FENSA

[SHELL83]

Can anyone offer any advise we have recently bought a house that we previously had surveyed.
The surveyor said some of the windows were missing lintels and this was causing damage to the brick work.
The pvc windows had been installed 2years before by a FENSA registered company.
We contacted FENSA who told us the company should have fitted lintels or not done the job at all.
But thats where there help ended?

 

[bendylow]

you're probably going to have to bite the bullet and get the lintels done at your own expense,as for fensa,you've got no chance with them,complete waste of time in my opinion.

 

[squowse]

i agree that fensa are not the guarantee of quality that they lead people to believe, and a complete waste of time in my opinion also.

but structural support is in the building reg requirements for replacement windows and is thus not a "workmanship" issue that they can deny involvement with. you must insist that fensa pursue this, or what are they for?

from fensa website -

Where a window or windows is/are completely replaced (as opposed to repaired) in existing dwellings, they must comply with Approved Documents Parts L1 and N (safety in relation to impact). In addition, the building should not end up with a worse level of compliance with respect to other applicable parts of Building Regulations, which includes Parts A (Structure), B (means of escape in case of fire) F (ventilation), J (combustion appliances and fuel storage systems) and M (access for the disabled).

Part A would require lintels unless they try to take the angle of "not end up with a worse level of compliance", ie there were no lintels originally.
however, a timber window frame built in with the brickwork might (if forced) function as a lintel better than plastic. so the upvc fitters would have left it in a worse condition by disturbance alone.

 

[Richard C]

If your survey picked up the problem before you bought you should really have gone back to the vendor at the time. It would have been their problem & they would have either have had to sort it out as a condition of the sale or given you a discount to cover the cost of putting it right yourself; you’ve effectively made the problem your own & landed yourself with all the donkey work!

The problem these days is that no one gives a **** about customer service or whose rght or wrong & the only way your likely to get any satisfaction is to persue it very strongly rather than fade away as they hope you will. Your initial point of contact will be to the registered installer (if they are still trading) as they clearly have not installed the windows in accordance with BR’s. If that brings the response I expect, I would certainly push a LOT harder on FENSA as they seem to have a knack of shirking any responsibilities their installer registration scheme is supposed to cover. Their registered installers are supposed to comply with ALL relevant BR’s, they clearly haven’t & the FENSA registration scheme is supposed to warrant against it. They seem to initially wash their hands of any involvement let alone responsibility just by telling anyone who complains to **** off. Other avenues for leverage may be your LABC, trading standards, CAB or even your own solicitor if you feel inclined. Keep good records of everything & copies of correspondence, it may help your case if things escalate.

 

[^woody^]

The window company (FENSA or not) is not automatically obligated to fit lintels.

There are several plausible reasons why there may have not been a reason to fit the lintels at the time the windows were installed. Or maybe the walls have been reinforced with heli-bars rather than having lintels fitted. Did the surveyor explore these options?

In any case you have no contract with the original installers, and therefore they have no obligation to you

 

[Triassic]

Where a window or windows is/are completely replaced .... "the building should not end up with a worse level of compliance with respect to other applicable parts of Building Regulations, which includes Parts A (Structure)"....

Clearly, when you replacing a window with another window it could be concluded that the building has not ended up in a worse level of compliance. The lintle was missing when you started and the lintle was missing when your finished - Status Quo maintained.

FENSA was another of this Governments job creation schemes.