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Should I buy a flat which has cladding?
Comments
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I have just sold a flat in a 7 story block - luckily no cladding. My solicitor did say that conveyancing of tower blocks with cladding is proving very slow and troublesome and likely to get worse.
If I were you, I would leave it!1 -
This is just one of a number of horror stories relating to works that need to be paid by owner occupiers
'A terrible shock': council hands flat owner £146,000 bill | Leasehold | The Guardian
If this does not scare you off nothing will.0 -
carefullycautious said:This is just one of a number of horror stories relating to works that need to be paid by owner occupiers
'A terrible shock': council hands flat owner £146,000 bill | Leasehold | The Guardian
If this does not scare you off nothing will.
Oh, and the council are offering to buy it back for full market value.1 -
AdrianC said:carefullycautious said:This is just one of a number of horror stories relating to works that need to be paid by owner occupiers
'A terrible shock': council hands flat owner £146,000 bill | Leasehold | The Guardian
If this does not scare you off nothing will.
Oh, and the council are offering to buy it back for full market value.0 -
carefullycautious said:AdrianC said:carefullycautious said:This is just one of a number of horror stories relating to works that need to be paid by owner occupiers
'A terrible shock': council hands flat owner £146,000 bill | Leasehold | The Guardian
If this does not scare you off nothing will.
Oh, and the council are offering to buy it back for full market value.
Is it really that unexpected, though? It's a 60s council tower block, part of an estate of 434 flats, half in 20-storey blocks. That, generally, is alarm-bell central for any flat-buyer. The full market value buy-back would be leapt at by most people, I'd suggest. Even without the cladding/EWS1 issues.
"There are 22 leaseholders who own property on the estate, which is home to a total of around 225 flats spread over three tower blocks. According to Southwark council records, 20 leaseholders have received estimated bills of up to £151,000. The other two received bills of £12,000 or £15,000 as they are in the first five years of their lease. Only two of the estate’s 22 leaseholders are recorded as living on the estate, with the remainder letting out their properties."
1 -
Ash_29 said:@annetheman
Thank you!
I haven't been sent the report yet, I was only sent the paper which had B1 ticked. I will request the report right away.
The building is over 18m (12 floors) and it has some sort of metal cladding, they haven't yet sent me exactly what it's made of. Also it has timber flooring on balconies too. I was informed that one of the balconies actually caught fire last year due to lit cigarette being left unattended on the balcony...
There are two different types of cavity barriers fitted behind the cladding. The vertical cavity fire barriers are manufactured by Rockwool. The horizontal cavity fire barriers are products manufactured by Envirograf. I believe the one's by Rockwool are the Rainscreen duo slabs ones which are listed on their website.
Have you thought about getting an indemnity insurance policy?1 -
Lunchbox said:Ash_29 said:@annetheman
Thank you!
I haven't been sent the report yet, I was only sent the paper which had B1 ticked. I will request the report right away.
The building is over 18m (12 floors) and it has some sort of metal cladding, they haven't yet sent me exactly what it's made of. Also it has timber flooring on balconies too. I was informed that one of the balconies actually caught fire last year due to lit cigarette being left unattended on the balcony...
There are two different types of cavity barriers fitted behind the cladding. The vertical cavity fire barriers are manufactured by Rockwool. The horizontal cavity fire barriers are products manufactured by Envirograf. I believe the one's by Rockwool are the Rainscreen duo slabs ones which are listed on their website.
Have you thought about getting an indemnity insurance policy?
Materials are defined as supporting combustion or not in specific test conditions. Currently there is no actual "pass" or "fail" for most external wall systems, only levels of risk assigned in a fire engineer's view ie BS8414 and EWS1... But if for example MHCLG decides to hamfist in again (every time they have it has been a complete clusterfrick) and impose a nationwide ban on the use of K15 in residential buildings, regardless of the system it is in - and we have seen this govt pull similar kneejerk reactions that caused chaos before post-Grenfell - we are all screwed. It's in most houses, too!
I don't see this happening but if it does, it's very likely they will make it a 18m+ problem, because of aforementioned lack of a risk-based view of cladding systems from govt so far. Just my opinion, though!
Best of luck, hope the report is okay!Credit cards: £9,705.31 | Loans: £4,419.39 | Student Loan (Plan 1): £11,301.00 | Total: £25,425.70Debt-free target: 21-Feb-2027
Debt-free diary0 -
I’m sure that we have Kingspan or similar in our roof. But we’re in a 3 storey house, and the Kingspan is at the top. So, if it burns, the flames and fumes will be going upwards. If it were wrapped around the house, I’d replace it with something non flammable.
Wasn’t there a student accommodation block where the cladding burned like crazy, even though it was under 18m?No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0 -
annetheman said:Lunchbox said:Ash_29 said:@annetheman
Thank you!
I haven't been sent the report yet, I was only sent the paper which had B1 ticked. I will request the report right away.
The building is over 18m (12 floors) and it has some sort of metal cladding, they haven't yet sent me exactly what it's made of. Also it has timber flooring on balconies too. I was informed that one of the balconies actually caught fire last year due to lit cigarette being left unattended on the balcony...
There are two different types of cavity barriers fitted behind the cladding. The vertical cavity fire barriers are manufactured by Rockwool. The horizontal cavity fire barriers are products manufactured by Envirograf. I believe the one's by Rockwool are the Rainscreen duo slabs ones which are listed on their website.
Have you thought about getting an indemnity insurance policy?
Materials are defined as supporting combustion or not in specific test conditions. Currently there is no actual "pass" or "fail" for most external wall systems, only levels of risk assigned in a fire engineer's view ie BS8414 and EWS1... But if for example MHCLG decides to hamfist in again (every time they have it has been a complete clusterfrick) and impose a nationwide ban on the use of K15 in residential buildings, regardless of the system it is in - and we have seen this govt pull similar kneejerk reactions that caused chaos before post-Grenfell - we are all screwed. It's in most houses, too!
I don't see this happening but if it does, it's very likely they will make it a 18m+ problem, because of aforementioned lack of a risk-based view of cladding systems from govt so far. Just my opinion, though!
Best of luck, hope the report is okay!1 -
Lunchbox said:annetheman said:Lunchbox said:Ash_29 said:@annetheman
Thank you!
I haven't been sent the report yet, I was only sent the paper which had B1 ticked. I will request the report right away.
The building is over 18m (12 floors) and it has some sort of metal cladding, they haven't yet sent me exactly what it's made of. Also it has timber flooring on balconies too. I was informed that one of the balconies actually caught fire last year due to lit cigarette being left unattended on the balcony...
There are two different types of cavity barriers fitted behind the cladding. The vertical cavity fire barriers are manufactured by Rockwool. The horizontal cavity fire barriers are products manufactured by Envirograf. I believe the one's by Rockwool are the Rainscreen duo slabs ones which are listed on their website.
Have you thought about getting an indemnity insurance policy?
Materials are defined as supporting combustion or not in specific test conditions. Currently there is no actual "pass" or "fail" for most external wall systems, only levels of risk assigned in a fire engineer's view ie BS8414 and EWS1... But if for example MHCLG decides to hamfist in again (every time they have it has been a complete clusterfrick) and impose a nationwide ban on the use of K15 in residential buildings, regardless of the system it is in - and we have seen this govt pull similar kneejerk reactions that caused chaos before post-Grenfell - we are all screwed. It's in most houses, too!
I don't see this happening but if it does, it's very likely they will make it a 18m+ problem, because of aforementioned lack of a risk-based view of cladding systems from govt so far. Just my opinion, though!
Best of luck, hope the report is okay!
That's my point there - if the govt say regardless of the BS8414 tests, K15 is banned from use - which is possible since we know now that it is a completely different product from that which the tests were based on - we're all screwed. Retrospective application of building regs they knew were not being followed is why so many buildings are in the cladding scandal currently.
I think though, that this won't happen. What's more likely is that the K15 on use in buildings 18m+ will require works to remove it, though that would mean a reinterpretation of its own advice note (which govt have done so very possible)! That's my prediction!
How govt handles response to these revelations will be crucial but track record so far not good...!
Current debt-free wannabe stats:Credit cards: £9,705.31 | Loans: £4,419.39 | Student Loan (Plan 1): £11,301.00 | Total: £25,425.70Debt-free target: 21-Feb-2027
Debt-free diary1
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