Hi there - yes, I'm aware of these restrictions and the solicitor is handing this as part of the negotiation. Yet another obstacle to navigate! The other interesting thing to note is that the contract T&Cs include a mandatory fee payable to the service management company for answering any queries relating to future resale of the property. This is a hefty fixed % of the agreed sale price. I gather that the fees charged by service management companies to leaseholders are currently under review - we should all have our say in this. BTW, Luciana, I agree developers do need to be more flexible and responsive. One would hope that trained architects and builders would be pleased that real people are actually going to live in the buildings they create, and not leave them empty like the dark, uninhabited desolation of large swathes of prime central London. X Gill

I agree, there would originally have been just one cast iron spindle per stair. The newel post would have been wooden I think and you'll be able to pick up a new, traditional style pine one from any timber merchant, probably less than £100. It's a shame that the 'bullnoses' have been cut back but if it was all sanded down and painted or varnished to blend in I don't think it would look wrong at all. The alternative is to get a joiner to make up bullnose profile pieces to attach to the end of each tread, but you'd have to paint them as the wood wouldn't match the original. Replacing every tread would cost a fortune. The banister rail will sand down with a bit of hard work and probably be a nice piece of wood underneath that you can varnish. It'll look lovely once it's done, you'll have to post 'after' picture for us!

I think it really depends on the style of the house and how you are looking to decorate it, if its going to be modern looking then the original banisters and spindles could look out of place, and the same if your going for a more traditional approach glass could look out of place, maybe find out from a few joinery companies if matching the spindles and banister posts can be done and how much then get a quotation for the glass and way up which you would prefer. If you're wanting to keep the stairs in glass but have something a little more decorative or different we did this job below which has a twisted post and capped with a stainless topper. Hope this helps!

Hi, thanks for your comments. The metal parts are stainless steel which we only provide in a brushed satin finish or a mirror polished finish. They appear the same but perform differently depending on the environment, due to the differences in the chemical composition. That's a really interesting thought, for some properties a darker look could be really effective! With the wire infill systems we do offer coated wire, so there are different colour options in regards to that. There is a cost difference. I would suggest visiting a few different websites and asking for quotes. The glass channel systems are usually the more expensive option as much thicker glass is used to provide the structural stability required and this is what adds to the cost. The price for glass balustrade depends on the number of metres and the glass thickness; another large influencing factor is the location and the difficulty of installation as labour costs are a large element of the final cost. Unfortunately we don't do installations in Scotland, we're based in the Hertfordshire area. Hopefully this helps and wish you all the best in finding the right system for you! :)