Grants for Conservation Area Houses

33egg

Hi everyone

We have recently moved into a conservation area (our first home :j) and need to repair/replace our sash windows.

I have searched for grants that might be available to help towards the cost of replacement as our energy bills will be through the roof due to the amount of holes there are in the frame (a sock is blocking one) and they are only single glazed.

I have searched high and low and all I can seem to find is grants for listed buildings and monuments. Does anyone know of grants that are available and where to look?

I live in Cheshire East.

Many thanks in advance

leveller2911

I don't think you will find any grants available for replacing your windows.I think there are "Green Deal" schemes but the cost of the work is not free. They put a charge against the house ,If I remember correctly..

In a conservation area some Conservation officers allow timber double glazing but many don't. You will also need to supply scaled drawings of the proposed windows and they will decide what you can have.

Please,please,please do NOT replace your windows without consent. If you do they have the power to make you replace them again with exactly what the Conservation officer wants. I have seen on a number of occasions people change their windows without permission with Upvc and are then forced to replace them with timber ones. Their argument was "The house across the road has Upvc so we thought we could"..

I've dealt with Conservation officers for years and ignorance is no defence. Your first port of call is the council to find out whether your house is actually within the Conservation area, it may be that your on the edge of one and don't need to comply.

Good luck in your new home......:beer:

27col

Seems like a good scam. You buy a house that needs a lot of repairs, and then look for someone else to pay for them.

leveller2911

27col wrote: »

Seems like a good scam. You buy a house that needs a lot of repairs, and then look for someone else to pay for them.

You sir are a cynic...:rotfl:

Go back 25 years or so and they would have paid for them..

27col

Cynic,yes. Also someone who is fed up with people making bad decisions and expecting someone else to bail them out.

Davesnave

leveller2911 wrote: »

You sir are a cynic...:rotfl:

Go back 25 years or so and they would have paid for them..

Go back 50 years and the OP could have ripped them out!

I don't think it's cynical to expect people to pay for the privilege of living in a conservation or other special area.

Where local needs are unmet, there should be schemes in place for key workers, but mostly it's a lifestyle choice.

27col

Davesnave wrote: »

Go back 50 years and the OP could have ripped them out!

I don't think it's cynical to expect people to pay for the privilege of living in a conservation or other special area.

Where local needs are unmet, there should be schemes in place for key workers, but mostly it's a lifestyle choice.

Exactly my feeling. It's a lifestyle choice. Nothing to do with anyone else.
All choices have consequences for the person making the choice.

leveller2911

Davesnave wrote: »

I don't think it's cynical to expect people to pay for the privilege of living in a conservation or other special area.

Where local needs are unmet, there should be schemes in place for key workers, but mostly it's a lifestyle choice.

My post was tongue in cheek, hence the smiley at the end , still never mind.

Regarding your second point . Why should so called "key workers" get special treatment?. I find this as bad if not worse than the old grant system judging certain people to be "superior" and as such deserve more. Just my opinion but everyone who works and contributes is worthy from the bin man to the teacher and no one should be single out especially teachers etc who are paid very well indeed and in the vast majority of cases can afford to buy a house without "key worker" status. Social engineering in my opinion.

If successive governments hadn't viewed the housing market as a cash cow and actually built affordable housing then people wouldn't need these scheme.

*steps down off his soapbox and goes to make a cuppa*....

Davesnave

leveller2911 wrote: »

My post was tongue in cheek, hence the smiley at the end , still never mind.
Strangely, I knew that.

Regarding your second point . Why should so called "key workers" get special treatment?

I said they shouldn't, unless there is an unmet need...and I wasn't specifically thinking about teachers, who can probably compete in many housing markets.

Care workers are perhaps a better example, as they need to be very local, work unsocial hours, are low paid etc. etc.

captainhindsight_2

There is a Cashback scheme coming before the end of November (or that's what ed Davey has told everyone) this will be Cashback for doing stuff like new windows, doors, insulation, boilers etc. and if it's like the previous ones it will be about £1k + £500 if you bought your house in the last 12 months. So prob best to wait and see what the details of that are.