No FENSA certificate and selling house

[Newusernameaug]

I replaced a window and door whilst renovating my property, one was second hand the other bought off Facebook market place but new.

I installed them so don’t have the certificates and now the buyers solicitors are asking for them.

Has anyone else experienced this? Tried googling but it basically says to use a FENSA accredited person…..

Just say you don't have the certificates. See what they want to do. You can sell without certificates. We bought a house with replacement windows and no certificates. We were planning on replacing the windows and doors anyway.

Ok that’s good to know thanks! From my research it seemed like a legal requirement

They will be able to get an indemnity for these (you will highly likely be asked pay for or towards). It’s just in case the council asked them to remove them. It’s not expensive and solicitor can sort out.

Looks like you might be able to buy a Fensa certificate - £25, if they’re really in a twist about it.

forms.fensa.org.uk/fensa-certificate

You say you don’t have the certificate. They’ll get an indemnity policy, and ask you to pay. Shouldn’t be much in the grand scheme of things.

Say you don't have it. If you are lucky the buyer won't mind. Otherwise your solicitor buys an indemnity certificate.

It's been a requirement since 1st April 2002 for all window replacements to be reported to building control. This would usually be done via a competent persons scheme just like other trades. A Fensa certificate or building regs certificate is required to be able to sell. Lots of people won't have the installation certificate but will be able to trace the installation via the council.

We had this issue when we sold our house a few years ago - the windows had been put in by the previous owner and we had no certificates for them. We contacted the Building Control section of the council, who came out and inspected the windows, then provided a certificate. There was a small charge, but it was worth it to get the issue sorted out.

We had our roof repaired and a new Velux window fitted at the same time (because it turned out that was causing the small leak) the roofer did it for us but we didn’t know he wasn’t FENSA accredited. We were just up front when we sold the house, we said it was our error, provided receipts for the work etc and offered to pay for the indemnity and had no trouble from the buyer.

Remember FENSA is not the only certification scheme. CERTASS is another....there may be others.

We had a door fitted that should have been certified but wasn't due to an admin error (only required if certain % is glazed). Couldn't be backdated so got the insurance policy and the glazing place paid us back for it. When we'd bought the house initially the vendors didn't have the certificate for windows from 2008 so they paid for the insurance.

We didn't have one when we sold in 2014 and just paid an indemnity, it was 15 or something. It is not a massive issue

Buying indemnities is standard for any sale and purchase and usually are comparatively cheap. Just ask the solicitor and see what they say. (I would recommend buying it through the solicitor. They have templates and order en masse I think!)

What others say... an indemnity will cover this. It won't cost much.

Thanks everyone