Posted by
orinoco1
17 yrs ago
I am considering buying a flat where the original pair of (relatively) smallish windows have been replaced with one large plate glass one - it looks miles better from the inside and is an improvement to the external look as well, but is not the same as the others in the building. The seller has advised that she 'believes it should be ok' and does not expect there is a risk of having to change back, but this seems rather vague - I don't think this has been checked before the alterations were made. The building is less than 10 floors and under 20 years old but not in a very prominent position.
Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this? Should I ask for a clause to be added to the SPA to the effect that any orders to change back would be at the cost of the seller (if she agrees!)?
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Make sure to check with the buildings DMC
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WoDer
Thanks for your comments. If you are a building company I would be interested to talk to you if possible to gauge whether your experience is of a similar type of alteration - have you got a number I can contact you on? In this case the square footage has not been increased just part of wall replaced by window - no idea if it is structural!
What is the buildings DMC please?
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ldavy
17 yrs ago
The DMC is the Deed of Mutual Covenant which, among other things, governs what may and may not be done to the building. This cannot contravene the Buildings Ordinance though.
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Given the relatively young age of your building you need to tread carefully. I suspect that the bit you are talking about is not structural and may have been there in the past to divide two rooms, and give each a window. From a buildings ordinace point of view, as long as the coversion is safe and the new glass is not too big (typhoons etc) then technically it should be ok, however the buildings department can still get you as they were not contacted prior to the work commencing. The DMC is the decider - if there is a clause saying that you cannot alter the outlokk of the building, then your screwed. Older buildings (>30yrs) tend to have relaxed DMC's, but yours maybe more particular. To be honest, the Buildings Dept are understaffed at the moment so would not bother you - It your new buildings Incorporated Owners who would be the ones to watch.
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lace
17 yrs ago
We had a building in our neighborhood where the owner of the ground floor flat (the building has 5 floors) changed the windows. He replaced the floor to ceiling windows with smaller ones. About a year later he had to change it back to the original state.
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