Which renovation jobs need the housing association's approval?

What decides whether it is the association's call or yours

The rule of thumb is ownership, not location. Anything entirely inside your flat's own boundary, using its own pipework and wiring, and not visible from outside or affecting the building's structure, is normally yours to decide alone. The apartment association (korteriühistu) gets involved when work touches shared systems: the risers that feed every flat, the building's facade, the roof, or anything load-bearing.

This matters because the association's rules and any co-ownership agreement (kaasomandi kokkulepe) sit above your own preferences. Ignoring that can mean redoing work at your own cost, or a neighbour with a legitimate complaint. When in doubt, a short email to the board before you start is cheaper than a dispute after.

Some changes also need a building permit or notice through the building register (ehitisregister), regardless of what the association thinks. The two approvals are separate — the association manages shared property, the register manages what the law requires for the building as a whole — and a bigger job may need both.

Replacing radiators and changing the heating system

Swapping an old radiator for a new one of a similar type and size, using the existing pipe connections, is normally routine — it is your radiator, on your wall, drawing from a system you are still allowed to use as intended. Most associations do not need to be asked for this, though some appreciate being told, especially in buildings on district heating with a shared boiler room.

It changes once you start altering the risers themselves — moving a connection point, adding a loop, or fitting underfloor heating that ties into the shared heating circuit. Risers serve every flat on that stack, so touching them is a shared-property matter and needs the association's agreement, sometimes with an engineer's input on balancing the system.

If you are unsure whether your job is a simple swap or a riser change, our radiator installation service, from 85 € per job, includes checking the existing setup before work starts, so you know which category you are in before anyone commits to a plan.

Moving a bathroom or relocating a drain

Retiling a bathroom, changing a shower, or replacing a toilet in the same spot is your own decision — it is finishing work inside your flat. The drain connection itself is a different matter: the vertical stack (kanalisatsiooni püstik) running through the building is shared property, and any flat below yours has a direct interest in it working properly.

Moving a drain outlet, relocating a bathroom to a different part of the flat, or changing pipe diameters on the shared stack all need the association's agreement, and often a plumber's assessment of what the stack can take. This is also where waterproofing standards matter most, since a leak reaching the flat below is the most common and most expensive renovation dispute in panel buildings.

Our flat renovation service, from 180 € per job, covers this kind of planning stage — working out what can be done inside the flat and what needs to go to the board first, before any tiling starts.

Changing windows and anything visible on the facade

Windows sit exactly on the line between private and shared. The glass and frame are usually treated as part of the flat, but the outward appearance — colour, shape, glazing bar pattern, whether it matches the rest of the building — is a facade matter, and facades are shared property in almost every association's rules.

In older wooden houses in Kalamaja or Nõmme this is often stricter still, since window style is part of what gives the building its character and sometimes falls under heritage protection guidance from the city. Replacing a window with something a different colour or a different opening style than the original is the kind of change that regularly needs the association's approval, and sometimes the city's, before you order anything.

• Same size, same colour, same opening type as before: usually no approval needed
• Different colour, frame material, or glazing pattern: tell the association first
• Wooden house in a protected area: check with the city as well
• Balcony glazing or new openings in the facade: approval needed in almost all cases

Electrical risers and new wiring circuits

Rewiring sockets, adding circuits, or fitting a new consumer unit inside your own flat is your decision, provided the work is done by a qualified electrician and stays within your flat's own supply. This is standard renovation work and does not usually involve the association at all.

The building's electrical riser — the shared cable running up through the stairwell to feed each flat's meter — is different. Adding a new connection point, increasing your flat's capacity beyond what the riser was designed for, or any work inside the shared meter cupboard needs the association's agreement and is coordinated with the network operator as well.

This is one part of a renovation where getting the boundary wrong is expensive to fix, since opening up a finished wall to reach a riser again is far more work than doing it once with the right agreement in place.

Load-bearing walls and floors — what we do not touch

Any wall that carries weight from the floors above, and the floor slabs themselves, are structural elements of the whole building, never just one owner's property. Removing or cutting into a load-bearing wall to widen a doorway, or altering a floor slab for new plumbing runs, needs an engineer's assessment, the association's agreement, and very likely a building permit through the register.

We do not do load-bearing wall work. If your renovation plan involves opening up a wall between rooms, it is worth finding out early whether that wall carries load, since it changes the whole shape and cost of the project. We can point you to the right kind of specialist for that assessment, but the structural work itself sits outside what we take on.

How to actually ask for the association's agreement

Most associations do not need a formal meeting for straightforward jobs. A written request to the board — email is fine — describing the work, with photos or a simple sketch, is usually enough for them to reply with a yes, a no, or a request for more detail such as an engineer's opinion.

Keep that reply. It is the proof that the work was agreed, and it matters if the flat is sold later or if a neighbour raises a question. For anything touching a riser, drain stack, or facade, get the agreement before ordering materials or booking a fitting date, since undoing approved-but-wrong work costs more than waiting a week for an answer.

Our window fitting and servicing service, from 90 € per job, includes advising on whether a particular replacement needs sign-off before we schedule the work, so the approval and the installation are not competing against each other on your timeline.