What is EWS1?

 If you are a leaseholder or shared owner, recent changes to Government guidance and lender requirements may affect you. These changes could impact your plans to remortgage, sell your home or staircase your share.

What is an EWS1 form and why is it required?

Following the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the Government issued a series of building safety advice notes. These guidelines help building owners build, maintain and manage homes safely.

A key focus is External Wall Systems (EWS) – the external covering of a building – which includes cladding systems like the one that failed at Grenfell.

The Government advises qualified surveyors to assess external wall systems in buildings over 18 metres high. These buildings are typically six or seven storeys tall. The Government now advises building owners to carry out EWS assessments whenever a risk assessment identifies the need, regardless of building height.

Building owners use EWS1 forms, which remain valid for five years, to demonstrate building safety. This helps buyers secure mortgages, leaseholders remortgage and shared owners staircase their homes.

Hyde’s position on EWS1 forms and our responsibilities as a building owner, and social landlord

We cannot provide an EWS1 form on demand, or guarantee to do so in the future, for a number of reasons:

• All our buildings are safe: We are legally obliged to have fire risk assessments (FRAs) for all our buildings, which are available on request. All our tall towers have adequate layers of fire protection. We are confident residents are safe in their homes.
• The EWS1 form is not a legal requirement: Some lenders insist on an EWS1 form. However, the law does not require building owners to provide one. Lenders have introduced this requirement based on Government advice.We will not provide EWS1 forms for buildings less than 18m high.
• Having an EWS1 form does not necessarily mean it will be accepted by a lender: An assessor may recommend further investigations or remedial work before a lender accepts the form.
• We must pass the cost of EWS1 forms to homeowners: Hyde is first, and foremost, a housing association and a charity. Charity Commission rules prevent us from covering the cost of EWS assessments for homeowners because the law does not require them. We are committed to minimising the financial impact on homeowners, wherever we can.
• There is a severe shortage of qualified EWS assessors: Lenders will only accept an EWS1 form from an approved assessor. Demand for EWS1 forms is very high and there are fewer than 300 qualified assessors in the UK, which is leading to delays of months, and potentially years, in completing EWS1 forms.

What we are doing

Keeping customers safe in their homes

Our priority is, and always has been, the safety of our customers – whether they are social tenants or homeowners. We maintain up-to-date fire risk assessments for all our buildings. We also complete remedial safety work within the recommended timescales.We are confident that everyone is safe in their homes.

EWS (External Wall Systems) assessments

We have completed EWS assessments on some buildings. These assessments form part of our wider building safety programme for taller homes.

We are appointing a new external wall system assessor to survey buildings and support compliance with upcoming building safety legislation. The assessor will provide EWS1 forms for homeowners as part of their service.

We must follow a formal procurement process. This ensures the assessor is qualified and delivers value for money.

We cannot commission EWS inspections under the new contract before the end of June 2021. Unfortunately, we cannot provide new EWS1 forms before the end of the Stamp Duty holiday on 31 March 2021.

We will have to pass the cost of EWS assessments onto homeowners: Hyde is first, and foremost, a housing association and a charity. Under Charity Commission rules, we are not allowed to cover the cost of EWS assessments for homeowners (as they are not a legal requirement). We are committed to minimising the financial impact on homeowners, wherever we can.

Lobbying Government and lenders

We understand how frustrating this situation is for homeowners and apologise for its impact. However, this is a national issue that we cannot resolve alone. Only the Government and lenders can resolve this issue.

We are working with sector partners, including the G15, to encourage the Government to take a clearer position. The G15 represents London’s largest housing associations. We are also working with lenders to explain that EWS1 forms are advisory documents. Fire risk assessments and other evidence can also demonstrate building safety.

There is no quick fix. In the meantime, we will continue to support homeowners. We will provide all available documentation to help with selling, remortgaging or staircasing.

If you want to find out more from our Sales team on this call us on 0345 606 1221 or you can email us [email protected]