Window fitters in London

Replacing windows in London usually starts with a question about who decides. In a converted house or a leasehold block the freeholder may control the frames, and in a conservation area the council can expect the street side to keep its original pattern. Fitters who work in the capital every week know which boroughs are strict, so ask them for recent jobs near you.

Most of inner London's homes are Victorian and Edwardian terraces, or flats carved out of them, with tall sash windows at the front and plainer casements at the back. Outer boroughs such as Bromley and Ealing are mostly interwar semis with bay windows. Flats and shared houses add a second decision-maker to many jobs.

Conservation areas are widespread across the inner boroughs, and many have Article 4 directions that bring ordinary window changes under planning control. Check with your borough before you order anything visible from the street. Leasehold flats usually need the freeholder's consent as well, and some blocks specify the frame and the glass pattern.

London is one of the drier parts of the UK, so rain is rarely the problem for windows. Noise often is, along the main roads into Croydon and under the flight paths into Heathrow, and warm summer nights make a window that opens safely and a good trickle vent matter more than they sound.