EWS1 Forms

Housing associations know how eager leaseholders will be to obtain EWS1 forms so that they can remortgage, move, or buy additional shares in their home, particularly during such a difficult time when they may be facing other financial pressures.

Unfortunately, there is a very limited capacity among fire engineers and other professionals that need to sign off the form, and they are in high demand to conduct building safety inspections and advise on any remediation. Many housing associations may have a large number of buildings that they’ve been asked for EWS1 forms for, as well as large numbers of buildings that they need to remediate. Given the limited resources, housing associations are having to direct these first at higher-risk buildings.

This could mean that it will take some time for EWS1 forms to be available on all buildings where they are requested.  We know this will be heartbreaking to those affected, so we’re working with our trading body the National Housing Federation to do what we can to press the government and industry for a solution that enables the housing market to function until remedial works programmes can be completed.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), which developed the EWS1 form, sets out clear guidance on when a lender should and should not require the form. This will depend on the height and risk profile of the building, taking into account the types of cladding present and external wall construction. Some lenders have been asking for EWS1 forms for all multi-occupied buildings, even where they don’t meet this criteria. If a lender is requesting an EWS1 form, the form will need to be completed by a qualified fire safety inspector. EWS1 forms can only be organised by the building owner, so please contact your landlord in the first instance to see if one exists for your building, or if they plan to procure one.

Housing associations with multi-occupied buildings will be organising inspection programmes to provide EWS1 forms, but importantly to assess whether the building requires remedial works to fix any safety concerns.

There is a limited number of competent professionals needed to inspect buildings, advise on remedial works and complete EWS1 forms, as well as limited housing association capacity to oversee the work. For these reasons, housing associations that are responsible for many multi-occupied buildings are organising inspections and remedial works according to risk, so that this limited resource is first directed to buildings that need it most.

The complexity of these works means that it could take many years for a landlord with many buildings to inspect their entire portfolio, which is why we’re calling for further government support to enable inspections and works to be completed more quickly.

We recognise that this will be deeply distressing for people living in lower-risk buildings, who could have to wait many years before their landlord can provide an EWS1 form for their building. However, the very limited resources at our disposal for this critical works means that we must direct them according to risk above all.

To find out more about our focus on building safety, go here.

There are a number of stages that building owners have to complete in order to successfully apply for remediation costs to be covered through the Building Safety Fund. These include submitting a detailed and costed project plan, which relies on the support of fire safety experts, who are in short supply due to the volume of buildings being assessed and remediated. We understand that there have also been a number of administrative delays in terms of reviewing and approving applications, so some building owners are having to wait some time before finding out if their application has been successful. The government launched a portal in January 2022 where leaseholders can check the status of your building’s application.

The complexity of these works means that it could take many years for a landlord with many buildings to inspect their entire portfolio, which is why we’re calling for further government support to enable inspections and works to be completed more quickly.

We recognise that this will be deeply distressing for people living in lower-risk buildings, who could have to wait many years before their landlord can provide an EWS1 form for their building. However, the very limited resources at our disposal for this critical works means that we must direct them according to risk above all.

Subletting has generally not been permitted for shared owners due to conditions of the funding housing associations receive to provide shared ownership homes. However, the government has recently amended its grant funding guidance to make clear that issues of building safety should be treated as an exceptional circumstance in which sub-letting is generally permitted by the government. We know that many housing associations have already been taking this stance and have allowed shared owners to sublet their properties, and the amended guidance will support this approach. In order to sublet your property, you will still need to secure agreement from both your landlord and your mortgage provider.

Housing associations own and manage large numbers of buildings that need to be inspected for safety concerns, and remediated if any are found. This represents a complex and challenging amount of work, which we estimate could cost the sector around £6bn – and possibly as much as £10bn – for buildings they bought in good faith. This means that housing associations will realistically not be in a position to commit on a blanket basis to buy back shared owners’ share of their homes. Housing associations are not-for-profit organisations that rent homes to many lower income families and vulnerable people.

We understand that this has been an extremely challenging time for leaseholders, and we welcome the government’s measures to protect leaseholders from building safety costs. If you have specific questions about your housing associations’ policy on buying back shared ownership homes, we would encourage you to contact your housing association directly.

As charitable organisations set up to provide homes and support for those on the lowest incomes, housing associations can’t provide blanket support to leaseholders to help with mortgage costs. Instead, they are working as quickly as possible to be able to complete EWS1 requests for their buildings and calling for a solution from the government to this frustrating and unfair situation.

The demand for EWS1 forms, which can only be completed by a very limited number of competent professionals, is incredibly high. These same professionals are also the people we need to work with to advise on the remedial works that need to be urgently completed for buildings with safety concerns. This means that EWS1 form requests for buildings that are lower-risk may take a number of years to complete.

We understand this will be an extremely stressful situation for leaseholders whose monthly housing costs could subsequently increase. We recommend that you consider speaking to your mortgage provider if you have financial concerns or, if you’re a leaseholder in an affordable homeownership home – such as shared ownership – speak to us directly.

In the months following the fire at Grenfell Tower, many surveyors were struggling to provide a valuation for flats in high-rise buildings, due to the uncertainty over building safety concerns that had been uncovered in some buildings of those heights. This meant that people with flats in high-rise buildings – and some in lower-rise buildings – were already struggling to access mortgage finance, but didn’t have any route to overcome the issue.

The lending and valuations industry bodies therefore created the EWS1 process to enable lenders to gain the reassurance they needed to inform mortgage decisions. This process was only intended to apply to buildings above 18m, to reflect government guidance that only buildings of this height needed to be reviewed for safety concerns. We know that the introduction of the EWS1 specifically for buildings 18m and over meant that sales and remortgage and staircasing requests for flats in lower rise buildings were generally able to continue.

However, in January 2020, the government published updated guidance that advised those responsible for multi-occupied buildings of any height to review their buildings for safety concerns. In turn, this has created uncertainty for lenders over whether they will permit the use of flats in these buildings as security against a mortgage, resulting in surveyors not providing them with a value.

We understand that lenders and valuers need to work through the process of verifying whether there is a costed and funded plan in place for each building. The NHF has offered support to lenders so we can make this happen as quickly as possible to support leaseholders who want to sell their flats.

We are working as quickly as they can to assess and remediate buildings, but it is a long and complex process, and there is a severe shortage of qualified professionals who can carry out the work. This means that for some buildings, it may take some time before a costed and funded plan will be put in place.
The NHF is urging the government to increase capacity among qualified professionals to speed up the inspection process and remedial works. In the meantime, you can speak to us to find out more about the status of your building.

Since the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, housing associations have been urgently and carefully assessing their buildings for fire safety risks. This has uncovered safety concerns in some multi-occupied buildings, and housing associations are committed to resolving these. Buildings that present greater risks have been inspected and remediated first, and housing associations have made considerable progress with these buildings. In cases where safety issues have been identified, housing associations are putting in place interim safety measures to ensure resident safety until permanent measures can be implemented.

Housing associations are following new industry standards when assessing buildings for safety risks. The government updated its guidance on external wall systems and cladding in January 2022, following the publication of the British Standards Institute’s Publicly Available Standard (PAS) 9980. This sets out the steps and factors that building assessors should take into account when categorising a building’s risk, and should help them to understand how risks need to be appropriately addressed, or where buildings can be deemed safe.

Resident safety is and will remain our number one priority. We conduct regular Fire Risk Assessments of our properties to check for any significant safety issues, with any improvements needed on safety equipment or procedures implemented as a matter of urgency.

These are in addition to the inspects of external walls. Where these raise any considerable safety issues, housing associations are putting in place interim safety measures until more permanent measures can be implemented. Buildings that present greater risks have been inspected and remediated first and we have made considerable progress with these buildings.

As described in the The Building Safety Act section above, the government has put in place a number of protections to prevent leaseholders being charged for remedial works in most cases.

As stipulated in the Act, they will make every effort to recoup costs via other routes – such as pursuing manufacturers and contractors, grant funding, and available government funding – and would only be able to pass costs on to leaseholders as a last resort.

Where costs have to be passed on, these are subject to the cap – described in the ‘new leaseholder protections’ section above, and leaseholders will be able to challenge their landlord if they believe they have not taken sufficient steps to recover costs through alternative routes. Housing associations remain committed to protecting leaseholders from building safety costs wherever possible.

The Secretary of State, Michael Gove, has stated his commitment to protecting leaseholders from building safety costs, which includes looking at ways to reduce insurance bills for properties with fire safety issues. The government hasn’t yet confirmed what this would look like, but has asked the Financial Conduct Authority, together with the Competition and Markets Authority, to review this in the first instance. Housing associations are providing buildings insurers with as much information about buildings as possible, to enable the industry to take an informed approach to pricing insurance premiums.

The government has clarified that costs leaseholders have already paid out in the last five years – including for interim measures such as waking watches – will count towards the Building Safety Fund cap. The government has also introduced new remediation contribution orders, which would compel developers of defective buildings to reimburse leaseholders for costs already paid out. These measures mean that in some cases you may be reimbursed for costs you have paid out, or any further costs will be limited by the new cap. Each case will be reviewed on an individual basis.

You may also have received a Section 20 notice from your landlord. This notifies you of charges that may be made to you through your service charge, and outlines how you can challenge these costs. Please note that housing associations are obliged to issue these notices to leaseholders even in circumstances where they do not plan to charge you for the work – and they are doing everything they can to avoid doing so.

Funding is not available for all housing association buildings.

There is funding available to both housing associations and private freeholders for the removal and replacement of ACM cladding – the cladding found on Grenfell Tower. There is also a £1bn Building Safety Fund for unsafe non-ACM cladding on high-rise buildings. However, this funding is primarily directed at the private sector. Housing associations with eligible buildings can only claim back a portion of the costs for remediating eligible buildings where those costs would be passed to a leaseholder. This element of the Building Safety Fund opened in August and closes at the end of 2020, so it isn’t yet clear which buildings will receive this government funding and which will not.

The government has also estimated that the Building Safety Fund will only cover the costs of remediation for around a third of buildings that are eligible to claim from it. It has said that it will not provide any further funding for remedial works to buildings that need them.

On 19 October, the Minister for Building Safety, Lord Greenhalgh, said that leaseholders would not be protected from all of the costs of remedial works, but that the government would work to make them affordable where possible. It is not yet clear how the government intends to ensure that remediation works bills are affordable.

The Secretary of State, Michael Gove, has stated his commitment to protecting leaseholders from building safety costs, which includes looking at ways to reduce insurance bills for properties with fire safety issues. The government hasn’t yet confirmed what this would look like, but has asked the Financial Conduct Authority, together with the Competition and Markets Authority, to review this in the first instance. Housing associations are providing buildings insurers with as much information about buildings as possible, to enable the industry to take an informed approach to pricing insurance premiums.

The Building Safety Act was amended during its passage through Parliament to scrap the proposed Building Safety Charge, which was to be a separate charge in addition to your usual service charge to cover costs related to regulatory changes in the Act, including the proposed Building Safety Manager. The purpose of the proposal was to provide transparency around building safety costs, so that leaseholders could easily distinguish these from the service charge. However, it is important to note that landlords already have ongoing and day-to-day responsibilities relating to building and fire safety, which are part of the service to leaseholders and recoverable through the service charge.

The proposal for a Building Safety Manager was also scrapped in the final Act in order to reduce costs for leaseholders, and there are a number of additional protections from costs, such as the caps outlined above.