"Official" Thread for all of us waiting for a cladding report...

RabbitHutchPainter

kbro29 said:

Hi all, we are currently trying to sell our london flat and our buyer's lender is requesting an EWS1 as well. The issue is that our building is under 18m in height and also does not actually have any cladding. I have contacted the managing company who have said that due to this, the freeholder is not planning on obtaining said certificate either. I have read a lot of horror stories on here, but have not read about anyone in a similar situation so I am just curious if this has happened to anyone. What did you do in this case, if anything? We really need to sell soon!

Thanks! 

I'm in the same boat- the managing agent are refusing to commission report as not legislation for under 18m. I can't get a mortgage.

RabbitHutchPainter

I did just fill in this survey which will be used by MPs to outline the problems that leaseholders are facing, sorry of already posted, it's a long thread!

https://www.leaseholdknowledge.com/cladding-leaseholders-please-complete-survey-on-ews-for-mps/

Blinky_Bill2001

RabbitHutchPainter said:

kbro29 said:

Hi all, we are currently trying to sell our london flat and our buyer's lender is requesting an EWS1 as well. The issue is that our building is under 18m in height and also does not actually have any cladding. I have contacted the managing company who have said that due to this, the freeholder is not planning on obtaining said certificate either. I have read a lot of horror stories on here, but have not read about anyone in a similar situation so I am just curious if this has happened to anyone. What did you do in this case, if anything? We really need to sell soon!

Thanks! 

I'm in the same boat- the managing agent are refusing to commission report as not legislation for under 18m. I can't get a mortgage.

I work for a Company that deals with EWS forms and there is a lot of confusion out there. We take calls from People trying to buy/ sell or re-mortgage their properties  all the time.  
If permissible by admin I can provide a link to the website? or email address where someone can help?

peeyem

We've just recently got a mortgage on our apartment.  6 months in and on Friday we received an email saying that the cladding was not to standard does not meet the post Grenfell standards nor did it meet requirements when the block was built in 2005.  Property management have already made clear intentions to put this cost on homeowners, does anyone know what ball park figure this could be?  We live in a 5 storey building with 32 apartments.  There's also the mind blowing consideration of having fire wardens which can cost the better part of 1K per week.  Does anyone know anything about this process, we're tremendously anxious about the future as we've seen numerous horror stories of people who've been financially and emotionally ruined due to this experience.

peeyem

jaybeetoo said:

Anneth wrote: »

If the building is 5 storeys or under then are the banks still asking for the reports? I am shocked that nothing is being done about this in such a delicate economy, every effort should be made to encourage buying and selling!!

I've just sold an apartment in a block of 5 storeys. No problems with the survey.

We got a mortgage on our place in December then received an email last Friday saying the cladding was not to requirement and that we can't sell or remortgage.  I'm hoping that someone is accountable because all the costs paid for surveys seem to have been for nothing. 

dean0g

I would urge everyone affected by this to use twitter also with the hashtag #ews1 because at the moment it’s not really widely known how bad this issue is, there is a small movement building to get some clarity and common sense in this process. You should also use the survey link posted above. There are discussions going on right now between the lenders and rics so any additional evidence of sales being killed (especially under 18m ) would be a big help.

An update on my sale, the fire experts can’t understand why we need the form as the process is not designed for two storey maisonettes so it’s difficult getting anybody to do it as there is next to no fire risk, But buyers mortgage advisor is ignoring all the rics notes, all the text on the actual ews1 form and all the building regs and refusing to even allow a review, or give us the surveyors name so that we can complain to rics.

Good luck everyone, we will need it.

N91

Hi all.
Just signed up to participate in this discussion. My partner and I recently dived head first into the troubles that is the EWS1 form. Unfortunately we discovered it super late into the buying / selling process, so were soon to lose our buyer and legal fees invested into our onward purchase. Basically, our buyer can't get a mortgage as all their suitable lenders are asking for it.
We have a 50% share on a L&Q flat built in 2015, the block is 4 floors, brick and rendered with what we think may be cladding on the balcony. Our block is one of many low rises built on this east London estate (built by countryside) and they're all built to the same spec. There must be hundreds of people on our estate that will be affected by this, they just dont know it yet. 
Were bracing our selves for the long fight that is getting L&Q to get this EWS1 form done, as at the moment there fighting that it's not a legal requirement and were not a priority block as were under 18m. Our only hope is that the lenders back down, but were not hopeful. 

TinieKube99

Hi
I posted this elsewhere but then found this thread! We are trying to remortgage on a 15th storey ex-council flat and the mortgage surveyor wants the EWS 1 form which the council say they are under no legal obligation to provide, and redirect us to a fire safety report carried out in 2017. Is they in the right?

Lilly101

My partner and I are currently renting a flat in Acton where we have been living and working for 3 years. We are in the process of getting a shared ownership property, as first time buyers we were very excited and anxious to get the mortgage through as soon as possible before our rental lease was up in July.

Halifax has agreed a mortgage with us based on the criteria that we obtain an EWS1 form for the property we are buying. Little did we know at the time this report would essentially hold up the sale of our property indefinitely. Since being hit by COVID-19 the sale has understandably slowed however since lockdown has lifted slightly we have found no movement on the property. We have since looked into the housing market to find that it is being crippled by the EWS1 form and leaving people unable to re-mortgage, sell a property or buy. How can this be possible? At a time when we need to be getting the economy moving we are stuck in limbo not knowing whether to hold on or completely forget the idea of buying at all. 

With this in mind, we are in a property that had a rent shared between the three persons that's now down to two at £2,500 to pay between us. We decided to stay an additional month as the conveyancers were sure the test could be completed by end of July (this discussion was May) Since then we have found that the EWS1 test is proving an impossible task due to the lack of qualified persons to do this report or in fact willing to take liability to complete the report. We are now at a stalemate as no banks will proceed with a mortgage without the EWS1 Report. 

I have contacted developers and the local MP that have got back to me with no new information, what is the government currently doing to find a solution to this problem that is affecting hundreds of thousands of people and families in London, a number that will be getting larger the longer this goes on. 

Lorenzo94

Lilly101 said:

My partner and I are currently renting a flat in Acton where we have been living and working for 3 years. We are in the process of getting a shared ownership property, as first time buyers we were very excited and anxious to get the mortgage through as soon as possible before our rental lease was up in July.

Halifax has agreed a mortgage with us based on the criteria that we obtain an EWS1 form for the property we are buying. Little did we know at the time this report would essentially hold up the sale of our property indefinitely. Since being hit by COVID-19 the sale has understandably slowed however since lockdown has lifted slightly we have found no movement on the property. We have since looked into the housing market to find that it is being crippled by the EWS1 form and leaving people unable to re-mortgage, sell a property or buy. How can this be possible? At a time when we need to be getting the economy moving we are stuck in limbo not knowing whether to hold on or completely forget the idea of buying at all. 

With this in mind, we are in a property that had a rent shared between the three persons that's now down to two at £2,500 to pay between us. We decided to stay an additional month as the conveyancers were sure the test could be completed by end of July (this discussion was May) Since then we have found that the EWS1 test is proving an impossible task due to the lack of qualified persons to do this report or in fact willing to take liability to complete the report. We are now at a stalemate as no banks will proceed with a mortgage without the EWS1 Report. 

I have contacted developers and the local MP that have got back to me with no new information, what is the government currently doing to find a solution to this problem that is affecting hundreds of thousands of people and families in London, a number that will be getting larger the longer this goes on. 

Hi, in which sense Halifax has agreed a mortgage with you? Did they issue a mortgage offer with the condition that a EWS1 form is supplied?