Long leaseholders of residential flats across England and Wales could face significant difficulties in what they are permitted to do with their properties as a result of a controversial Court of Appeal judgment. 

The ruling has the potential to disrupt residential flat owners in their ability to install LED lights and Wi-Fi points, lay wooden flooring, remove walls, widen doorways, or carry out any structural alterations to their property (large or small) simply by virtue of the fact that another tenant in the building objects.

The property owner may have obtained all the necessary surveys and engineer...