EWS1 - preventing sale of my flat

Lisa142

annetheman said:

Trigger79 said:

Hi everyone,

I am in the process of selling my flat. It is less than 18m high and so has no EWS form, and The leaseholder has Written a letter stating this and stating that it no plans to get one. It also has no cladding.

The buyer’s mortgage company are insisting on one anyway and so we’re in stalemate.

I’m guessing there’s nothing much I can do, as things are in the buyer’s court - but this has now been going on for ages and I’m wondering at what point I need to move on and start looking for another buyer. 

If I was them I would be looking for another mortgage company but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of action on that side and all this time I am just twiddling my thumbs. 

Any advice would be gratefully received! 

Trigger

My experience as a buyer, memorandum of sale issued March 6th 2020:
-Building under 18m
-Brick clad (as I suspect yours is, all modern residential blocks have some sort of external wall cladding, there are virtually none with 'no cladding', just non-combustible i.e. brick or glass or stone or cement etc).
-Lender 1: approved mortgage pending updated £0 valuation with EWS1 May 2020
-Head leaseholder (seller) instructed EWS1 survey, since all other sales also blocked due to lack of it
-EWS1 performed August 2020
-Lender 1: tired of waiitng, cancelled app November 2020
-Received EWS1 at B1 due to timber decking on balconies December 2020
-Lender 2: approved mortgage pending satisfactory valuation with EWS1 January 2021
-Sent EWS1 to Lender 2
-Mortgage offer approved January 2021
Now looking to exchange and complete March 2021

Not unique buying experience, nor is yours a unique selling experience sadly: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/08/homeowners-face-sales-falling-through-and-zero-valuations-due-to-fire-safety-test-delays/

It's the reason flat sales have halved nationwide, -70%+ in some places, like London and Manchester.

RICS have consulted recently on updating the EWS1 to take some buildings out of scope but as you know, currently your (and my) buildings are out of scope yet lenders still want them - nobody has faith in either modern construction firms nor the building compliance certificates they were issued with. They want a qualified expert to dig into the walls and find out exactly what the external wall system actually contains.

Grenfell enquiry tells them all they need to know about what the certificates say they contain: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/19/what-has-the-grenfell-inquiry-revealed-about-building-materials

Your buyer is probably very aware they will still be asked for it from another lender. Unless you can get your head leasee/freeholder to instruct EWS1 pronto, so will your next buyer, and the next and the next lender and the next.

Also considering from the buyers perspective, given all the above, why the heck would they want to proceed to buy something that has not been ocnfirmed to be compliant with building safety regulations through an intrusive EWS1 survey?

If your building is rated A3 or B2, they will then have the £100,000+ bill for remediation, interim waking watch, interim fire alarms, increased 1000%+ insurance premiums -- all that would shift from being your problem to their problem.

There isn't a buyer in their right mind that will buy any flat  in a purpose-build block without an EWS1. Even cash buyers are saying no.

You NEED to convince the freeholder to instruct the survey, or you are going nowhere like millions of others trapped. It is a horrendous scandal but here we are.... You can follow my thread for semi-regular updates https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6217523/govt-makes-haphazard-attempt-to-alleviate-some-of-the-blockages-in-flat-sales-mess-caused-by-ews1#latest

Hi, it’s really helpful to read the below and it’s so good to hear success stories.! Would you mind saying who the lender was who accepted the EWS1?

coypondboy

Any lenders out there who will lend if flat is in block under 18m with no ews1 and covered in wooden cladding and balconies (so would fail)