Under offer, but no FENSA cert?

Giraffeseeker

Hi all,

Haven't posted for a few months, but new user name due to divorce and soon-2-B-ex-OH knew my old one. Is all very amicable, I have moved out of family home into rented and family home is under offer (for asking price :j ). I agreed to do all the admin for the sale, I have appointed a sol and all paperwork is coming to me (trust it better that way!). Short chain, all proceeding well, but have realised we got a family friend (a very good all-round builder) to replace some of the windows with UPVC double glazing in Jan last year, knowing he was not fensa registered. Never did the council certification thing and now, having completed sellers info form this evening, realise I really should have done.

What are the implications of this? If I do the council process now, how long will it take? Are there any alternatives? Really need to get sale through asap as we are servicing joint debts which we cannot afford really, equity will pay them off.

Thanks for any advice.

Doozergirl

You can get a cert from the council within a week if you explian the situation and ask very, very nicely.

It sounds like you are at the beginning of the process anyway if you are only just filling out the forms. I'm sure if you call building control tomorrow, you will have the certificate before you are ready to exchange.

OR you can offer an indemnity policiy which might be a little more expensive than building control (as long as the windows comply with their regs of course!) Ask your solicitor how much one will be and if you plan to take this route, DO NOT talk to the council specifically about your house or it invalidates any policy.

Giraffeseeker

Thanks so much, can't believe you replied so quickly! What am I asking for when I call the council?

Will also ring sol tomorrow. My OH stressing cos he also wants to move into rented until divorce and finances sorted, and he thinks this will mess up completion dates (although not discussed them yet!), he has no idea when to start looking for somewhere. Feel much more detatched than previous sale/purchases cos I'm not living there, but realise this is not fair to him.

Doozergirl

I did edit my post so not sure if you read it all before I added the indemnity thing.

can you ask the firend if the work will comply? Then you can call the council, ask for building control and just ask them, if you needed to have some windows looked at, what will it cost to have an approval certificate? Don't mention your house, just ask hypothetically, perhaps say you are thinking of having some installed or something.

Then you can compare with the cost of an indemnity policy.

Thing is that waiting to see whether the other sol picks up on it and whether they would be happy with the indemnity will lengthen the process if they do want want the Regs, but if the windows don't comply, it will save you a lot of money over having to replace them, iyswim.

Is there a specific question in the pack about windows? Is it in that list where you then have to put dates it happened? It's been a while since I filled one out!

clutton_2

did you mention the date when you had them installed on your sellers forms for the vendor to read ? if not - and their solicitor comes back to you for a date " ~I think it was 1997 but i am not sure" - FENSA not applicable that far back.

tiny white porkie ... ooops

Giraffeseeker

Thanks for the advice. They will definately comply, so no worries there.

Question simply asked if building/planning regs were applied for and answer was multiple choice "yes/no/enclosed/lost/not applicable". I answered "no". Likely their sol will pick it up I guess!

Would go for indemnity if lets the sale go through quicker than involving council, even if costs a bit more. Friend is my local councillor, is it worth asking him to find out timescales?

Giraffeseeker

clutton wrote: »

did you mention the date when you had them installed on your sellers forms for the vendor to read ? if not - and their solicitor comes back to you for a date " ~I think it was 1997 but i am not sure" - FENSA not applicable that far back.

tiny white porkie ... ooops

Crossed posts Clutton.

Not sure what I put, wish I had copied it before posting. However, I think I only put a date if ABSOLUTELY necessary, and not sure if I had to for windows.
If I call sol for advice, she'll know the problem. Is it better to keep quiet? Confused now!

dubsey

It might be that the solicitor is after a guarantee for the windows. We had an extension built in a previous property (garage into habitable room). Had planning consent, builder told us to leave all the regs to him-not to worry. As it turned out he didn't get it signed off and there was no certificate for the window. The window was from a fitter we knew that was allowed to do private work, so there was no guarantee.

Building regs was no major problem, building inspector came out (we had to change some things but then this was a whole extension) and we got our certificate. The window was a pain. We ended up having to say it wasn't brand new (because then it needed a guarantee) but it was a second hand window that had been fitted :rolleyes:

So try to find out first what they are actually requesting. Is it planning consent for change of windows or is it a guarantee for the new windows. As has been mentioned if the solicitor wants a guarantee try saying they are over ten years old (length of guarantee for windows).

Richard_Webster

What Doozer says is as usual common sense and right about building regs and indemnity policies. On balance better to get building inspector to OK if your friend who put them is sure they will comply.

Double Glazing Guarantees aren't generally worth much and I never advise clients to take them seriously. Companies go into liquidation and start up again with a different but fairly similar name all the time. Unless it is some big national name, having a guarantee is better than not having one, but frankly not worth losing sleep about. If the buyers are silly enough to expect a double glazing guarantee to be worth a lot, I pity them...

[Deleted User]

clutton wrote: »

did you mention the date when you had them installed on your sellers forms for the vendor to read ? if not - and their solicitor comes back to you for a date " ~I think it was 1997 but i am not sure" - FENSA not applicable that far back.

tiny white porkie ... ooops

It was April 2002

dubsey

Richard-the buyers on our property didn't give a hoot about the guarantee, it was their solicitor insisting on it. The buyers came to our house to talk about it and told us they really didn't care and had told their solicitor that, He just wouldn't drop the issue. I couldn't agree more about the guarantee being a total waste of time-which is why we will still get our friend to sort any windows for us in the future.

Whatever they come up with, there's going to be a way around it.