Selling Without an EWS1 Form
With the recent changes to building fire safety standards, home sellers are having to consider the possibility of selling their property without an EWS1 form.
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If you’re trying to sell your flat or building, you might have experienced the relatively new hurdle of having to obtain an External Wall Fire Review (EWS1) form before selling your property. These documents detail whether a building has external cladding that an expert has assessed for its fire risk, but there are many complications with the EWS1 process for homeowners to know.
What is an EWS1 form?
The EWS1 form was created by the UK government following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in June 2017. A fire started in a block of flats known as Grenfell Tower located in the west London neighbourhood of North Kensington, leading to 72 deaths and an additional 70-plus injuries, although 223 residents were able to escape. The fire escalated so quickly and became so devastating in part because of the cheap cladding used on the outside of the building.
Cladding is the process of placing a layer of material such as insulation over another material, but the cladding used at Grenfell Tower fell short of safety rule requirements. As a result, the building was at increased risk of significant damage in the event of a fire.
The disaster prompted the government to commission an independent panel of experts to conduct a broad review of building safety regulations. Until the Grenfell Tower situation, houses and flats were generally deemed to be safe if they were following existing building policies during construction, endorsed by a private inspector of a local authority inspector.
The independent panel of experts’ review ultimately advocated for a shift in the approach so that the building owners would now have to take on responsibility for ensuring the fire safety of external walls for any building that exceeds 18 meters in height. This covered hundreds of thousands of houses and flats and drew complaints that it made selling homes impossible.
Do I need an EWS1 form to sell my property?
As the owner of your house or flat you might have a duty to find out the materials that are used on the outside of your property, and whether you need to obtain an EWS1 form, particularly if you are trying to sell your home.
Although the government has made some revisions to the EWS1 process and mandates in order to ease a homeowner’s ability to sell their property – for example, owners of homes that do not have any cladding are now exempt – the generally wide-reaching requirement that people obtain a form is in place and causing some problems with home sales.
Having an EWS1 form is necessary to show to mortgage landers, property valuers and others that an expert has reviewed the external cladding at your house or flat.
And note that leaseholders, who own a fixed-term lease on a property but not the land or building itself, cannot complete the EWS1 form on their own. Only a landlord or freeholder who owns the building can organise the necessary expert work to complete the form.
How can I obtain an EWS1 form?
You must contact an independent expert who has a certification from one of the 21 professional organisations that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government recognises. Their work can range from simple research looking up the plans to your home through to lengthy surveys and possibly work to remediate any significant combustion risks.
The expert will come to your home and perform a comprehensive review of the external wall, which includes any cladding, fire break systems, and insulation along with other materials. They will take a sample from the external wall material that they will use in their analysis.
After completing this assessment they will sign either Option A or Option B on the form.
Option A
This is what the evaluation professional will choose if they determine that the external wall materials are not likely to encourage combustion during a fire.
The form will state that the expert is a member of a government-recognised professional body and that they have concluded the materials such as cladding used on external walls at your property qualified as having a limited risk of combustibility, or that adequate barriers are in place that will help to prevent the risk of combustibility.
The expert will also have to tick a box from A1 through A3 detailing whether the external wall has any combustible attachments. A1 is the box for when there are no such attachments, A2 is the box for stating that there are attachments present but they do not require any remediation work, and A3 is the box for finding that neither A1 nor A2 apply and as a result there might be a need for potentially expensive remedial work.
Option B
This is what the evaluation professional will choose if they determine that the external wall materials are combustible, triggering a need for a more in-depth assessment.
Much like Option A, the expert will have to sign a declaration that there are a member of a professional organisation recognised by the government.
They will then have to say whether they deem the fire risk meets a standard of either B1 or B2. The expert will select B1 if they believe that the potential fire risk from the external wall materials is low enough that there is no need for remediation work, or B2 if the expert believes that the combustible materials on the outside of your home mean that the property is not sufficiently safe and that remedial work must be performed.
If your home falls into the category of Option B then you will need to contact an organisation such as the Institution of Fire Engineers and ask them for a member of their group, such as a chartered engineer, who has extensive knowledge of external wall material fire risks. But the lack of sufficient experts to perform such reviews means that homeowners often have to wait a very long time for this work to get done, adding major delays to their timeline when selling.
How long does it take to get an EWS1 form?
From beginning to end, the entire process for obtaining an EWS1 form can take months or even years. If the expert reviewing your home identifies the type of combustible fire risk that would put your property in Option B, it can take even longer to complete because you will trigger the requirement for a more comprehensive assessment of your external walls.
The best case scenario is that the review of your home results in an Option A finding and this might be achievable within three to perhaps six months or longer. However, the significant shortage of qualified professionals who can do the required assessments at homes means that delays are typically much longer, possibly up to a decade for some large blocks of flats.
This can be very frustrating if you are looking to quickly sell your house or flat (including selling your basement flat), as the survey and the potential remediation work after could completely upend your planned timeline for selling. Thankfully, you still have some options open to you, including the possibility of trying to sell your home to a fast cash property buyer even without obtaining an EWS1 form.
How much does an EWS1 form cost?
You can expect to pay a minimum of £10,000 plus VAT for the work involved with organising an expert to assess the external walls at your property for an EWS1 form. And the cost can jump quickly depending on the particular attributes of your building or flat. There are some EWS1 forms that have cost at least £50,000 or more, which is clearly a significant expense.
Bear in mind that if the person assessing your property says that remedial work is necessary in order to remove an urgent risk of the cladding or other material from combusting in a fire, this will naturally lead to further costs that not every homeowner will be able to afford. It is an unfortunate situation for a property owner needing to pay for tens of thousands of pounds in assessments and potential remedial work whilst looking to sell their property.
The expense of obtaining an EWS1 form, whether you need to pay for remedial work or not, is therefore a concern for homeowners. Many people cannot afford the time or cost of the EWS1 process, yet they are unable to sell their home without obtaining the form. This has led to frustration in the residential property market along with calls to reform the EWS1 process.
Will LDN Properties buy my property without an EWS1 form?
Yes, this is a possibility. We have been in business since 2003 buying all shapes and sizes of property throughout London, no matter their condition or even if they are missing certain key documents such as title deeds or EWS1 forms. We have the unique ability to offer you a speedy and competitive cash offer for buying your home even in such situations, and our goal is to complete each sale within just a few weeks – and that includes exchanging contracts and paying you the proceeds.
If you are looking to sell your home fast, you might struggle to do so without an EWS1 form. Mortgage lenders might not be willing to consider lending you the money to buy your next home without you first having possession of the form, and this can frustrate your ability to sell your existing property.
For any homeowner looking to sell their London house or flat but who does not have an EWS1 form, contact our friendly team of experts. Within the first hour of talking with you, we should be able to make a tentative and fair cash offer for buying your property based on what your house or flat is worth.
And remember that LDN Properties will never charge you any fees, because we believe that you should keep all of the profit from selling your home. When you try to sell your house or flat through an estate agent or at a property auction, they will charge you commission that you will have to deduct from the proceeds of the sale, which reduces your overall profit. But when you sell your home to us, you can count on receiving the full proceeds from whatever final purchase price we offer.
In some situations we can help to further reduce your expenses by covering certain legal costs, which our representatives can explain in more detail when you get in touch with us.
For your reassurance, we are also proud to be members of The Property Ombudsman (TPO), which is an independent entity that issues policies designed to protect homeowners against unscrupulous operators in the fast cash home buying industry. As a member, we must adhere to all TPO rules and you can easily find out membership details by searching for our name on the organisation’s website. We would suggest that you think carefully before considering selling to a non-TPO member.
Frequently asked questions about EWS1 forms
Homeowners looking to sell their properties quickly often have many questions for us, ranging from the costs involved with selling through to selling a home built with non-standard construction material. Here are some of the top questions and answers we’ve been asked about EWS1 forms:
Your questions answered when selling property without an EWS1
✅ I am struggling to sell my flat without an EWS1 form, what can I do?
If you are liable to obtain an EWS1 form yet struggling to sell your home, consider contacting LDN Properties who can offer you fast cash for your flat at a fair price.
✅ Why is an EWS1 needed?
The government has mandated that owners of buildings make sure they have an EWS1 so that they can demonstrate whether the cladding or other external material at their properties is at risk of combusting in a fire. This requirement was put in place to address concerns about the speed of such material catching fire, as it did with the Grenfell Tower disaster in London in June 2017.
✅ Who carries out the EWS1 assessment?
Although the building owner is responsible for obtaining an EWS1, the assessment itself must be done by a professional with knowledge of the combustible potential of external wall material. If the assessment leads to the conclusion that your home is an Option B property at risk of fire, you will need a chartered engineer or other expert to conduct a more thorough review.
✅ How long does an EWS1 last?
A fully complete EWS1 form will last for a total of five years from the data that the relevant expert signs off on it. However, this sounds much easier than the actual work involved with obtaining an EWS1 form because there are not many professionals in the UK who can do the necessary assessments, and therefore people are waiting many months or years for the work.
✅ Does every flat need a separate EWS1 form?
Not necessarily. When the EWS1 form policy was first introduced it captured many properties and flats, creating huge problems for homeowners looking to sell. But the government announced in November 2020 that flats which are located within buildings that do not have any cladding do not have to obtain an EWS1 form before the owners of the flats can attempt to sell them.
✅ If the building owner hasn't obtained an EWS1 form, what can I do?
Unfortunately, your options are somewhat limited if you are a leaseholder, because only the building owner can commission the work for an EWS1 form. There are no statutory provisions that allow you to pursue them using legal means to force them to start this work. If you are in this situation, call LDN Properties to talk about how we might still be able to quickly buy your flat.
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