Cladding & Building Safety · Report on Title scenario
Possibly not now, and the question is really about later. An EWS1 is an external wall fire review form, produced when a valuer or lender wants the external wall system assessed. If the building has none and nobody has asked for one, there is nothing to produce. The risk is that the people who decide whether one is needed are lenders and valuers, their position has moved before, and it is your buyer's lender who will decide next time.
From the e-ROT archive
This scenario is drawn from Report on Title material dealing with this specific circumstance.
It is an industry form for recording an assessment of a building's external wall system, developed with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, UK Finance and the Building Societies Association. It is not a safety certificate and it is not a statutory document.
Its audience is valuers and lenders. It exists so that a valuer can value a flat in a multi-storey building without having to form a view about the external walls themselves.
If you are trying to sell and the building has never been assessed, what was reported to you about the external walls when you bought is a reasonable place to start.
Find out what should have been explained → WhenIBought.comThe trigger for an EWS1 was never cladding alone. Guidance has pointed at external wall systems generally, at attachments such as balconies, and at other significant fire safety concerns — and, as the Lexsure wording below notes, that can include insulation within the walls, which nobody can see from the street.
A seller's confirmation that there is no cladding is a useful statement about the visible fabric. It is not an assessment of the wall system, and it is not binding on anybody's lender.
If a future buyer needs a mortgage, their lender decides what it requires. If it asks for an EWS1 and none can be produced, that is a problem on your sale rather than on your purchase — and it arrives at the worst possible moment.
If an assessment is ever carried out and identifies work, the costs in this area have repeatedly been very large.
The practical step while buying is to ask what has actually been assessed: has a fire risk assessment been done, does it cover the external walls, and is there anything on the building's file about the wall construction? A building with real documentation is in a materially better position than one with only an assurance.
From the e-ROT archive
Report on Title paragraph
The seller has confirmed there is no cladding at the building and therefore an EWS1 Form is not available.
While this may be the case currently, we would like to emphasise to you that when you want to sell the property, any potential buyer is likely to require a mortgage and the lender could request a completed EWS1 form and may refuse to lend if one is not forthcoming. The "other significant fire safety concerns" indicated above can also include insulation within walls. If at any point in the future a survey is conducted of the building and found to require works to meet the new fire regulation, you should be aware that such works can be very expensive. …
Historic wording — DO NOT USE on a current transaction. Published in January 2022, before the Building Safety Act was in force, and shown to illustrate how the EWS1 question has been reported. It is reproduced exactly. Lender practice on EWS1 forms has changed since and continues to change.
Do not rely on wording copied or saved from this page. Get the current wording dealing with this scenario.
View current paragraph →Keep relevant ROT wording under review as Lexsure issues updates.
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