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Housing Association misled me on fire safety of external walls
MarmotV
Posts: 14 Forumite
I'm buying a resale shared ownership home in London. It's under 18m tall, has no visible cladding, made of brick with balconies made of concrete and glass.
Before paying a reservation fee to the housing association, I asked them about the external wall. They said the building had been assessed and there were no issues. They added that it was under 18m so no EWS1 was needed.Turns out, their fire risk assessment was done 3 years ago and did not mention the wall. My surveyor has said that his valuation is void without further info on the wall - he said that while he saw no cladding, it could contain combustible materials internally etc. It's taken me 2 months and the HA haven't said anything about the external wall - I'm still chasing. Exchange needs to happen or the chain will collapse.
I have now incurred up to £2.5k (legal costs, surveyor fee, and the reservation fee). I like the property and it's close to family. I don't want my savings eroded by inflation. What should I do?
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Comments
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If its made of brick why would it be any different to any wall on any other house or flat?"You've been reading SOS when it's just your clock reading 5:05 "0
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What's misleading? All your surveyor appears to have said is that they don't know what's inside the walls. Not that there's actually a problem. The HA have said they have had a fire risk assessment which found no issues - which appears to be correct.0
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user1977 said:What's misleading? All your surveyor appears to have said is that they don't know what's inside the walls. Not that there's actually a problem. The HA have said they have had a fire risk assessment which found no issues - which appears to be correct.
The fire risk assessment does not mention any investigation of the external wall - it checked the fire alarms etc. My surveyor did not investigate the walls (because we're not allowed to do so without the HA's permission - which they won't give). The surveyor said that his valuation is void without a satisfactory investigation of the wall.Is it normal to proceed with a void valuation?0 -
It's in a large block with nearly 70 flats - mostly tenants. The regulations focus on these types. The HA's own website says that the likelihood of most buildings requiring some degree of remedial work is high.sammyjammy said:If its made of brick why would it be any different to any wall on any other house or flat?
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