A FENSA certificate – do I need one?

Window and Door Replacements in England and Wales require building regulations approval. Industry bodies like FENSA ensure that compliance is achieved with a self certification scheme that is checked periodically.

There are other organisations that do the same job but are less well know. A few examples are CERTASS, Assure.

There are several reasons to request a compliance certificate. Firstly it is a legal requirement. It can also be a sticking point if selling your house, if you don’t have the correct certification and a buyer insists on it. Indemnity policies do exist to cover a potential purchaser, but it still may prove a hold up if your buyer is unsure. Generally it shows that the company doing the job is legitimate and making the effort to do things properly. You could conceivably do the job without regs, but would have to trust the installer to do a complete and proper job, and make sure you are comfortable with the risk.

The regulations regarding trickle vents have been tightened over the years. See trickle vent article. That is the only reason that comes to mind of not wanting to get a certificate on a job. If you ventilate your own house properly, didn’t want them and possibly had a noise issue (which isn’t an acceptable exemption) then I could see a case for going to no regulations route. The chance of enforcement action would be low and is generally not enforced after 10 years. It is unlikely to be seen as a major issue. This is however a potentially contentious point of view.

Essentially the best course of action is to get a job done using a competent persons scheme, or the local authority. Just remember that FENSA isn’t the only one you can use.

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John Sudders