Estate agent pushing us to proceed without EWS1

[stroopwafelgirl]

Hi. First time poster looking for some help/guidance.

I’m in the process of buying first home with partner. It’s a leasehold flat in a listed building. There is a small bit of cladding around the penthouse, which is nowhere near our flat but obviously we want to know the building is as safe as can be. We have already seen a report from which confirms the cladding is very low risk so not a major worry. Our solicitors have asked for the EWS1 but sellers’ solicitors say there are long delays getting hold of an inspector and then you need to wait for them to produce the certificate. This isn’t ideal as we would ideally like to complete as soon as possible (offer made back in February).
Estate agent has now contacted us to ask whether we are willing to proceed without the EWS1. Am I wrong in thinking this is really inappropriate? I know the estate agent is acting for the seller so isn’t obliged to look after our best interests, but this feels really pushy and I’m not happy. It’s not our fault that the sellers solicitors haven’t been proactive in sorting the outstanding issues.
Has anyone been in a similar situation and if so, what did you do? General opinions would also be appreciated!

That's actually not the case. We have a small amount of ACM cladding at the top of our building and the fire engineer said that this wasnt concerning to him as fire spreads upwards. A fire engineer will consider all aspects of fire safety in a construction and we expect ours to get a B1 rating (mortgageable). One other note is that probably all ACM cladding will have to be replaced in time, whether its technically low overall risk or not. So also seek assurance that there is something in place to make that happen and not a huge liability on you

Legislation will improve in time as they cant make so many buildings unsellable forever, however things are moving slowly. I would take a balanced view and say, hold out for the EWS1, but dont run scared of every high rise building. Also some clad buildings are failing not because of the cladding at all, but because of balcony material. The cladding thing is a bit of a panic because it looks like a Grenfell.

No no no.

Get the certificate and also realise that if the cladding does need to be removed even if nowhere near your flat it will become the building as a whole's cost and therefore potentially a cost to you.