminster sets hours for noisy building work, and a lease or the business below may ask for tighter limits. See working hours in Westminster before you plan the noisy parts of a job.

The jobs that come up most

Leaks and plumbing. Old pipework, shared stacks and water travelling between floors. Finding the real source comes first, because the stain is often not where the fault is.

Low pressure on upper floors. Top-floor flats in old buildings can struggle for pressure. Our page on low water pressure explains the usual causes.

Electrics. Older buildings often have wiring that has been added to over many years. All electrical work in homes falls under Building Regulations Part P and should meet BS 7671. If you let your flat, an EICR is needed at least every five years — see EICR rules for landlords and our electrical page.

Small bathrooms. Soho flats rarely have space to spare. Our guide to small bathroom design is a good place to start, and bathroom refurbishment covers the full job.

Certificates. Landlords need an annual gas safety check where there is gas.

Before you book anyone

• Which pipes, cables and stairs are yours, and which are shared with the building or the business below?
• Who needs to know — the freeholder, the managing agent, the shop or restaurant downstairs?
• Is the building listed, and does the work touch anything protected?
• Does your lease need a licence to alter for this work?
• When can noisy work happen, and how will materials reach the flat?
• Is the quote agreed against a written scope?

How we work in Soho

A free quote against a written scope, agreed before any work starts, and one point of contact who deals with the agent, the neighbours and the timing. Where the building needs it, we look before we price, so the quote is based on what is really there.

Nearby, we cover Mayfair, Fitzrovia and Westminster. See all areas we cover, or send us the job.