Seller Not Passed On Window Guarantee!

rayhool

I moved into a renovated house last year which had all new windows and doors fitted, I have recently had a problem with the back door and when I came to try to get it fixed under the guarantee I discovered the vendor had not passed it on. When I asked my solicitor about this they told me that the vendor claims she has lost the guarantee!

I have been onto the window company (Safestyle UK) who say they have no record of them been fitted at this address, but the windows are definitely theirs as they have their logo on the locks and their name on the inners of the windows (plus the date they were manufactured)

Could somebody advise me what I could do next, I think I have gone as far as I can with the window company, but I feel my solicitor has let me down by letting me exchange without informing me they had not received the guarantee for the windows and also the vendor is just been difficult for reasons I do not know?

Jamz

AFAIK alot of these types of guarentees are not transferable.

dips_3

Does the guarantee exist? I ask this because you say the previous owner is being difficult but that the proprety had recently been renovated. You also say that the window company admit that they are their windows but have no record of them being fitted.

It is possible that the previous owner obtained these windows cheaply and had them fitted by someone else -hence no guarantee.

I used to work for a window company and yes all the windows could be recognised as belonging to a particular company. BUT if windows had been mis-measured or a contract cancelled these windows were sold off. Private builders could buy them and fit them themselves.

barnaby-bear

dips wrote:

Does the guarantee exist? I ask this because you say the previous owner is being difficult but that the proprety had recently been renovated. You also say that the window company admit that they are their windows but have no record of them being fitted.

It is possible that the previous owner obtained these windows cheaply and had them fitted by someone else -hence no guarantee.

I used to work for a window company and yes all the windows could be recognised as belonging to a particular company. BUT if windows had been mis-measured or a contract cancelled these windows were sold off. Private builders could buy them and fit them themselves.

If these are new (post 2002) windows put in in recent refurb.
http://www.gatago.com/uk/legal/17691135.html
http://www.houseweb.co.uk/house/forum/Forum5/HTML/000056.html
http://www.houseofanderson.co.uk/fensa.htm
It's not the guarantee I'd care about.
It's the lack of FENSA/certification if you resell. Came up automatically in conveyancing. If they had them fitted on the sly with no certification you've got building regulation issues and you pay the conveyancing solicitor to check all this stuff in order when you buy a house. I.e. your solicitor has f**ked up and you could have problems selling and/or be forced to knock re-glazing costs off price as without you essentially don't have regulation compliant windows.

rayhool

Thanks for the replies, I have contacted FENSA who have no record of installation, however I have got a council building control certificate showing the installation complied with building regulation. So maybe it is the case that the installers were not FENSA registered, is this going to cause me problems if I sell?

BigDunc

Safestyle were bloody hopeless when they fitted our windows. If you need someone to come with you while you throw rocks at them, I'm your man.

lilyann1

No we had our windows done by a Fensa registered company back in JUly 2002.
Unfortunately he said he was Fensa regisitered, but never gave us the certificate and when it came to sell a few months ago,he was indeed not registered.

We obtained a building control certificate which cost us £200, but that is what the solicitor needed for us to complete.

So as long as you have the BC cert it'll be fine.

barnaby-bear

rayhool wrote:

Thanks for the replies, I have contacted FENSA who have no record of installation, however I have got a council building control certificate showing the installation complied with building regulation. So maybe it is the case that the installers were not FENSA registered, is this going to cause me problems if I sell?

Sorry I don't know, I bought this year and solicitor insisted on checking windows carefully and warned us to not lose any such documentation in the future as we may have to pay for replacement windows if no such info. As it was we got the receipt but pre-2002. Solicitor was very emphatic important to prove FENSA compliant but presumably to prove complies with building regs if they have that should be ok. Bit suspicious though that Safestyle windows and neither them nor FENSA have record, hope that helps - I'd get the council's certificate on record so when you sell it's something. Your solicitor/surveyor should have picked this up it was standard section on our conveyancing forms. Question what solicitor was doing it's their job to check.

barnaby-bear

lilyann1 wrote:

No we had our windows done by a Fensa registered company back in JUly 2002.
Unfortunately he said he was Fensa regisitered, but never gave us the certificate and when it came to sell a few months ago,he was indeed not registered.

We obtained a building control certificate which cost us £200, but that is what the solicitor needed for us to complete.

So as long as you have the BC cert it'll be fine.

£200 that people can avoid if solicitor asks right questions....