The External Wall System (EWS) form was originally designed following Government advice as a result of the Grenfell fire relating to external wall systems on buildings and was created to ensure residential buildings over 18m tall could be assessed for safety to allow lenders to offer mortgages. Changes in Government advice in January 2020, brought all residential buildings potentially within scope.
The criteria for requiring a form considers the height of the building, the type of cladding and (in some circumstances) how much of it there is on the building. There are also criteria relating to balconies and combustible material.
“Lenders should always have a rationale to justify the request for the EWS1 form.”
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has published guidance for valuers on 8 March 2021 and is working with UK government and other stakeholders to ensure the guidance is implemented. This guidance includes criteria that will help decide whether a particular building should need an EWS1 form.
There is currently a national shortage of independent professionals that are both suitably qualified to complete an EWS1 form AND who also have a suitable level of professional indemnity insurance, this means that there are long delays in obtaining a report for buildings which require them. Reports can cost in excess of £10,000 per building once a relevant professional has been commissioned.
An EWS1 form is not a legal requirement and there is no obligation on landlords to complete these despite requests from various lenders, the cost for completing a form cannot be shared across all leaseholders in a block for several reasons including:
- Some leaseholders do not have a mortgage so an EWS1 form would be irrelevant to them
- Some leaseholders may have a cash buyer for their flat
- Some leaseholders may have a long mortgage term which outlasts the 5 years that the EWS1 form is valid for
The RICS have now provided an online form to help determine whether an EWS1 form is required.
This may be found at: tinyurl.com/RICSEWS1