EWS1/cladding form stress

[Louise0410]

Any advice - we have an offer accepted on our flat and it’s going to have the lender’s valuation next week. I’ve just found out the some valuations on similar kinds of property are coming back as nil because of a lack of EWS1 form (the form that confirms we don’t have dangerous cladding). Our building is 4 storey’s (in places - we live in a 3 storey part) and is brick (no cladding). Despite this I’ve been warned that our buyer’s mortgage lender can still request the form even though it isn’t really needed. Our managing agent are ok with the idea of getting this form which having read other things online seems not to be the norm so we are lucky in that respect. Anyway, turns out the EWS1 was booked in anyway but this is weeks away and I’m worried our buyer is going to freak out at the delay for getting her mortgage approved. She’s getting a good price on our flat and we have had an offer accepted on a place we really really want so I just feel so stressed that it could all come crashing down over a form that we don’t really need.

So our buyers surveyor came round today and in conversation he asked where we were moving to. He did the survey on it yesterday so I asked if he had an issue with the cladding.

He advised he's had to ask his manager for advice as to whether an EWS1 was required as Santander have a threshold of 50% but he wasn't sure if that applied to the whole of the building or just our property. To me it would make sense for the whole building as the EWS is for multi occupancy, thoughts?

Apparently Nationwide's threshold is 20% for buildings between 4-6 storeys.

Mortgage approved 😁😁😁😁😁

Thank you Santander!

@Autumnchill Great news!

@Autumnchill well done!!

@Autumnchill I'm pretty sure you probably won't come back to this thread now but if you do, I'd be curious to know what the flat was like that Santander were happy with :)

@VLAL do you mean exterior?

Yes. My flat is 2nd floor of a G-5 storey block, cladding on the 5th floor only and I have a balcony with some wood on it. The balcony is giving me anxiety as well as the cladding!

Just going for a walk and will pass it so will take photo

Ours is the highest two but you can see how limited the cladding is!

We have been through this shit show for the last 3 months, we live in a maisonette with no communal areas, only one flat above us (so well below the 18ms) and nothing on our flat but upstairs has decorative wood panels on the outside.

I phoned so many companies to try and get this form done and either they refused to do it because our building didn't meet the criteria on the form or had a huge waiting list.

Eventually one very kind man from one of the companies told me that a RICS accredited surveyor was able to fill in the form it didn't need to be these big companies that charge extortion amounts of money.

Out of 50 surveyors i called, only 1 agreed to come and look at the flat.
We have finally had the EWS1 form accepted by our buyers surveyor last week.

I know this isn't very helpful to those that do meet the criteria or have lots of cladding on the building but for those that are being asked for the form unnecessarily then contact all the surveyors you can find on the RICS website hopefully one will be able to help.