Armageddon for flat owners - PAS 9980 even worse than EWS1 fiasco?!

AdrianC

I wonder if a full transcript of their interview with Evans would include him reminding them that the new standard has not yet been published, and won't be for another three months?

[Deleted User]

NameUnavailable said:

I read an article in the Sunday Times today about PAS 9980 - this is new regulation that will require instrusive surveys of the walls of ALL flats including conversions.

As with EWS1 it is probably going to be mandatory to have a 'pass' before lenders will lend and the article states that nearly all properties will require some remediation work to bring them up to standard.

What will all this cost? How long will it take? "it is unlikely that risk assessments will result in recommending no remedial works or mitigation.....the leaseholder is left holding the baby" Mark London, head of construction Devonshires solicitors.

Cladding expert Jonathan Evans said it could mean Armageddon for flat owners and could lock up the market for years.

As I'm in the process of buying a flat (I looked carefully for one with no cladding or balconies) I'm now very worried again............

At this point all leasehold flats are basically worth £0.

seven-day-weekend

Is this about flats with cladding?  Is it applicable to flats without cladding?  I didn't really understand the linkedin article.

seradane

seven-day-weekend said:

Is this about flats with cladding?  Is it applicable to flats without cladding?  I didn't really understand the linkedin article.

Effectively it's saying that this guidance categorizes all external walls into three levels, Low Medium and High fire performance. 

Low is basically your standard cavity brick/block wall. High is the bad cladding panels. Everything else is 'Medium' which requires an assessment.

So potentially any flat that isn't just brick cavity is going to have to be put into a (very long) queue to be assessed to determine its fire risk. This includes existing buildings. 

So potentially a repeat of the EWS1 situation - lots of places needing assessment and very few available experts to do it.

seradane

AdrianC said:

I wonder if a full transcript of their interview with Evans would include him reminding them that the new standard has not yet been published, and won't be for another three months?

Of course, but not much point to ignore it during consultation period and then complain about it's faults once it's already implemented?

NameUnavailable

seven-day-weekend said:

Is this about flats with cladding?  Is it applicable to flats without cladding?  I didn't really understand the linkedin article.

As it stands, according to the article, the need for inspection and potential remedial work will apply to ALL flats regardless of type of construction/age (and includes conversions and maisonettes).

NameUnavailable

seradane said:

seven-day-weekend said:

Is this about flats with cladding?  Is it applicable to flats without cladding?  I didn't really understand the linkedin article.

Effectively it's saying that this guidance categorizes all external walls into three levels, Low Medium and High fire performance. 

Low is basically your standard cavity brick/block wall. High is the bad cladding panels. Everything else is 'Medium' which requires an assessment.

So potentially any flat that isn't just brick cavity is going to have to be put into a (very long) queue to be assessed to determine its fire risk. This includes existing buildings. 

So potentially a repeat of the EWS1 situation - lots of places needing assessment and very few available experts to do it.

Applies to ALL flats - intrusive inspections and remedial works likely in all cases.

seven-day-weekend

Oh dear!  So my six-year-old purpose-built low-rise flat built with cavity walls and traditional materials (no cladding) will have to be assessed in this manner?  And no-one can get a mortgage on it until it is?

NameUnavailable

seven-day-weekend said:

Oh dear!  So my six-year-old purpose-built low-rise flat built with cavity walls and traditional materials (no cladding) will have to be assessed in this manner?  And no-one can get a mortgage on it until it is?

That's the gist of it. Crazy.

[Deleted User]

seven-day-weekend said:

Oh dear!  So my six-year-old purpose-built low-rise flat built with cavity walls and traditional materials (no cladding) will have to be assessed in this manner?  And no-one can get a mortgage on it until it is?

Yes, and it's worthless until you get it done. You are in massive negative equity. Welcome to the nightmare.