The Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Clive Betts MP, has written to the Government about continuing issues with the EWS1 process.
The External Wall Fire Review (EWS1) form was introduced to support valuation advice and lending decisions in respect of buildings with cladding.
Following consultation with fire safety experts, lenders and others, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) issued new guidance in March about which buildings require the form, as it was being requested for many more buildings than had been originally envisaged. A recent investigation by Radio 4’s Money Box has however indicated that lenders are continuing to ask for an EWS1 form for buildings that don’t meet the new guidance. The situation is leaving homeowners in limbo, unable to sell or mortgage their flats.
The Chair of Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has written to the Secretary of State, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, about this issue. Given the impact on leaseholders, the Chair asks the Government what it is doing to support the implementation of the guidance from RICS. It further calls for action to be taken to ensure that the documentation gap between what the RICS guidance states and what lenders demand is closed.
Committee chair, Clive Betts MP said: “As it stands the EWS1 system simply isn’t working. Industry guidance has set out which buildings don’t need the form, but it seems lenders are ignoring this and are opting not to provide finance without it. As ever it is the leaseholder left facing the consequences, trapped in homes they cannot sell or remortgage. Following my appearance on Moneybox to discuss this issue, I have been contacted by leaseholders who find themselves, through no fault of their own, in this distressing situation.
“We need to hear urgently about what the Government plans to do about this. I have written to the Secretary of State, asking him to set out how the Government plans to step in and end this mismatch between guidance and implementation.”
