Can anyone explain how this works under Building Regs - replacement windows(with diagram)

[AuntieBacterial]

Hoping someone understands the building regs better than me as they relate to double glazing.

Background is that we had our single glazed windows replaced in 2003 with standard PVC units. Design was the same as the windows replaced. Contractor claimed to be FENSA registered - but failed to produce paperwork and nothing shows up in FENSAs records. Asked council’s advice over the years that have passed and they recommended going down a regularisation route - which I am now attempting to do.

Building inspector showed up today and raised that the opening dimension requirements of our windows do not satisfy the requirement to have an escape window in each bedroom on the first floor. Vertical clearance of open window should apparently be 45 cm min and ours are 43 cm

Looking at my neighbours house, and comparing equivalent windows for our identical pair of semi detached houses they would also not meet the requirement. They don’t have an escape window at all as only the upper window pane opens and that is well above 110cm from the floor- which is too high to be an escape window. See diagram.

So i am wondering if the inspector got it wrong, or if next door have just got away with it. Their windows were installed 2 years ago and they sold the house in March this year and produced a FENSA cert for the windows according to my new neighbour.

If my replacement double glazed windows installed 20 years ago MUST have an escape window in every first floor bedroom, and the window MUST meet the dimensional specifications in building regs, how can it be that the windows in a house with the same layout next door, which were only fitted 2 years ago, don’t seem to be required to have an escape window at all.

Any ideas or advice?

I really wish people would not post when they don’t know what they’re talking about.

You can get retrospective building control certification. For windows, this would go back aa far as 2002 as that’s when replacement glazing came under the scope of the regs.

The regularisation process prescribes you apply the regs in place at the time the works were carried out. For other notifiable work, you can apply to regularise if it was done from November 1985.

You have massively over complicated this. You can sell without FENSA - it is not an issue, these windows are 20years old and likely will need replacing by the next buyer in the not so distant future.

Absolutely, as I said earlier in the thread I could only produce a certificate for one window and it wasn't a problem at all, even though a couple were installed after 2002. It came up on the report but it's not something most people will be concerned about except in a new build.

No local authority has the resources to be going around their borough checking that windows comply with building regs, there's zero chance a buyer is going to get into any legal issues because the windows don't have FENSA, which is what an indemnity is for.

Great feedback everyone, thank you very much.

if we had to comply in full with all current building regs though, why is the inspector only raising egress deficiencies. There are no trickle vents either so if that’s now a requirement why not raise that.

Asked for some quotes for the work today - just as a back up, and all 3 FENSA contractors that came round were astonished by what the inspector said and agreed with @Thereoughttobeclowns. The replacement window just needs to provide at least the same potential for egress as the one replaced. Which it does.

Will ask for clarification from the LA tomorrow.

Recently bought on property where they couldn't locate their FENSA certs- they simply took out an indemnity insurance against it which I accepted. It held up the sale by two weeks because my solicitor kept on about how they needed them but was more than happy to suggest I accept the indemnity when they didn't appear.
I honestly didn't care about it, it's just box ticking!

Indemnity won't be an option for op, as they know there is no fensa registration, have contacted the council and know it would not meet br.

We sold our house in 2017. Three of the bedroom windows on the back had been replaced by us. They were not FENSA registered. We had to buy an indemnity policy for them in order to sell. It was around £100 in total.

We found it funny as there were other windows, on the front of the house, which had never been replaced. Single glazed with wooden frames installed in 1931 when the house was built.

The ones covered by the indemnity policy were the best ones in the house!

The others needed replacing.

Hi OP, I'm no window expert but in our case, the egress requirements you're talking about were met by fitting a non-standard hinge to the opening window.

Your diagrams are therefore not super useful - you know the dimensions of the window aperture, and how many panes open, but you don't know how wide the window can safely open, right? Which is what gives you your 'clearance' measurement?

As our panes open, they drop down from the top as well as lifting from the bottom (IYSWIM) which gives a huge clearance measurement and plenty of room for even a chunk like myself to wriggle out in a crisis.

Possibly if your fitter was not FENSA and cutting corners, you have hinges which are not specifically designed? You may be able to get a quote from an alternative contractor to replace just the hinges and bring them up to code.

However, if I were buying a house with 20 year old windows then I wouldn't expect them to be certified - surely they will need to be replaced in the next decade in any case? So to me this seems like something not worth worrying about, honestly.

Wish you all the best!

How would you demonstrate that 20 years on?

We had the same scenario, I bought indemnity insurance when we sold

@LIZS ohhh! Sorry yes you are totally right. Ignore my post everyone!

Thanks @WoolyMammoth55 Yes the issue is exactly as you describe, the issue is with the clearance when the window opens and drops down a little into the aperture. The remedy would be to fit new hinges - if this actually required, which we are being told it is not. LA need to clarify.

I don’t think the fitter was cutting corners, I think he just took the position that the replacement window only needed to provide at least the same potential for escape as the window it replaced. Which meant an ‘escape window’ wasn’t needed as the lower pane of the original window was fixed and by replacing with an opener, the potential for escape was actually greater for the replacement window.