Conservation Area - Windows Without Permission

leveller2911

thesaint wrote: »

If you have timber sash windows, and replaced them with timber sash windows, I wouldn't be overly worried to be honest.

Call the council and tell them that you are looking at purchasing a property with rotten windows, and what are their thoughts on replacing them.

My dads house is in a conservation area, and the council were happy with double glazed sash units.
It does irk to see other houses on the street with horrendous UPVC units, but such is life.

I don't think you quite understand Conservation area status. Some Conservation officers may allow double glazed windows (usually to the rear of a property if at all) but even then they will make the decision on style, details of mouldings,site lines of glazing bars etc etc etc. I regularly have to do scaled drawings for clients when they apply for planning permission to replace their windows or doors in Conservation areas.

Even if the OP phones the Council they need to speak to the conservation officer and NOT Building Control.Building control will say its ok to replace as long as its done by either a Building notice or FENSA registered installer whilst not realising its in a Conservation area. If they said to the OP go ahead and they did the Conservation Officer can still force them to take them out and replace them at their expense.

I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to contact the Conservation Officer at the Local Authority when anyone wishes to replace windows/doors etc on a Conservation Area.

leveller2911

Mattygroves2 wrote: »

Have to admit I live in a conservation area and we are gradually replacing our single glazed windows with double glazed units without permission (but with fensa certificates). The design of the new ones is similar but not exact (some curves in places there weren't originally) and we would never have moved from sash if we had them. The majority of our house is an 80s extension (although done very sympathetically) so I don't feel like I'm destroying anything historic.

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FENSA certificates will be meaningless when/if you are found out. It won't be a defence to say "but we have a FENSA ceritifcate" as they may well take enforcmant action and make you replace them with windows that are historically correct and believe me when I say they can be pedantic..........

Re the last part. I've had this many times before "I don't feel like I'm destroying anything historic". The thing is when you live in a Conservation area your opinion is meaningless. How do you know you haven't destroyed anything historic?. No offence but 99% of the public are totally ignorant with regards to historical buildings.

I was once asked to replace some sash windows without PP and I refused. The customer said "but theres nothing special about them and they are draughty". When I pointed out the pulleys were made of boxwood ,handmade and dated from around 1740 he still wasn't impressed. But historically wooden pulleys made of box wood are very rare and deserve to be kept.

pleasedelete

You poste this


On the council document about the conservation area it says 'replacement of repairable original windows will not be permitted'. And 'Enforcement action will be taken against anyone who does this'.

That does NOT say that you need planning permission. There is usually a nominated officer- call them and discuss it. You seem to be making assumptions.

Argghhh

when you bought the flat, you knew it was in a conservation area, therefore its no excuse to now say you didnt know there are a lot of stipulations attached to houses in a conservation area. its the reason people say clear of these areas / listed houses when they are looking to make a quick profit from doing them up. the reason being that they take more time to get necessary permissions and to source the right materials for the work. stay the 4 yrs and hope noone reports you before then as with or without indemnity insurance most solicitors would advise against anybody buyng the flat

jsb1987

Argghhh wrote: »

when you bought the flat, you knew it was in a conservation area, therefore its no excuse to now say you didnt know there are a lot of stipulations attached to houses in a conservation area. its the reason people say clear of these areas / listed houses when they are looking to make a quick profit from doing them up. the reason being that they take more time to get necessary permissions and to source the right materials for the work. stay the 4 yrs and hope noone reports you before then as with or without indemnity insurance most solicitors would advise against anybody buyng the flat

I know! I don't need you to tell me this. I made an error.

My reasearch/looking at the road/talking to residents led me to believe that it is a conservation area more in name than in practice. I didn't see the document that says categorically that replacing windows isn't allowed. I googled about it for ages before making the decision and I think it must have not been online at the time. If i'd seen something written so categorically then I wouldn't have done it.

That said, it was a stupid decision in any case. Conservation areas are there for a reason and residents should abide by the rules to preserve our history. I guess I just wasn't thinking properly at all.

But it's done now, and i'm definitely not staying for 4 years. I would rather pay whatever I have to pay to sort it out, and sell the flat at a loss if necessary. I want to move on and learn from this mistake.

PasturesNew

Building regs are getting so tight these days you can barely change the toilet roll without informing them and getting an inspector round

Argghhh

i guess your best option is to try and sell - let them raise the questions and if they do - pay for new windows as agreed to by the conservation officer. Once this happens you could apply for retrospective permission, danger of doing it this late on will mean delays for your possible buyer who may get fed up. Harsh lesson to learn from but you might get lucky with the retrospective permission

owitemisermusa

Odd bump but OP, what did you do in the end? ow did you get on?

Thanks.

Hoploz

I am interested to hear the outcome of this one

owitemisermusa

bumpity bump



Not sure what council you live in but would've thought that since you are replacing with timber double glazed sash windows there'd be no problem...