What are the requirements on timber covering of houses? (not blocks)

pieroabcd

Hi,
yesterday I saw a house in SW London that was built 13 years ago. Very well done inside, but outside it has 2 sides and a balcony with a timber covering (or made of a material that looks, feels and knocks like timber).
The  (admittedly paranoid) high risk light bulb inside my head immediately turned on flashing, so I've decided not to make an offer, but I'm curious: are houses subject to the same requirements on cladding currently enforced for blocks, after the Grenfell tower?
Would they need some kind of assessment before inhabiting and before selling? I know several people living in blocks that now can't sell because the cladding has to be completely replaced .
Thanks

Slithery

Maybe, maybe not. It's up to the lender whether or not an EWS1 is required.

AdrianC

The big difference between a house and a flat is that you are the only person responsible for the fire risk of your cladding. You are not putting your safety in the hands of the building management.

A two storey building's EWS requirements would be minimal even if it was flats.

user1977

Historically, lenders haven't been keen on timber-clad houses (because of the maintenance burden rather than fire risk), though I don't know what proportion it needs to be before they start getting twitchy.

Alan2020

Well, people do all sort of stupid things to make houses look better - typical fools with little or no engineering knowledge.  I personally would buy a conventional property, bricks built.  I have seen homes without plasterboard ceilings, with exposed beams, OSB used instead of plasterboard all in the name of fashion.  Well if there is a fire, when you are dead, doesn't matter if the insurance would pay or not.
Just buy a normal house.

GDB2222

The fire risk from cladding in a two storey building is usual minimal. You simply leave. Even if that means jumping out of a first floor window, you might be injured, but it should not be life changing. 

If the interior of the dwelling is so alight that it sets fire to the cladding, the interior fire is likely to be more of a life risk to people elsewhere in the building than the exterior fire.

We all saw the ghastly pictures of Grenfell, but it simply isn't anything like such an issue with a two storey building.