Windows

I have mentioned to one or two people the hazards of changing window frames in their houses. I recently sold my home after having some building work done on it - this included new window frames. The buyer's solicitor said I would need a FENSA certificate. Baffled reaction from me - what is one of those? To cut a long story short, if you have changed any window frame since last April, then you have to have a certificate to show that this was done by an installer who is 'certified' to put in the correct windows.

The house sale should have taken about 4 weeks, and here's another 'but', it took 4 months. The builder said it had been sent for but had probably gone to the street with the same name as my house. Good try - Fensa had heard nothing from him. (You can check online and I frequently did!)
Next excuse - I have sent them off, I thought you meant the window insurance certificate - no, I already had that.
Then Fensa told me that he had not paid his affiliation fees so no certificate could be issued. They would issue new forms, but it would be quicker online - 6 weeks quicker!
I rang the secretary of the builder, "Oh yes she said, I've got all the forms, they're here on my desk..." This was 4 weeks into the process.
I kept my temper and asked if she could do me a real favour and send them off, of course she would, she'd do it first thing on Friday, she was just off to fetch her son from school.
Next problem, the builder had changed his bank account and so the payment did not go through, so the second begging call to the secretary was to set up the direct payment. "Oh yes, I'll do it on Friday when I go into town." Mmmm, getting nowhere fast here.
However, daily phone calls which were of the friendly type prompted her, the FENSA man was brilliant - he did the nasty act and we got it sorted in about a month after I had made personal contact with him. Then the sale went through - after the Listed Building Consent approval was sent, but that is another story that added to my woes.
At one stage I rang my original builder nad asked him if he still had the old frame and could he put that back into the house. We both agreed this might be the only solution to the impasse.....
Moral of the story - avoid new windows like the plague, if they are really necessary check that your builder is a registered FENSA installer, don't pay the builder till he provides one of these certificates, then when all the papers are in, put them with your house deeds and do not lose them. Selling a house is agony in itself, reorganising the office work of a builder is not something to be taken on lightly!!