EWS1 Form Nightmare

pjw1592

Hi all,

I am currently trying to buy a leasehold property with Barclays. Barclays' have since given the property a value of £0 due to the lack of EWS1 form.

Despite the building being under 18 metres tall, and not containing any ACM, MCM or HPL panels on the building, the surveyor insists that an EWS1 form is needed, which has confused both my solicitor and my mortgage adviser. My initial hunch was that the surveyor, who has to abide by RICS guidelines, has perhaps misunderstood the updated guidelines from March 2021, but I was wondering whether anyone else would be able to shed some light? Would it be possible to ask the bank for another survey to be done? If I were to go with another bank, would the surveyor also come back and say an EWS1 form is required?

I am very perplexed, so any insight would be gratefully received!

Thank you in advance!

K_S

@pjw1592 Unfortunately it's one of those things where the guidance can be ignored so the valuer is free to insist on an EWS1 form irrespective of the height of the building. As you can imagine, there is some amount of subjectivity involved as to whether a building poses a fire risk or not.

It might be worth checking the title register/s (you can get them for £3 from the Land Registry) to see who the lender was for any recent sales in the block or asking the vendor who their lender is, etc. Vendors usually are very clued in as to any mortgageability issues with their flat, though they're not always forthcoming about it. 

I can't speak for your specific case, but your broker could try and appeal it with the valuer/Barclays or try another lender that uses a different surveyor panel and seeing how that goes.

jwalton

done the form and everything ok no danger etc, thought that was that, now my conveyancer says they are now waiting on letter form buyer which they say could take a while has anyone else had this and what does it mean
thanks for any help and our witts end 

jwalton

sorry for hijacking they are now telling me the buyers lender wants a letter from the firm(who did the ews1 procedure) on headed paper and detailing their expertise how do i go about getting that?