Our replaced windows not got building regs - Advice Please?

silvercar

An indemnity policy covers the lack of a certificate. If you notify the council that there isn't a certificate then you can't take out an indemnity policy as you have warned the council that there is a problem.

An indemnity policy doesn't cover you for shoddy workmanship, it covers you for lack of a certificate.

If the council was so minded it could inspect and if the windows failed to meet regulations, the council could insist on you taking remedial action. As the council generally have to take action within 12 months for lack of building regs situations, it is hardly likely that anything will happen. That is why an indemnity policy is so cheap, the chance of a claim is small.

The whole idea of building regs is to check that work is done to a standard. For windows this means correct use of safety glass, correct openings for fire escape routes etc Requirements to be inspected by council or self regulated by FENSA ensures that standards are kept. By not having the certifiactes you don't have evidence to show buyers, so solicitors advise taking out indemnities to cover the risk of incurring costs.

angelavdavis

Deleted_User wrote: »

Thanks for that.

I've just entered my postcode and my address isn't on the list. Looks like they never even registered me.

Write to FENSA enclosing a copy of your receipt. As long as the company weren't fibbing about their FENSA membership, there must be some insurance as part of their membership to cover this types of situations.

skiTTish

silvercar wrote: »

An indemnity policy covers the lack of a certificate. If you notify the council that there isn't a certificate then you can't take out an indemnity policy as you have warned the council that there is a problem.
.

Oh dear!! We have a similar prob
We are buying my mums house and she has a small alteration that the builder assured us 'didnt need building reg authority '
During trying to buy the house my solicitors were asking for proof that building reg authority wasnt needed so we rang the council to ask
ARRGH!!! BIG MISTAKE!!!!
After taking ALL the details ,turns out because a window was fitted where was once a door ,it needed authority
They said we can pay a fee for 'regularisation ' ?!

ukmike

Who's to know the windows weren't fitted before 2002?

The date will be on the inside of them,so no way to hide it!

sashman

eddieb

No FENSA certificate?

A few items of note. FENSA is a self cert scheme, workmen do not need to be FENSA registered but nearly 10,000 of them registered. Cost is minimal registration fee then small fee per property not thousands as others have mentioned.

Why, because the government wished to bring in a competent persons scheme to ensure work is compliant to current regs, but guess what , lots of people still do it on the cheap, that'll be alright, cash in hand, gone when it matters.

Solutions, 1 you can explain to FENSA but unlikely to help (can get duplicates if lost etc) 2, speak to the council, I have known installers come clean after two years trading and get backdated certificates, they want to register improved properties so they'll be helpful, will cost £115 odd (but dont forget the savings you made when having them installed).

Lastly the solicitors shouldn’t rely upon the insurance. Since FENSA was set up, window installers are required to OFFER insurance incase they go bust, OFFER but you are free to decline, (something your installer didn’t offer you)

When its time to sell the solicitors are affectively offering insurance but they overlook the most important thing.......are the existing windows actually fit for purpose, in accordance with building regs because neither FENSA or the council have checked they were installed correctly.

If the installer cannot bother with the self cert scheme I doubt he's worried if you have safety glazing where your child needs it!!!!!!!!

No joke, people die or seriously injured because someone else cut corners!

hope this helps, pm me if you need anything further

sashman

wallbash

Why, because the government wished to bring in a competent persons scheme

Im not a government compentent person .... thank god
Been putting in windows for over thirty years , but I may only do a couple a year now.
So why should I be stopped , because of a piece of paper.

Of course I could imply that the double glazing companies want a closed shop to increase prices :eek::eek:



quote ... I doubt he's worried if you have safety glazing where your child needs it!!!!!!!!


Just plain scaremongering .

silvercar

Safety glass will have a british kite mark symbol on a corner of the glass.

There are regulations on where must have safety glass. From memory it is in or near doors and on windows within 1m of the ground.

Of course these are current regulations, so may not have been in force at the time yours were installed.

eadieb

silvercar wrote: »

An indemnity policy covers the lack of a certificate. If you notify the council that there isn't a certificate then you can't take out an indemnity policy as you have warned the council that there is a problem.

An indemnity policy doesn't cover you for shoddy workmanship, it covers you for lack of a certificate.

If the council was so minded it could inspect and if the windows failed to meet regulations, the council could insist on you taking remedial action. As the council generally have to take action within 12 months for lack of building regs situations, it is hardly likely that anything will happen. That is why an indemnity policy is so cheap, the chance of a claim is small.

The whole idea of building regs is to check that work is done to a standard. For windows this means correct use of safety glass, correct openings for fire escape routes etc Requirements to be inspected by council or self regulated by FENSA ensures that standards are kept. By not having the certifiactes you don't have evidence to show buyers, so solicitors advise taking out indemnities to cover the risk of incurring costs.

Thanks for that. It seems that if we are not prepared to risk having to make alterations to meet retrospective building regs. then it may be wise to take out one of these insurances.

eadieb

sashman wrote: »

eddieb

No FENSA certificate?

A few items of note. FENSA is a self cert scheme, workmen do not need to be FENSA registered but nearly 10,000 of them registered. Cost is minimal registration fee then small fee per property not thousands as others have mentioned.

Why, because the government wished to bring in a competent persons scheme to ensure work is compliant to current regs, but guess what , lots of people still do it on the cheap, that'll be alright, cash in hand, gone when it matters.

Solutions, 1 you can explain to FENSA but unlikely to help (can get duplicates if lost etc) 2, speak to the council, I have known installers come clean after two years trading and get backdated certificates, they want to register improved properties so they'll be helpful, will cost £115 odd (but dont forget the savings you made when having them installed).

Lastly the solicitors shouldn’t rely upon the insurance. Since FENSA was set up, window installers are required to OFFER insurance incase they go bust, OFFER but you are free to decline, (something your installer didn’t offer you)

When its time to sell the solicitors are affectively offering insurance but they overlook the most important thing.......are the existing windows actually fit for purpose, in accordance with building regs because neither FENSA or the council have checked they were installed correctly.

If the installer cannot bother with the self cert scheme I doubt he's worried if you have safety glazing where your child needs it!!!!!!!!

No joke, people die or seriously injured because someone else cut corners!

hope this helps, pm me if you need anything further

sashman

thanks for the help. Our tradesman definately wasnt fensa. All the way throught the process he referred to needing to get someone from the council out to inspect the windows. we thought he was sorting it out but I guess it is our responsiblity to sort it if it doesn't happen.

I dont think any of our windows are risky in terms of safety but who knows! The installer was explaining during the process about some of the windows being special windows which can be pulled out/moved out of the frame in some way, for fire rescues. I'm no longer confident that the size of our opening windows meet the rules?

thanks again

McAzrael

eadieb wrote: »

I'm no longer confident that the size of our opening windows meet the rules?

I remember the tradesman talking about putting in certain windows so that they meet the regulations etc. The bedroom windows have an opening gap of 410mm. (the space between the left edge and right edge that we would have to climb out of). Our bedroom had one really narrow window (400mm wide) which did not open and so we replaced it with another non opening window. it has a small opening window at the top for ventilation. I remember the tradesman saying this would be fine as we are replacing like for like.

They don't. The clear openings need to be 0.33m^2 and at least 450mm in both width and height. The replacements weren't like for like as you replaced metal windows with UPVC ones - UPVC has much larger sightlines.