Lack of FENSA certificate

Darren046

Hello all,

any advice please?

We are in the process of selling our house, when our buyers solicitor has asked us to forward a copy of the FENSA certificate in respect of the new windows we had installed in 2008. We had 2 bedroom windows done and 1 upstairs landing done. The problem we have is my father-in-law did the work and we didnt know anything about needing a certificate.
After looking online i found this

What can you do: First can apply to local authority for retrospective building regulations consent – can be lengthy process – if it is not granted then LA might make you replace the windows.Secondly, if the window was installed more than 12 months ago then you can obtain indemnity insurance. This will pay for the cost of the replacement windows ONLY if the LA takes enforcement action. This is much quicker and will probably be cheaper, but it can lead to problems – if the window is actually defective and needs to be replaced then the policy will not cover that.

Dont really understand what is best to do?

Thanks.

aboard_epsilon

i did my windows myself ..and didn't bother with fensa

you pay your local council some thing like £80

they send some one around to have a look

they approve them ..

then you have your certificate .

far as i was concerned was cash cow for council ..

and another kwango organisation.

its only any real worth if you are selling the house ..

estate agents etc ..will make an impression on new buyers that it must have this certificate ..or somethings very wrong

well ill be here until they carry me out in a box ..so no certificate needed

all the best.markj

wallbash

Totally agree
Fensa biggest rip of ( well apart from the late HIP) all time.

Its a window . it has glass , it stops the draughts. If the buyers want the certificate , tell them , it will cost them extra.

They wont , some paper pusher might , but no one who matters.

If you think aboard_epsilon and I are wrong :eek: Ask yourself , would you turn down a house because you are not shown a piece of paper, saying ....... its a window!

chrisw

I disagree. The council through the Building Regulations also check whether the windows comply with fire escape requirements. I had to have 2 upstairs windows altered to ensure there was a means of escape. DG windows can be extremely difficult to break.

aa4466

Similar thing happened to me. The first that I knew of FENSA was when the buyer's solicitor asked for the certificate. Paying for the insurance is a load less hassle than getting the council involved and won't delay the sale at all. We just knocked the cost of the indemnity insurance off the asking price for the house and let the buyer get the insurance if he wanted to.

wallbash

let the buyer get the insurance if he wanted to.

And lets think ........ did he bother....????

phill99

Struth. This country has gone mad. And people allow it to get worse. Its a bloody window for Gods sake. What can go wrong with it? Its not likely to fall out of the wall. And they hardly go wrong. Why do bloody soiliitors make it seem like the world will end if you don'r have a stupid certificate from fensa. If the place didn't have Double Glazing, they wouldn't be asking for a certificate for the wooden windows. And millions of homes in this country had DG installed prior to this stupid change in the Building Regs. And what has happened to them? Nothing. People carry on opening and closing their windows as normal.

wealdroam

OP, tell the buyer that the windows were replaced before April 2002. Thus no certificate required.

KingL

How does the indemnity insurance work? Do you/they have to pay a renewal each and every year?

Building regulations aren't going to go away so the people buying the property will run into the same problem when they come to sell and they will/should factor this into their decision.

Getting the council retrospective permission is the more robust route. My council charges £350 for the process, I believe some do it for free. I don't think it's particularly lengthy.

The main hurdles you would need to clear are 1) fire exit - if the windows are the same size as the ones they replaced you are probably OK, 2) safety glass - if they are more than 50cm off the floor you don't need it, 3) thermal insulation - this one's the kicker. Do you have any measure of this from the specification/sales literature of the windows you bought? They would need to have a U value of less than 2.0. Or you can get a gadget from ebay for about £50 which measures the U value. So you can pretty-much determine yourself whether you would pass-or-fail a council check, before calling them in. Also, you could probably make discrete (?anonymous) enquiries to find out how long it would take for the Council process.


@phill99 - the biggest (thermal) part of the regs are about local and national governments having to prove that they are meeting the requirements of the Kyoto protocol for climate change/greenhouse gas emissions etc. i.e. replacement windows and new builds have to meet certain insulation requirements. Not a lot that people can do to unallow this.

wallbash

My council charges £350 for the process, .......... I don't think it's particularly lengthy.

:eek::eek::eek:

To say a window is a window , daylight ( sorry ) robbery.

Be honest with the buyer, tell them that a Fensa is cr*p idea.

eamon

The two key things about the building reg changes introduced in 2002 are.

1. The thermal performance of the glass
2. That for upstairs rooms there is a means of egress.

Window installers that are members of FENSA will take care of the bureaucracy. Otherwise turn to your local council. They wiil charge a fee and send out an inspector. He/she will test the windows and issue a certificate (or not). Your problems are then solved.