Glass Repair near you

For renters, the starting point is section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which requires the landlord to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house, including drains, gutters and external pipes. Section 13 limits this regime to short leases, meaning leases granted for a term of less than seven years. Note what the provision says and does not say: it lists drains, gutters and external pipes expressly, and does not name windows.

That omission is why tenancy disputes about glass are so common, and why the tenancy agreement matters as much as the statute. In practice the distinction most agreements and most landlords draw is between deterioration and damage: a rotten frame or a failed unit falls to the landlord as part of keeping the property in repair, while a pane broken by the tenant or their visitors is treated as damage the tenant caused. Where the break was caused by a third party — vandalism or an attempted break-in — check the agreement and report it to the landlord promptly rather than arranging work unilaterally.

Leaseholders in a block are governed by the lease rather than by the statute, and leases vary. Some treat windows as part of the demised premises, making them the leaseholder's responsibility; others treat them as part of the structure maintained by the freeholder and recovered through the service charge. Read the demise and the repairing covenants before instructing anyone, because paying for work that the freeholder was obliged to do is rarely recoverable afterwards.

Approved Document L defines a controlled fitting as the entire unit of a window, roof window, rooflight or door including the frame, and it states that replacing glazing, or a window or door in its existing frame, is not providing a controlled fitting and does not need to meet the energy efficiency requirements. Our window glass replacement guide deals with what that distinction means for sealed units and certificates.

Safety glazing is a separate requirement and is not switched off by that exemption. If the broken pane is in a critical location under Approved Document K, the replacement has to be dealt with under requirement K4, which is satisfied by glazing that breaks safely, is robust, is in small panes, or is permanently protected by a screen. Where the safe-breakage route is used, the glazing must satisfy Class 3 of BS EN 12600 or Class C of BS 6206, or Class 2 of BS EN 12600 or Class B of BS 6206 where it is in a door or a door side panel with a pane width exceeding 900mm.

The practical risk is the temporary pane that becomes permanent. Plain annealed glass is cheaper and quicker to source, and an emergency glazier under pressure on a Saturday evening may fit it into a door or a low-level panel with every intention of coming back. If it stays, a critical location has been left with glass that would not satisfy K4. Ask on the day what is being fitted, get the class on the invoice, and diarise the return visit if the first pane is a stopgap.

The glazier measures the sight size and the rebate, records the frame type and the glazing method, and establishes whether the pane is single glass or a sealed unit before ordering. On a modern uPVC or aluminium frame the beads come off, the failed pane lifts out on its packers and the new one goes back on new packers with the beads reinstated. On a timber sash, old putty is raked out, the sprigs removed, and the pane bedded and re-puttied, which then needs to cure before it can be painted — a detail worth knowing because the job is not finished when the glazier leaves.

Before ordering, three things should be confirmed with you. Whether the position is a critical location under Approved Document K, and therefore what class the pane must satisfy. Whether the original was toughened or laminated, since toughened cannot be cut to size on site and has to be ordered, while laminated can sometimes be worked. And whether any coating, tint or obscure pattern on the original needs matching, which affects both lead time and appearance.

Expect a temporary board for anything non-stock. Toughened and laminated panes, anything oversized, and anything with a coating or an obscure pattern are made to order, and a same-day permanent fix is usually only possible with plain stock glass. A glazier who promises an immediate permanent replacement for a critical location pane is either carrying a very unusual van stock or intending to fit something that does not meet the standard.

The injuries from broken glazing happen during clear-up far more often than during the break. Fragments travel further than people expect, work into carpet and into the gaps between floorboards, and stay there until someone kneels on them weeks later. Heavy gloves, closed footwear, a dustpan kept for the purpose and a vacuum with a disposable bag are the minimum, and soft furnishings near the break usually need lifting and shaking outdoors rather than vacuuming in place.

Boarding an opening is not simply nailing a sheet over it. It has to hold in wind, it has to not damage the frame that will be reglazed, and on a ground-floor opening it is the only security the property has until the pane arrives. On an upper floor it also has to be installed by someone working at height safely — the Health and Safety Executive's position is that where an employer or a person controlling work at height is involved, the Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply, and the work must be properly planned, supervised and carried out by competent people after the risks have been assessed.

Two situations warrant stopping and getting advice rather than proceeding. Glass in a fire door or in a flat entrance door is part of the building's fire strategy and should not be reglazed on a like-for-like guess. And on a period property, old glass — crown, cylinder or early drawn glass with its characteristic distortion — is frequently irreplaceable and sometimes salvageable in part, so a specialist is worth a phone call before the remains go in a skip.