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Seven major lenders have announced plans to jointly fund making External Wall System 1 (EWS1) forms publicly available in a bid to speed up the process for assessing cladding on blocks of flats.
UK Finance, the representative body for the banking and finance industry, has announced that the lenders will cover the cost of making existing EWS1 forms available through the Fire Industry Association’s (FIA) Building Safety Information Portal.
The portal was created to host completed EWS1 forms but UK Finance said that the fire professionals who undertake EWS1 inspections have been slow in adding the document to the portal.
The seven lenders – Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest, Santander and TSB – will cover the cost of uploading the roughly 6,000 existing EWS1 forms and will pay the fees for some 250 fire professionals to register on the portal.
EWS1 forms were introduced by the mortgage and surveying industry in 2019 in response to changing government guidance following the Grenfell Tower fire.
The form can be obtained after the external wall system of a building is inspected by a qualified person.
While it was originally intended that the form would be required only on buildings taller than 18 metres, some mortgage lenders have asked for them on buildings of various heights.
This has created a huge backlog in the system and has led to many people being unable to sell their homes while they wait for inspections to be carried out.
Housing minister Christopher Pincher recently said that data from one major lender indicates that EWS1 forms now exist for 50% of mortgage applications where one is requested.
Charles Roe, director of mortgages at UK Finance, said: “These forms are vitally important for anyone looking to buy, sell or remortgage homes in a multi-storey building.
“The financial backing and support of the seven lenders is a positive step to keep the housing market moving for flats and apartments. In addition, it will improve transparency and access to building safety information for everyone involved in the home-buying process.”
Ian Moore, chief executive of the FIA, said: “We offered to set up the Building Safety Information Portal as a repository to make it easier for the public to find EWS1 forms for their buildings.
“In addition to this are the checks to ensure the person who surveyed the building and completed the EWS1 form is who they say they are, have the correct qualifications/credentials, and that the form has been completed correctly.
“Accessibility to accurate information is well overdue and this portal will go some way to solving that. Finally, a huge thanks to UK Finance, the mortgage lenders and RICS in making this project work.”
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