Replacing windows in a conservation area

[thesunisout12]

Hi,

we are bought a house with very ugly uPVC windows from the 60's and want to replace them with either aluminum or wood. We live in a conservation area and understand they should be in a similar style/model.. But not sure if we will be allowed to upgrade them like this? It's a block of flats though so would be different to the other flats. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Sorry, I obviously can't spell.

We are *about to buy a house..

Your local council should have someone who would be able to tell you exactly what you can and can't do. I would get in touch with them.

Is it a house or a flat?

As Lindy2 says, get in touch with your local council. I don't know if all councils have similar rules but in my area there would be two issues:

1. Conservation area. You'd need to apply for planning permission.

1. Changing windows on a block of flats. In my area I think you would need planning permission whether conservation area or not, as they want the whole block to look the same or similar.

Try going to your council's website and search for 'Planning'.

You definitely need to speak to Conservation Officer of local council.

Amazingly, although windows form a huge part of the character of a building, not all Conservation Areas were actually drawn up with a window policy. So, if like me you live in one of those, you don't need planning consent: but wise to nevertheless get broad agreement from the Conservation Officer.

"Conservation area. You'd need to apply for planning permission."

This is not necessarily the case. Just because you live in a Conservation Area does NOT mean that you need to apply for Planning Permission. There needs to be an additional order imposed by the local Planning authority, called an 'Article 4 Direction', which can be used to further restrict Permitted Development rights.

As Lindy2 says, you would need to contact your local council Planning department, and the question you need to ask them is "I live in XYZ conservation area. Is there an Article 4 direction in place that restricts replacement windows?"

HOWEVER: The fact that you live in a flat definitely does make a difference. Flats have different Permitted Development rights to houses, and unless you are fitting windows that are a like-for-like replacement of existing, you DO need Planning Permission, regardless.

Brilliant, thank you all so much for your input here. I really appreciate it. Sounds like the best thing to do is to get in touch with the council and find out what their policy is. Let's see if they can give me a straight answer (I have struggled to in the past.)

Thanks again ladies (and happy International Women's Day!)

PS I'm sorry, I can see I initially wrote house, but it is indeed a block of flats.