New regulations brought in to improve fire safety after the Grenfell fire have inadvertently left flat owners trapped in near-unsellable homes.
After the Grenfell tragedy in June 2017, new rules were implemented by the bodies representing banks and surveyors in a bid to ensure houses being sold were safe.
From December 2019, mortgages for flats in buildings higher than 18m would only be approved if they had passed an External Wall Fire Review (EWS1) survey.
However, the following month the government published revised fire safety guidance which said potentially dangerous cladding – or combustible balconies – on all blocks, not just high rises, should be removed.
This followed several fires – including one in Pankhurst Road, Brighton – in which fires had rapidly spread across timber balconies.
The government guidance has led many mortgage companies to now require EWS1 certificates on flats in any sized building, with any combustible material on the external walls.
Meanwhile, it’s feared leaseholders in blocks which have failed the ESW1 surveys could now face eyewatering bills for remedial work.
The increasing requirement for ESW1 certificates has left many flat owners unable to sell their homes.
One flat owner, who asked not to be named as his one-bedroom flat in a block less than 18m tall is still on the market, said although some mortgage lenders are willing to lend, it is discouraging people from putting in offers.
He said: “I’ve been at the flat for three years. I have been happy here but I want to move on now.
“I feel stuck. It’s not good for your mental health, feeling trapped in your own home. All my money is tied up in this building.
“I just want to move somewhere bigger but I know people who are in my block who need to move because they have got kids.
“There’s this dark area with mortgage lenders. A lot of them have just applied a blanket approach for this certificate and they’re asking for it regardless even if you can prove what the cladding is.
“Some people in my block have managed to sell to people with mortgages so it’s not every mortgage lender but a majority of them.
“Someone in my block had to do take a lower offer from a cash buyer – about £10,000 lower.
“I wrote to Caroline Lucas, and she wrote to the people who own the building and they have written back and said that they will be conducting surveys but because our block is under 18 metres it won’t necessarily mean it will get one of these forms because they’re for blocks over 18 metres.
The Government should have enforced strict fire regulation on Developers and Local Councils in the first place. In addition, insufficient control is given to Long-Leaseholders and Tenants over buildings. The people living in the buildings must have an important say!
Who should be liable though for costs the resident / lease holder or the freeholder?
I heard pankhurst are Guinness Trust Flats?
It would be good to know how many other blocks in the city the Guinness Trust could have issues with, also other providers.
We have a waking watch in place at Embankment House, BN1. Hyde Housing informed us several weeks ago the EWS is both non-compliant and combustible – numerous residents have tried to obtain further information from both Hyde and East Sussex Fire Service without success.
We are prisoners of our own properties in here at Embankment and Temple House (both owned by Hyde). Not only we have been let astray sine August with no clear answers ( or rather no answers what so ever) but also Hyde is planning on recovering the cost from the flat owners, I.e. us!!
I also reside at Embankment House, like Andy. Hyde have identified a real fire risk at our homes and have put a ‘waking watch’ in place. other than that we have been told nothing at all. Hyde have dodged all requests for further information and even meetings with residents. we are living in a ticking time bomb