UPVC 'v' Wooden patio doors ... Where do we stand?

antw23uk

Hi All
After a bit of advice please so hope this is in the right section. To cut a long story short my partners father died a few months ago. Everything regarding his money and property has gone smoothly and my partner and his brother are now wishing to sell his property which is a flat.

We refurbished the property ready for the open market and had to replace the old and damaged patio doors which were made of wood. We were given the option of either white or brown UPVC frames and went for brown to keep it in keeping with all the other flats .... Now the managing agent has received a letter from some of the residents about how awful the UPVC frame is and how it doesnt match the other properties and that it must be replaced back to wooden.

To add insult to injury the windows at the front of the flats are being replaced with brown UPVC windows and the pent house also has brown UPVC windows and doors (but apparently this is ok!!)

Where do we stand with this? Its basically a load of old retired and VERY bored small minded people making a mountain out of a molehill. surely if they needed to replace their patio doors they would need to do it in UPVC?

If you got this far then thank you for letting me rant :beer:

ging84

what is this management agent ? is it a leasehold or a freehold property

ValHaller

Look at the terms of your lease and see whether you are in breach of a requirement as to specification of replacements or as to informing the Managing Agent or the Freeholder.

You may have to declare this issue when you sell. Ideally you would be able to dismiss it on reading the lease, but if you can't, you either need to change the doors or declare the need to your buyer, making allowance in the price and let them deal with it.

ognum

Reas lease, no other answer!

princeofpounds

Again, read the lease. But to elaborate a little...

a) the windows may or may not be your responsibility. More often the windows of a flat are the responsibility of the freehold (i.e. building and land owner) rather than the leasehold (i.e. flat). So the first thing to do is establish this. In your case, the fact that the windows vary already between properties might mean that is not the case, but you can't be sure unless you read the lease.

b) having established that, then if it is your responsibility then you need to establish if you have certain constraints over colour/design etc. If yes, you will need to comply (or wait to be forced to comply). If no, then you don't need to change anything.

cattie

It is quite common in flats to have to seek permission & adhere to certain colour or style of replacement windows. As others have mentioned, you need to read the lease to ascertain if there are any particular requirements or if permission is needed.

moromir

Can only reiterate what others have said really - the lease should specify BUT be aware that:

The lease may make one party responsible for decoration and another responsible for replacement.

For example - the management company is required to paint every three years but the owner is responsible for maintaining and replacing windows in the flat.

There will almost certainly be a requirement to obtain the authorisation of the management company or freeholder before doing anything that 'will alter the exterior appearance of the building'.

However, if you apply for retrospectic permission and its denied - I would be arguing on the basis of precedent - i.e. other flats have brown upvc.

IF all other frames were wood - I would see the lessee's points if you went and changed to upvc without consent because it would indeed look ugly and out of place.