Double glazing windows in an ex-local authority flat

SW15

I have recently bought a flat in a council block in the Putney area. Since the flat comes with single glazed windows as standard, I decided to double glaze them in order to reduce my carbon footprint and help the environment and save some quids on gas bills. Since I am a leasholder, I was being told that I need to take permission from the council (the lease owner) in order to get the double glazing installed. Please bear in mind that this is my first purchase and hence a little inexperienced in dealing with the bureaucracy.

Since the council took a long time to reply back, I instructed my contractors to go ahead with the manufacturing of the windows and doors. I did ask them to keep the layout the same as the existing windows as this was the requirement from the council. Once whilst walking down the road I saw another flat with double glazing patio doors that had a different design of the doors than that of the existing single glazed doors. Me thinking that those guys would probably have taken the permission from council, I asked the contractors to construct the patio doors according to that design only to discover the council rejecting the door design.

Now I am left in a fix! The contractors have already manufactured the doors and hence any change in design will lead me to pay extra for the doors and losing me the cost of the doors. On the other hand the council maintains its position on the desing and is even ready to take me to the court in case I install the double glazed doors. The council says that the other guys must have installed the doors without permission and that it is none of my concern as what other people have installed in their flats!!

What should I do, I stand to lose a lot of money here if I change the design. Is there a work around? I have also written to the councillors complaining the same but havent heard a reply yet. Any help/advice will be much appreciated!!!

dander

Not really what you want to hear, but I don't think there's much you can do. If you have to get permission to have the windows installed and you ordered before that was sorted, then it's your problem, not the council's. There is a procedure in place and you didn't follow it. The fact that you half followed it kind of leaves you in a worse position - if you had just ignored it and done what you wanted, you might have slipped under the radar and got away with doing what you wanted, but now they know about it, they have to deal with the issue.

The question really is what is wrong with the doors? If the size and basic design of the doors is fine, but you just have something in the design of the glazing bars that they don't like, then you may find that it isn't as expensive as you think. If it's size - they don't want a single door replaced with patio doors, then you may find your only option is to suck it up and hope you can sell the other doors on ebay!