Replacement windows in breach of conservation area rules

[johnmids2006]

If there is an article 4 restriction on the area, then they need planning permission to change the windows. So the first step is to make enquiries as to whether that has been applied for and granted.

As regards the derogatory remarks here, I am very much a "live and let live" person.

However, when you are talking about planning permission and conservation areas, if you allow things like that to take place, and fail to act, then it can devalue other properties in the vicinity.

Consequently, it is not correct to say that the issue does not affect neighbours.

[Grunff]

I find the way property value seems to find its way into just about any argument these days absolutely appalling. Everyone seems totally obsessed with the value of their property, it has become the primary consideration when making any changes. I think this is very sad.

[Andy Hall]

I suspect that a couple more interest rate rises might cool their enthusiasm a bit...

[Grunff]

Indeed, I'm just amazed the madness has lasted this long.

[Stuart Noble]

I've never seen a plastic that looked anything like painted wood. Why that should be I don't know. Something to do with light and texture I guess

I find the main visual

The joints being mitred means all 4 pieces have to be the same width, which doesn't look right. Presumably the non-smooth bit is to avoid sharp edges where the pieces meet.

Mainly because it's hollow. I'm sure a moulding could be made an inch narrower but I guess there are other technical considerations

which means that all members are too fat in

But how often will it need painting? And if it does, it's a sure sign the wood is failing rather than the paint. The basic design of the sliding sash gives extra protection but IME even hardwoods have a limited life in sunny aspects. I personally have never seen degraded upvc. Yeah, I know, it just looks shit from the beginning. I've got pvc at the back and lovingly restored originals at the front which seems a reasonable compromise to me.

[Andy Hall]

Gordon's coming. Then the party really will be over....

[Tony Bryer]

I went for white powder coat thermal break aluminium. A little more expensive and not quite as good as wood or PVC for insulation but slimmer frames, maintenance free and recyclable at the end of their life.

[Adrian]

Grunff ( [e-mail]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Ummm, since this is a discussion *about* property, it's very relevant.

I am, of course, assuming that you wouldn't mind a substantial chunk - perhaps tens of thousands of pounds - being knocked off the value of your own most valuable asset because of other people trying to do something on the cheap...?

[Adrian]

Stuart Noble (stuart [e-mail]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No, it doesn't. You can mitre between two different width pieces - you just adjust the angle to compensate.

Eh...?

[Tony Bryer]

The idea of tens of thousands of pounds being knocked off the value of your home because a neighbour has installed plastic windows in their home is ridiculous. Declaring on your sale particulars that you have made a complaint to the council about them and as a result they are now not the sort of people you want to mix with just might.

[Stuart Noble]

No government would be foolish enough to jeopardise a system that keeps the population in order so effectively. Keep the hamsters on the wheel I say. I wonder if that would work in Iraq. Give everyone a plot of land and ship some estate agents out

[Adrian]

Tony Bryer ( [e-mail]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If a conservation area becomes heavily compromised, it certainly can and will.

Which is more likely to sell for a premium? A pristine period home in a street of pristine period homes, or a pristine period home in a street of homes that could easily be pristine period if it wasn't for the fact they were groaning under hideous tupperware, stone cladding and visually incongruous extensions?

[Grunff]

This is exactly what I mean - you're so wrapped up in property value that you can't even see how irrelevant it is to a conversation about the merits of snitching on your neighbours. To you, and apparently a large percentage of the population, it always boils down to how it will affect the value of your property.

[Christian McArdle]

I'm less concerned with monetary value. I'm more concerned with living is a good looking area without concrete, plastic and stone cladding in evidence.

Quite frankly, snitching on a faceless property developer does not occur to me as an antisocial act. I know loads of my neighbours in the street. None would consider installing plastic windows and all would consider it completely acceptable to snitch to the council about it.

The neighbour opposite, when seeing our new wooden sashes arrive, was very interested in finding out where we got them from, as his house is one of only three on the street with plastic (including ours, unfortunately).

Christian.

[Adrian]

Grunff ( [e-mail]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

So you wouldn't mind, then...?

[Grunff]

I know that. While we disagree on the main thread subject, I wasn't suggesting that property value was your motivation.

Hmmm.

I just don't understand why anyone would find it that offensive. I can understand why you would be annoyed if your neighbour had a burnt-out Capri in their front garden, that's fair enough (although I still don't think that it would be a good enough reason to report them).

But to get this hung up about what material their window frames are made from? No, no way, I just don't get it. From anything more than say 20 metres away, you just can't tell with most windows. And even if you can tell, I don't see why it's anyone's business.

[Peter Crosland]

No reason at all. It is your neighbour's responsibility not yours.

I agree. The problem, as ever, is setting a definition so that reasonable work can be done without bureaucracy and preventing the abuse that is likley to occur if the rules are relaxed.

Peter Crosland

[Tony Bryer]

Over my back fence, also in the CA, is a large Victorian mansion which has been boarded up for four years and is a definite blight on the streetscene.

Why? The owner could sell it for £1m+ to someone who would restore it (at great expense) to a single family house. They can't because it was bedsits and our planners will not allow a reverse conversion from multi-occupancy to a single family house on the grounds that it represents a loss of smaller dwelling units which are in short supply. The idea that turning a boarded up empty house into one that is occupied increases the housing supply, not to mention paying a lot in Council Tax, improving the environment, making the neighbours happy etc is quite beyond them. The owner has permission to turn it into six s/c flats but I suspect has decided that financially this makes no sense.

And who is the wicked owner of this boarded-up property? Richmond Housing Partnership, the body formerly known as LBRuT Housing Department. So your taxes and mine are going to pay for insurance, routine garden clearance, security etc of this eyesore when £1m could be going into their funds to provide economically viable social housing.

[Mark Carver]

That's fair enough.

I assume you also take steps to remove graffiti from walls and street furniture, get rusting vehicles removed from front gardens, ensure that there are no noisy children bashing footballs around in the street, remove litter, ask people with noisy exhausts to get them silenced, take steps to prevent drunk teenagers from damaging property and waking everybody up in the middle of the night. Because surely all of the above the affect quality of life of any normal reasonable person, and the way the area is 'perceived'; way way before the composition of someone's windows are even noticed ?

IMHO, YMMV

[Stuart Noble]

Try making a sash using mitres. There are good reasons why they're 45 degs.

Paints don't fail as quickly as substrates