EWS1 Success Stories: Completed EWS1 Forms?

annetheman

DoaM said:

I had to Google EWS1 ... so this is a post-Grenfell thing?

Oh man... welcome down the rabbit hole  it's an industry-created (RICS, UK Finance, BSA) form grading external wall and attachments (e.g. balcony) fire safety against industry standards, which was designed to assure lenders' valuers that buildings over 18m are fire safe in the absence of any real government legislation.

Then the government decided to post a bunch of Advice Notes, including AN14 in January 2020, which threw every single purpose built block of flats into scope of EWS1 (cladding, no cladding, 18m, under 18m, anything), meaning hundreds of thousands of flats are valued at £0 until they have had a EWS1 check - for which there are about 300 qualified surveyors (estimate of 10,000 per surveyor, not including new buildings and re-checks after 5 years).

God knows how the Fire Safety Bill will add to this mess. Leaseholders currently paying £1000s per month in remediation, waking watches and just to get the EWS1 survey done.

NameUnavailable

Search it on Twitter to see the scale of the problem.

I'm looking for a property at the moment and will most probably have to buy a flat but am terrified of going down a dead end spending money of solicitors etc only to find I can't get a mortgage on the place or worse finding that I have to pay huge charges later on for certification and improvements that will no doubt follow.

On the bright side government legislation is being considered to put a cap on the costs that can be charged to each leasholder of only £70K so at least we won't face a higher bill than that (sarcasim filter on).

Lunchbox

annetheman said:

I think chartered fire engineers are giving every building a B1 to cover themselves if remediation is required in future. If they give it an A1-2 and a disaster happens, they will be held liable. I'm curious about how the ratings change the actual valuations, if at all. RICS advice is for valuers to reflect the rating in the final valuation but I wonder if lenders will just use this to lend less

In our case we know the B1 is accurate as we have the full specification of the curtain walling. The insulation is flammable but none of the other components. No remediation will be required unless the guidelines change. Again.

annetheman

Lunchbox said:

annetheman said:

I think chartered fire engineers are giving every building a B1 to cover themselves if remediation is required in future. If they give it an A1-2 and a disaster happens, they will be held liable. I'm curious about how the ratings change the actual valuations, if at all. RICS advice is for valuers to reflect the rating in the final valuation but I wonder if lenders will just use this to lend less

In our case we know the B1 is accurate as we have the full specification of the curtain walling. The insulation is flammable but none of the other components. No remediation will be required unless the guidelines change. Again.

Did your survey report take roughly 4 weeks? I have been told to expect it 4 weeks after the intrusive survey was done (on 28th August) so w/c 28th September, but I've heard it actually is more like 2+ months, especially if your building doesn't bring up any major (B2) concerns - you said a long time from instigation... How long is long?!

Have there been ANY successful sales in your building with the EWS1 since August? Or have the 2 failed ones been successful with other lenders???

annetheman

5 days to go until it is 'due', I called the HA to ask if they had any interim recommendations from the surveyor. As you will know if you have been searching for info on this topic, almost all buildings that eventually receive a B2 (most extreme risk to life) are given interim recommendations before conclusion of the final report, as the risk to life is so high.

That being said, I have heard of buildings "passing" with A3 certifications STILL receiving £0 valuations until remedial work is completed.

Where A3 is highlighted by the fire expert, you should refer to lender guidance or ask for the cost of remedial works and reflect in your valuation. Balconies of combustible materials have been confirmed to represent a fire risk but the cost of remediation is considered to be lower than external wall systems. Therefore lender guidance may require a different action, such as retention of a set amount. Where lender guidance does not exist, or lender guidance does not adequately reflect the impact on value, you should request remediation costs and reflect in your valuation.

-RICS guidance.

So there is really no way this form will be of any use to me if the building doesn't score an A1 or A2. I actually will pull out of the sale if it does, and I'd recommend others buying at this time do, too. It'll only lead to further problems down the road, otherwise.

Lunchbox

annetheman said:

Lunchbox said:

annetheman said:

I think chartered fire engineers are giving every building a B1 to cover themselves if remediation is required in future. If they give it an A1-2 and a disaster happens, they will be held liable. I'm curious about how the ratings change the actual valuations, if at all. RICS advice is for valuers to reflect the rating in the final valuation but I wonder if lenders will just use this to lend less

In our case we know the B1 is accurate as we have the full specification of the curtain walling. The insulation is flammable but none of the other components. No remediation will be required unless the guidelines change. Again.

Did your survey report take roughly 4 weeks? I have been told to expect it 4 weeks after the intrusive survey was done (on 28th August) so w/c 28th September, but I've heard it actually is more like 2+ months, especially if your building doesn't bring up any major (B2) concerns - you said a long time from instigation... How long is long?!

Have there been ANY successful sales in your building with the EWS1 since August? Or have the 2 failed ones been successful with other lenders???

I can’t be sure of the timeline as we weren’t given all the details but I think the EWS1 itself took 1-2 months. However, this came after around 18 months of inspections, intrusive surveys, testing and reports.

We don’t know whether any properties in our development have been sold since August. We asked for the information from the freeholder but haven’t had a response. Land registry data shows no sales since July but I don’t know how quickly that updates, and there are a lot still up for sale now.

Lisa142

activenorman said:

chong168 said:

activenorman said:

Block over 18m with EWS1 - mortgage approved.

Can I ask what was your EWS1 rating?  And with which bank?

Rating is B1 and lender is Halifax.

We have B1 rated form and Halifax have rejected two buyers in the past 6 months 😔 the hunt for a third buyer is now on... 

FW191

I have spent months reading these forums feeling so depressed as felt there weren't many success stories so wanted to share ours if and when we had good news - which we now do. We were in a block over 18m, first requested the form from the freeholder in January and were told we wouldn't need it and to use a different document that had been used in 2019. When it became clear lenders would no longer accept that and a EWS1 form was required they told us they would get it (they still had flats to sell in the development so needed it for themselves aswell).

This took 6 months. Form was a B1 and our buyers were able to secure a mortgage easily but we did ask that the person who signed off the EWS1 form also gave us a letter on headed paper with all of his qualifications clearly listed to try mitigate any chances for banks to push back, not sure if it helped or not but was good to have. Other flats in the development have also been sold in the last three months.  We were told the form cost the freeholder £100k a building so wasn't cheap.

2020FTB

FW191 said:

I have spent months reading these forums feeling so depressed as felt there weren't many success stories so wanted to share ours if and when we had good news - which we now do. We were in a block over 18m, first requested the form from the freeholder in January and were told we wouldn't need it and to use a different document that had been used in 2019. When it became clear lenders would no longer accept that and a EWS1 form was required they told us they would get it (they still had flats to sell in the development so needed it for themselves aswell).

This took 6 months. Form was a B1 and our buyers were able to secure a mortgage easily but we did ask that the person who signed off the EWS1 form also gave us a letter on headed paper with all of his qualifications clearly listed to try mitigate any chances for banks to push back, not sure if it helped or not but was good to have. Other flats in the development have also been sold in the last three months.  We were told the form cost the freeholder £100k a building so wasn't cheap.

I've been doing exactly the same thing, following all the Twitter groups and signing petitions, and generally spending 4 months in a state of nervousness. We're buying our first ever flat in a building under 18m but over 11m, from a small developer who started building late 2018 and are due to complete this month.

Some of the sold flats managed to get mortgage offers without the EWS1 being required and some needed the EWS1 - it really was a lottery. We didn't need it for our mortgage but told the developer we won't move to exchange without it (for obvious reasons), which they were fine about. 

The good news part of this story is that our block passed with A1 rating, although it did take about 8 weeks from when the developer submitted for it to come through and was A1 rated. Other flats who needed the form for their mortgage requirements have now exchanged as the lenders have accepted it. The better news is that I managed to exchange yesterday!

annetheman

And.... almost 3 months after the survey was done, still no EWS1 report...