Category: Buyer, First Time Buyer, Guides & Advice, Sale & Purchase, Seller
In June 2017, the country woke up to the devastating news that a fire at Grenfell Tower in London had destroyed the building and killed a number of the residents. The immediate culprit for the enormity of the fire, although not the cause of it, was identified as being the recently-applied cladding around the outside walls of the tower.
Since then, it has been recognised that there are hundreds of other buildings around the country that have questionable cladding constructions.
All of which news filled potential buyers (and sellers) with a sense of dread because of the possibility of the external cladding falling foul of fire safety standards in the light of the dreadful tragedy.
In the intervening period between the Grenfell fire and the publication of the subsequent inquiry findings (made public, with the final phase of the inquiry published on 4 September 2024), the EWS1 form was introduced (2018) with later amendments to manage the fire safety of the External Wall Systems (EWS).
The purpose of the EWS1 form is to provide evidence that the cladding and other external coverings (such as wooden balconies) have had a fire safety assessment conducted by a qualified professional (e.g. a chartered surveyor).
The recent rule changes have settled on the requirement being in place for any residential buildings which are over a height of 11 metres - below that height, the EWS1 certification is not currently required. The EWS1 certificate covers the entire building (if it is located in England or Wales - note that there might be differences in Scotland).
Having the EWS1 certificate, which is current for 5 years from the point of the professional assessment, should provide any mortgage lender with the confidence that they can risk lending money to furnish a buyer with a mortgage - this should be a relief, too, for any potential seller of an affected property.
Note that the EWS1 certificate does not equate to a general fire safety assessment for the building, which looks at internal structures, fire escapes, fire alarms, sprinkler systems, fire doors, and any other process in place to deal with any fire that may arise and the evacuation and safety of all the tenants.
The EWS certification process
The owner of the building is responsible for obtaining an assessment of the cladding to receive the EWS1 certificate.
The certification process, which was created and moderated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and UK Finance, ensures a rigorous evaluation of the state of the external wall systems that are in place.
Based on this analysis, there are two options, which are broken down into subsections as follows:
A. Where external wall materials are unlikely to support combustion
A1. There are no attachments to the building with construction materials that include significant quantities of combustible materials
A2. An appropriate risk assessment has been completed on the attachments and no remedial work is required
A3. The external wall systems are unlikely to contain combustible materials but remedial work might still be required.
B. Where combustible materials have been identified in the external wall system
B1. The conclusion is that the fire risk is sufficiently low not to require remedial action to be taken.
B2. The conclusion reached confirms that the risk is too high not to require remedial works to resolve the problem.
Who needs an ews1 certificate?
Your building's owner should hold a copy of the EWS1 certificate if a professional assessment has been completed. However, be aware that the EWS1 certificate is not a legal requirement, so ownership of one should not necessarily be expected.
When it comes to selling a leasehold or freehold property that conforms to the requirements for a certificate to be assessed, the mortgage company will be carrying out a mortgage valuation survey. They will probably want to see evidence of the existence of the EWS1 certificate where appropriate.
The details of the EWS1 certificate presents a level of confidence as well as giving the mortgage assessor an understanding of any associated remedial costs. Thereby, they will know whether the provision of a mortgage to a potential buyer is worth the financial risk or not.
The details of the Fire Safety Act 2021 now means that cladding and other adornments to the external walls are part of the overall fire assessment of the building. If the building's latest fire certificate is before the date of the Act, it will not have any assessment of these external wall systems and will therefore effectively be out of date - it is the legal responsibility of the building's owner to arrange for an up-to-date and current fire safety certificate.
If you want to see if your building has a current EWS1 certificate, you may be able to find out that information on the Building Safety Information Portal (BSIP), but you should talk to the owner, too, if you want their confirmation and to get a copy of the certificate.
When you're planning on buying or selling a home, you need to protect yourself as much as you can, which is why you should appoint a solicitor with Homeward Legal, because we guarantee that if your transaction falls apart for any reason, you won't have to pay any of the solicitor's fees that have been accrued to date.
The experts at Homeward Legal are well-versed in all aspects of the conveyancing process, providing a quality service at a fee that is great value for money!
Call to get your conveyancing quote started, or to discuss your concerns with your plans to purchase or sell your home.