Cladding on Buildings Under 18m

MWT

From your solicitor's perspective they don't want you having problems selling or remortgaging at some point in the future and then claiming they were negligent in not getting this cleared up during your purchase.

If you really don't care and just want to proceed you can always ask your solicitor to let you sign a waiver of their liability in that respect, but you have to accept that this could come back to haunt you in the future...

ASEA07

EC3D said:

ASEA07 said:

now my solicitor is chasing for EWS1 or private survey to confirm this brick stone cladding is compliant

I'm in a similar situation, my building is mostly brick, but has some panels underneath the windows, but the bank valuation was totally fine and nothing was said about them. But my solicitor wanted to ask more about the cladding and is waiting on a response so my purchase is also stalled now. I've signed everything that needs to be signed, ready to exchange and complete and I know the seller is really keen to get it off his hands (and I'm eager to move in) but just waiting on this one thing. I know my solicitor has my best interests in mind but my whole process has been going on 4 months now  
What worries me is most freeholders/managing agents probably don't really care about dealing with/replacing cladding unless they're forced to, so I don't even know what response we can expect.

It is SO frustrating. What exactly is happening with yours, do you know? Are the freeholders agreeing to get the EWS1 or some sort of survey?
My solicitor is going to get everything else finalised and I am going to sign everything ready for this last enquiry to be satisfied - but like you, I'm really worried it is going to drag on endlessly (its already been 3.5 months).
A previous attempt to buy a flat also failed due to cladding so I feel even more depressed - ironically the EWS1 on that one was fine and passed, but a different fault was found and the remediation costs due to be spread amongst the leaseholders, so I pulled out (there were other issues too).
I genuinely thought this attempt would be fine as I naively thought there was no cladding and that the EWS1 would only effect taller buildings!
I keep reading about the scandal on the news - I don't know what the solution is. 

ASEA07

MWT said:

From your solicitor's perspective they don't want you having problems selling or remortgaging at some point in the future and then claiming they were negligent in not getting this cleared up during your purchase.

If you really don't care and just want to proceed you can always ask your solicitor to let you sign a waive of their liability in that respect, but you have to accept that this could come back to haunt you in the future...

I completely understand the solicitors perspective and know cladding is such an issue - I definitely don't want to face issues re-mortgaging or selling in the future, nor be lumped with a huge bill to fix things! I don't know how to speed up the response of the freeholder? I wish I could contact them myself! I would have thought they need to full fill a duty and make sure the building in compliant and this is something that I am sure all the current leaseholders want confirmed, particularity if any others are thinking of selling.

MWT

Unfortunately the ambiguity for buildings under 18m means that most freeholders are likely to just push-back on any request unless they are obviously in the 'high risk' category.

Add in the paucity of qualified people able to do the necessary inspections and the distinct reluctance to deal with the potential costs following a less than positive outcome and you have the stalemate you are now experiencing...

Difficult to see how this gets unlocked without clearer guidelines.

At least you didn't get hit with the lender requiring this, but you never know how the next lender will react...

EC3D

In my case the building had a fire risk assessment and health and safety audit December last year, and they didn't say anything about the cladding, and my bank valuation also didn't say anything about the cladding either. So from the perspective of the management company you can understand why they don't see any issue (especially considering there isn't that much cladding and it's less then 18m). I don't really know what to expect to be honest, if my solicitor wants them to get an EWS1 form I might as well pull out of this sale because it would be such a low priority it might never get done.
I've seen that RICS are reviewing the EWS1 form and guidance. Guessing that'll take ages too.

This is also my 2nd attempt at buying a flat because the first one also ran into cladding issues....

[Deleted User]

if you are genuinely not worried you can ask the solicitor if its a requirement of the purchase or if you can sign a waiver to move past it.  A lot of solicitors do full belt and braces work but some isnt a legal or mortgage requirement