EWJ FEB 59 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 86
EWS1 Forms and How They
Affect the Value of Your Property
Discrimination?
If you have followed our blog for a while now, you will have seen our previous post around the
cladding scandal and why it is affecting so many leaseholders across the country. Despite the
Government’s proposed legislation to protect leaseholders from the costs associated with
rectifying any identified fire safety issues in their block of flats, many leaseholders are still stuck
with no way of selling their flat, with mortgage providers requiring an EWS1 form before being
able to offer any kind of loan.
As an integral part of our property valuation team,
Mario Pericleous MRICS has visited blocks of flats
across the country and is therefore perfectly suited to
explain what the EWS1 form is, when one is needed
and what the results might mean for you.
When do I need an EWS1 form?
While the temptation might be there to get an EWS1
form for any mid- to high-rise property, the truth is
doing so could cause unnecessary complications and
delays to the sale of your property.
The ‘ins and outs’ of the EWS1 rating
When carrying out a valuation for properties in
mid- to high-rise block properties, the cladding, insulation and other fire safety measures are taken into account. The areas on the outside of the building are
referred to as the external wall system (EWS). When
rating the safety of the external wall system, the EWS1
form is used by qualified fire safety engineers to
record their findings. The EWS1 form assigns the
property a rating, ranging between A1-3 or B1-2.
The current RICS guidance states that an EWS1 form
is only needed for:
l Buildings that are over six storeys which either have
cladding or curtain wall glazing or that have balconies
that are stacked vertically above each other
l Buildings that are five or six storeys where there is
a significant amount of cladding - which equates to
25% or more of the entire building elevation is
covered in cladding - or where there are ACM (Aluminium Composite Material), MCM (Metal Composite Materials) or HPL (High Pressure Laminate)
panels, or if the building has vertically stacked
balconies
When carrying out the assessment, the fire safety
expert will need to determine whether the primary
materials used for the external wall are of ‘limited
combustibility’. If they are, then the property will receive one of the ‘A’ option ratings, where an A1 and
A2 means that either the external walls do not have
any attachments (or cladding) or if they do, then a fire
risk assessment has been completed and they are
deemed to be acceptable without any remedial work
having to be undertaken.
l Buildings that are four storeys or lower in height
but do have ACM, MCM or HPL panels.
Interestingly, there are also cases where the EWS1
form has been used to assess the safety of materials
used in internal elevator shafts. Fire safety in blocks of
flats obviously does not only cover cladding and
stacked balconies, so please do seek advice if you think
this might apply to the building your property is in.
An ‘A3’ rating unfortunately means that the fire risk
assessment does not consider them safe and therefore
would result in a mortgage being rejected.
Does having a EWS1 B2 rating make my property
worthless?
When carrying out a valuation on a property that has
an EWS1 form rating of either A3 or B2, our valuers
are required to assign the property a nil value.
If the external wall is primarily made up of a material
that is not considered to be of ‘limited combustibility’,
then the form would automatically assign an option
‘B’ rating. A result of ‘B1’ would mean that, while
there are concerns around the cladding or other fire
safety measures relating to the external walls, a fire
risk assessment has been carried out and the risk is
considered to be low.
Thankfully, this does not mean that the property is
worthless! All it signifies is that, at the date of valuation, they cannot give it a value for lending purposes.
In certain instances, it is possible for us to assign a
special value, called a Special Assumption Value. This
allows us to determine the value of the property under
the assumption that there are no cladding or other
fire safety issues affecting the property – generally because they did not exist to have been rectified. While
this does not help a leaseholder in terms of selling the
Conversely, a ‘B2’ rating means that the fire safety
expert deems the EWS to need remedial work making to it before it can be considered safe. A ‘B2’ rating
would result in any mortgage application being
rejected.
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