I am one of many residents caught up in the cladding scandal in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. I share ownership of my flat with housing association L&Q, which took nearly four years to survey the block to ensure fire safety compliance. It found it may not meet current safety guidelines (the estate was built by Rydon, which led the refurbishment of Grenfell). Further inspections are needed and remediation work on the estate won’t start until 2025 at the earliest.
Since my block is only four storeys, it’s likely to be one of the last on the estate to be addressed, so it could take years more. This leaves residents unable to sell or staircase their ownership share. In the meantime I am faced with inflation-busting rent and service charge increases for a property that is essentially worthless, not to mention the potential costs of remedial works. And because the building is below 11 metres high, it is not eligible for the government’s building safety fund.
The final insult is that L&Q’s letter to residents acknowledged that building safety issues can have a “life-changing” impact and pointed them to Mind and the NHS. It feels as if they are just washing their hands of the problem.
CS, London
You’ve urgently needed to sell your flat since 2020 after a job change. Last year, while you languished in limbo, your rent and service charge rose by more than 7%. It’s expected to increase by 10% this year, and your mortgage will soar when your fixed-rate deal ends this July. You are therefore already strapped for cash and the potential costs of remedial work on your block could be crippling.
A government agreement, struck with developers last year to fix unsafe buildings at no cost to leaseholders, only applies to blocks more than 11 metres high and campaigners have warned that it might be 2030 before works are complete. Residents like you in smaller buildings have been forgotten.
The good news is that, weeks after I contacted L&Q, it agreed to buy back your share of the flat, so you are free to move. It blamed the four-year delay on a shortage of qualified fire safety inspectors and the extent of its portfolio. It has inspected 1,000 of its 1,850 buildings. Only 300 have been issued with a crucial EWS1 (External Wall System fire review) certificate proving wall materials are noncombustible. Remediation has begun on 60.
“The inspection of this property identified that some level of remediation works may be required pending further technical inspections, but there is no need for urgent safety measures,” it says. “We do everything we can to support residents looking to move or remortgage, by providing letters of clarification to lenders, including challenging the interpretation by some lenders of the EWS1 regime.”
EM of Harrow is in a similar limbo. He and his partner face losing the sale of their flat because their buyer’s mortgage lender insists on an EWS1 certificate, even though their low-rise block does not legally require one. “It was built in 2019 and has no combustible cladding, but Nationwide insists on a fire safety certificate,” he writes.
In 2021, after a rash of stalled property sales, the government announced that certificates were no longer required on buildings of less than 18 metres. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors took the wind out of its sails by continuing to recommend that low-rise buildings, with one of three types of panelling, are certified as noncombustible. Your building does not have any of them.
Most lenders are now taking a more relaxed approach to low and medium blocks. Some are even willing to lend on taller buildings with risky cladding, provided a remediation programme has been agreed.
Nationwide’s stance put you in an impossible position. The certificate can only be issued after an official inspection of the entire block. These cost thousands, and the freeholder is unlikely to agree to one, let alone pay for it, if it is not legally required.
It seems that Nationwide is worried about potentially combustible insulation behind brick slips (brick-effect tiles) on the building and it told me it was awaiting additional information about the materials.
The construction firm duly provided it, which showed the materials were noncombustible. That still did not satisfy Nationwide, which claimed the information might not be reliable, and again insisted on the EWS1 you are unable to obtain.
“Nationwide will only request an EWS1 in the limited circumstances when there are significant concerns over remediation costs and human safety, irrespective of the height of the building,” it says. “By way of context, we request such forms on less than 0.5% of total applications and, of that small number, fire engineers are finding defects that need remediation in the majority.”
Lenders are at liberty to choose their customers. If you were the buyer you could approach another firm, but your purchaser is unwilling to do so, so the sale fell through. Luckily you have found a new buyer whose lender readily agreed a mortgage without requiring an EWS1.
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