uPVC Windows in Jersey: Do You Need Planning Permission?

On most Jersey houses, you can replace timber windows with uPVC without planning permission. Class F of the General Development Order allows replacement windows and doors in any material, and it sets no rule about matching what was there before.

That surprises people. Most of what comes up when you search is written for England, where the rules are worded differently, and it gets repeated as if it applied here. It does not.

There are three cases where it changes.

The three cases where you do need permission

1. The house is listed. Any replacement window needs permission, whatever it is made of. Swapping historic timber for uPVC on a listed building is very unlikely to be approved.
2. The house is in a conservation area, and the window can be seen from a road or the foreshore. Windows at the back, out of public view, are still permitted development. The ones the street can see are not.
3. An earlier permission took the right away. Planning permissions sometimes carry a condition removing permitted development rights. If yours does, the Class F allowance is gone and you need to apply.

Class F also excludes shop fronts, and no replacement window or door may project over a road or a private way.

How to check which case you are in

Three checks, in this order:

• Is it listed? Search the Historic Environment Record, or the States’ historic buildings map. If your house appears, stop here: you need permission.
• Is it in a conservation area, and can the window be seen? Walk the road and the foreshore, if your house faces one, and look. The test is visibility from a road or the foreshore, not which side of the house the window is on.
• Was a condition attached to an earlier permission? If the house was built or extended with planning permission, read the conditions on that decision. They are on the planning register.

If all three come back clear, you can order the windows. The States’ own replacement windows and doors tool walks through the same questions.

Where the material decides the outcome

Once you need permission, the material stops being your choice alone and becomes what the application is judged on.

Timber is what usually gets approved on a traditional Jersey house. Modern timber windows can carry slim double glazing with sightlines close to the originals, and a properly profiled timber sash will satisfy a conservation officer where a uPVC copy of one will not. Aluminium sits in between: slim enough to read as traditional on some buildings, wrong on others. uPVC is the option most likely to be refused wherever the character of the building is being assessed, because the frames are thicker and the profiles do not match.

Our clients’ experience bears that out. Alan Sarre had single-glazed sashes on a house in a protected area: “Upgraded single glazed sash windows in a protected area to double glazed timber replicas. The drawings and wood profile specs satisfied the planning department completely.” Jean Le Brun’s cottage in St Ouen is listed: “the planning department approved the slimline double glazing on our first attempt.”

Both were approved first time, and in both cases it was because the drawings showed the profiles.

Where you do not need permission, the choice is yours, and it comes down to what you value. uPVC is cheaper and needs the least maintenance. Timber lasts longest if it is looked after and suits an older house better. Aluminium gives the slimmest frames. Any of them is lawful.

The part that does need sign-off

Planning is one consent. Building bye-laws are the other, and they apply to replacement windows in a house whether or not you need planning permission.

You need bye-law permission to replace windows unless the installer is an approved competent person who notifies the department within 30 days of finishing. A good installer handles it for you. Ask yours, before you sign, whether they are approved and will notify. If they are not, the bye-law application is yours to make.

If you are still not sure

The case that catches people is the conservation-area house where one elevation is visible and another is not. Some of the windows can go in tomorrow, and some need an application.

If that is you, or the house is listed, see replacement windows in a conservation area and heritage windows. For everything else about replacing windows in Jersey, the full replacement windows guide covers the detail.

Or book a free consultation and we will tell you which case you are in before you spend anything.