Buying a flat...heart versus thread

Christiana22

Advise please......My husband and I are in the process of selling our family home in order to downsize and move closer to the family. Back in August we had an offer accepted on a seventh floor apartment which would be perfect for us. We had a Homebuyers Survey carried out (not done until October) which highlighted how essential a current EWS1 certificate is. Our solicitor has just received this reply from the block management company: 

“The Property Manager has advised that at present, there is no EWS1 Form for the building.

The Property Manager has also advised that the Directors of the Management Company have very recently agreed to proceed with/instruct the required inspection of the buildings by a suitably qualified person, with a view to a Form EWS1 then being produced.   A date for the inspection to be carried out, is yet to be agreed/booked. “

My head tells me it would be stupid to continue.....too many unknows ( time scale, cost etc) but my heart says otherwise (seemingly perfect place) & I'm totally confused.

My question is this.....what would you much more experienced buyers & sellers decide?  Very many thanks.

Christiana22

Sorry ...Heart versus Head!

RelievedSheff

Without that piece of paper you could end up with a flat that us unsaleable. 

AdrianC

Do you need a mortgage for the purchase? If so, it's not just your decision.

Remember that in order to get the EWS1 issued, work may need to be carried out on the block, to remove or change the cladding. That work will be charged to the leaseholders via the service charge. It may be a LOT of money per flat.

Neil49

I presume that the flat you intend to buy does have cladding. If that's the case then you have good reason to be cautious. 

If there is absolutely no cladding then recent government changes mean that an EWS1 is not required.

SuperHan

Do. not. buy. it.

I cannot stress this enough.

I have a flat with no cladding, however we needed as EWS1 for mortgage lenders as there is render (6 floor block). We have had an initial survey done which has highlighted missing fire breaks and now we need waking watch (£5k per week for the block) and a new fire alarm (tens of thousands) as interim measures until these can be fixed. It could easily be tens of thousands that I will need to pay in service charge to get the flat back to a mortgageable level (and therefore marketable). That's without factoring in additional insurance costs when there renewal comes through.

Without the EWS1 you have no idea what remedial works may be required, even if there is no cladding and even if it is mortgageable at the minute. A block near mine has just had their bill for £52,000 per apartment to fix. People are declaring bankruptcy over this. You could be signing a blank check by buying it.

If you are still unsure, check out the endourcladdingscandal hashtag on twitter for more people with real experience.

numbercruncher8

Would not be common sense to go ahead without knowing what the form says, even if externally there is no obvious remedial work.

The unknowns are how long it may take, how much it will cost, and whether a lender would accept anything but a clean bill of health from the form.

Depending on the area, if you need to move to it you could rent a flat in the block instead of buy one as a compromise which means that the repair bill falls onto the landlord. The risks are that prices shoot up, but it also goes the other way, prices may reduce. In some southern places flat prices have been falling, and by more than the annual rent.

If the flat has an EWS1 backlog, there most likely will be multiple people trying to sell but cannot, as life doesn't wait for forms. In that case it seems difficult to see that demand exceeds supply for that building, which reduces the chances of prices going up.

Christiana22

Thank you everyone...You've confirmed what I feared so sadly it'll be a no go.