If you're looking to buy a leasehold property that has cladding on the building, the valuer may need to see an EWS1 form.

Until they can be assured that the cladding present won't require expensive remedial work, they cannot provide us (the lender) with a mortgage valuation.

Therefore, the property report can come back with a value of £0.

Many buildings with cladding won't need remedial work. However, the valuer will typically need to see an EWS1 form before the property can be valued for residential mortgage purposes.

Valuers need confirmation that no remedial works are required to the building in order for it to comply with the current code of practice.

Or if remedial works are required, we need to understand what the cost would be.

As a leaseholder, you could be handed a hefty bill.

If any remedial works are required, it is likely that the cost will fall to the individual leaseholders through management charges (levied by the freeholder). It is not possible to provide a valuation with such a potential financial liability looming over the property.

The potential (and unknown) cost to you, the leaseholder, means that a mortgage valuation is not possible without an EWS1 form.

Whether we can lend on a property comes down to what the valuer sees at the property, in line with both the latest RICS guidance and our lending criteria.

Ever since 72 people died tragically in the Grenfell Tower fire in west London on 14 June 2017, governmental and industry guidance on cladding and fire safety has been constantly changing.

A press release dated 13th April 2022 has revealed a wide-ranging agreement that will see industry contribute £5 billion to address the building safety scandal.

Under the new agreement, which will become legally enforceable, over 35 of the UK’s biggest homebuilders have pledged to fix all buildings 11 metres+ that they have played a role in developing in the last 30 years.