A London accountant has slammed the cost of replacing two windows in his ground floor flat which he has been told could land him with a bill of nearly £16,000.
Chris Howell, who lives in a block of flats in Westminster, is facing red tape, planning restrictions and building safety regulations which could send the cost spiralling to get new windows to replace a couple of wooden ones which are rotting.
Replacing them with standard PVC double-glazed windows should have cost around £2,500.
But Mr Howell now believes he could end up having to pay nearly £16,000.
Pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade, which has taken up Mr Howell’s case, says:
* As his building is in Westminster, Mr Howell must first apply for planning permission to change his windows, even if they are identical in size and appearance, with the fee being £528 for the application.
* Most residents need to hire consultants to prepare the paperwork, adding thousands of pounds to the bill.
* Based on other local cases, Mr Howell expects the council to reject cheaper PVC replacements and instead require aluminium frames, doubling the cost of the windows to £5,000.
* As his building is eight storeys high, it is classed as a “higher-risk building” under the Building Safety Act 2022. This means that any work, including replacing a single window, must be approved by the Building Safety Regulator unless it is certified by a government-recognised “competent person scheme”.
* When Mr Howell contacted all three approved glazing bodies, each said that they do not sign off work in high-risk buildings.
* So, he will have to apply directly to the regulator, racking up more consultant fees, with quotes between £5,000 and £12,000 to prepare the application, which also attracts a £288 submission fee and hourly charges of £144 for the regulator’s time.
Mr Howell said: “If someone smashed my windows tomorrow, I could replace them straight away because it’d be an emergency.
“But because I’m trying to follow the rules, I’m trapped in months of paperwork and thousands of pounds in fees.
“The system punishes people for doing the right thing. All I want to do is replace my old windows, it’s not like I’m trying to do anything crazy like dig a super-basement.”
The rules affecting his window replacement plans were branded “particularly absurd” as they relate to a “higher risk building” even though his flat is on the ground floor.
Sam Richards, chief executive of Britain Remade, added: “It is simply extraordinary that a repair as straightforward as replacing rotting wooden windows required a planning application, multiple consultants, specialist firms and a national regulator.
“This is red tape lunacy. If it costs nearly £16,000 to replace two small windows, something has gone badly wrong.”
Cllr Geoff Barraclough, Westminster City Council Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development, said: “Chris is right. The requirement to get sign-off from the Building Safety Regulator to change his windows is ridiculous.
“It’s out of our control but we’re hopeful that the Government will remove this requirement in early 2026.”
However, he stressed: “On the other hand, we are going to continue to ask for wooden sash windows to be replaced like-for-like.
“These are a fundamental part of the historic streetscape in Westminster and, properly maintained, will last longer than uPVC. They are more environmentally friendly too.”
He added that the planning application is relatively straightforward and that it should not require having to hire a consultant.
A spokesman for the Building Safety Regulator said: “We understand how frustrating it can be when planning rules and building safety requirements overlap.
“However, most window replacements in higher-risk buildings (HRBs) do not need building control approval because they can be signed off through Government-recognised competent person schemes.
“Where those schemes choose not to operate, residents of HRBs can still apply directly to BSR, so they are not left without a lawful route.”
He also explained: “The BSR recognises that an individual application to replace a window in an HRB is different from major works and will treat applications proportionately as far as is possible under the law.
“We will work with applicants to make the process as easy as possible and reduce the need for advice from third parties such as consultants to a minimum.”
Britain Remade also emphasised that if Mr Howell were to carry out the work without approval, he could face prosecution and up to two years in prison under the Building Safety Act.
Riled by his situation, the accountant submitted a Freedom of Information request which revealed that across the 700,000 flats in “higher-risk” buildings nationwide, the BSR has received only around 100 applications for any kind of window work.
So it appears that many residents are either unaware of the requirement or choosing to ignore it and risking jail, Britain Remade stressed.
