FENSA (or not, as the case may be...)

Mickygg

It depends on the buyer OP. Some buyers may just run because there is no certificate, others will be ok with insurance, others will be ok with council check. Personally I'd be fine as long as the windows were installed at least a few years ago, as yours have been, then any obvious cracks, poor work etc should be visible to a surveyor.

Mickygg

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Why were your parents happy at paying out £150 for an indemnity which will never, ever pay out? Councils do not make random inspections looking for non Fensa certificated window installations.

Indemnity insurance is one of the biggest cons when housebuying, the only people who will benefit are - wait for it!!! - the solicitor/conveyancer (their commission on selling the policy) and of course the insurance company.

I am not criticising your parents, they were backed into a corner unfortunately.

Yes I see your point completely. They were happy purely because there was an alternative so they could sell.
I remember doing research at the time and found the General consensus was the insurance would never be called upon and a waste of money.
But yes it was indemnity insurance or no sale, so no choice really. My folks did think to dig their heels in and say no but they had to relocate and really needed to sell so took the hit.

G_M

1) FENSA certificates are not a requirement. What isa requirement is Buildings Regulations certification, which can be done by the local authority, or a 'Competant Person'. This can be a FENSA approved person, or CERTASS approved......

2) since Building Regs can only be enforced by the LA within 12 months of the work, anything done in 2008 is safe from enforcement. That of course says nothing about the quality of the windows fitted in 2008.....

3) Indemnity Insrance is often offerred to buyers where there's no BR cert - it will pay out if the LA enforce the BRs, but as we've seen (2 above) that will never happen so insurance is pointless

4) but some mortgage lenders will none-the-less demand insurance for reasons that are unclear.....

phoebe1989seb

Hoploz wrote: »

Did the windows get done as part of a larger building project? If so they would be covered by the council building control sign-off rather than Fensa.

That's what we assumed at our last house. Building regs were applied for and signed off (independent building inspector) for a large project, but when we came to sell less than a year later it turned out the windows were not covered.

The local joiner we had used had told us up front he was not fensa registered, but we naively believed - we should have checked with our building inspector obviously - that this was of no matter as the building regs would cover the work.

Our buyers could see the quality of the hardwood windows and knew the great reputation of the joiner we had used, but their lender insisted on indemnity insurance. As the work had been done less than a year, this proved hard to obtain. We were quoted £500 for a suitable policy! Ultimately though our buyer's solicitor forgot all about it and we 'got away with' a more generic policy as by the time they remembered, a year had elapsed.

I agree though, that these policies seem like a con......

glasgowdan

This wouldn't bother me as a buyer, not one bit. I wouldn't spend much time worrying about it. If someone feels the need to see a bit of paper 8 years old to feel comfy that the windows they are looking at aren't falling out they need a slap.

Linton

I had a similar problem. A double glazed window was replaced like for like in 2008. Our buyer insisted they wanted a FENSA certificate. The installer said as it was a like for like replacement it didnt need FENSA, and they werent in the FENSA scheme anyway. Building Control said that if it was a repair it didnt need FENSA - a frame replaced but not the glass was a repair. The glass replaced but not the frame was a repair. But replacing both was a new installation which did need FENSA. But exactly what was done in 2008 was unknown.

In the end it was much easier and cheaper in solicitor time just to pay for Indemnity Insurance - that kept the buyer happy.

Mickygg

glasgowdan wrote: »

This wouldn't bother me as a buyer, not one bit. I wouldn't spend much time worrying about it. If someone feels the need to see a bit of paper 8 years old to feel comfy that the windows they are looking at aren't falling out they need a slap.

Haha that made me chuckle!