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Housing - Renovation: FENSA Certificate

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthorTriassic
    • CommentTimeAug 17th 2012
     
    I'm thinking of moving but I don't have a FENSA certificate for the sash windows (21 of them) that were installed about 5 years ago and the building company went gone bust a few weeks after installing them.

    Is there anything I can do to get a new certificate?

    Do I actually need one as the windows are all Kite marked?
  2.  
    Was the firm FENSA reg'd? If so, see if FENSA will do anything, or at least express an opinion. If not, you need to apply to the Local Authority for a Regularisation Certificate - Late Bldg Regs approval - at a cost of 125 or 130%, if I remember rightly, of the normal Bldg Regs fee.
    • CommentAuthorTriassic
    • CommentTimeAug 17th 2012
     
    FENSA do not have any records from the company for the period, so can not help!
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeAug 17th 2012 edited
     
    I'm sure you can get insurance to cover any compliance issues, although can't for the life of me remember what it's called, nor can I find anything on a google search.

    Replaced all the front windows on a house in a Conservation Area in Warwick about 14 years ago, replacing the aluminium double-glazed monstrosities with 2g wooden sliding sashes. Because the job was 40 miles away from me, the customer liaised with the CO and arranged all the paperwork. I wasn't (and never have been) FENSA registered. When he sold the house the buyer's solicitor wanted to see the paperwork which the owner couldn't find. He phoned to ask me if I'd had copies, but I hadn't. The BCO told him not to worry and just take out that insurance - whatever it was - to "cover" himself, although from what I've still to work out. Sale went through no problem.
    • CommentAuthorTriassic
    • CommentTimeAug 17th 2012
     
    Sounds like FENSA or/and the insurance cover is just another money making lark. What is the point of it?
    • CommentAuthorJoiner
    • CommentTimeAug 17th 2012
     
    My point exactly. Just a covering of asses methinks.
  7.  
    the estate agent was keen to give me the FENSA cert. when i brought our new home , like it was something of great value. She seemed a bit put out by my disinterest. ( the windows had a 4" gap above them straight into the soffit void , covered by a pvc D trim , closing the window made virtually no difference to outside traffic noise.)
    Just another economic parasite, claiming to offer quality control, but in truth giving just a poor veneer of it.
    • CommentAuthorRobinB
    • CommentTimeAug 17th 2012
     
    We paid £10 to FENSA for a replacement cert on our 4yr old windows to keep our purchaser happy. http://www.fensa.co.uk/asp/certificate.asp - the fact the address pops up so easily implies it's a nice little earner for them.

    Most "problems" can be overcome with appropriate insurance (ours via our solicitor on an earlier house purchase) - and ofter cheaper than chasing round for something relatively unimportant. Customer is king and all that.
    • CommentAuthorTriassic
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2012
     
    Well I tried the FENSA certificate link and used the post code and addresses for my house and those of 2 neighbours, all of whom have had replacement windows in the last 4 years and got zilch, nothing.

    Suggests to me that FENSA is nothing more than worthless red tape!

    Now who do I write to about eliminating unnecessary red tape?
    • CommentAuthorjamesingram
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2012 edited
     
    Try the Dept. of pointless bureaucracy :shocked:
    •  
      CommentAuthorDamonHD
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2012
     
    Well our FENSA certs show up from our grown-up installer (where the salesman can afford a fancy car) but not from our cowboy one: I guess you get what you pay for...

    Rgds

    Damon
    • CommentAuthorjamesingram
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2012 edited
     
    Posted By: DamonHD our grown-up installer (where the salesman can afford a fancy car)

    That you're paying for :bigsmile:
    •  
      CommentAuthorJSHarris
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2012
     
    Interesting. I just checked ours, using that link RobinB kindly provided and it seems to find our cert easily enough. Shows we had 11 windows and three doors fitted in 2006, which sounds about right!
    •  
      CommentAuthorDamonHD
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2012 edited
     
    And enough additional margin for him to put off a service when they need to do some customer repairs!

    That whole thing about a minimum gross profit of 30% being the source of all goodness (or at least ability to honour guarantees and do the job right in the first place) for most retail businesses rings true...

    As it happens I got a very good view of their margins when accidentally I got a quote direct from the manufacturer for the same solution that my installer proposed the next day. Probably a bit more than 30% GP including labour but they (a) did get our certs filed correctly and (b) have been very good about coming back and tweaking things on demand.

    Rgds

    Damon
  15.  
    Nothing wrong with paying/charging good money for a good job
    My gripe with FENS* and the other cert. bodies is they dont offer quality control , just a mirage of it.
    •  
      CommentAuthorDamonHD
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2012 edited
     
    But what FENSA does do is propagate those certs onward to LA building control, as I understand it, so stuff will show up in purchasers' searches, etc...

    Rgds

    Damon

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