8th March 2020
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has today announced a new guidance note for the valuation of properties in multi-storey, multi occupancy residential buildings with cladding. The new guidance seeks to clarify the types of properties which will require an External Wall Fire Review and consequential certification (EWS1 certificate), and those which will not.
The guidance is titled ‘Valuation of properties in multi-storey, multi-occupancy residential buildings with cladding’, and follows a comprehensive consultation with valuers, leaseholders, lenders fire safety experts, and government.
The guidance itself is for valuers and is not a life safety risk assessment. It is for the mortgage valuation process to determine when a valuer needs more information about whether remediation work affecting value is required
The RICS will now work with UK government and other stakeholders to ensure the guidance is implemented by 5 April 2021. To further assist consumers, the RICS will also produce consumer guidance to inform buyers and sellers about the information that might be available to help them understand the risks of a property in a multi-story, multi occupancy building.
Safety requirements mean that, unfortunately, not all flat-owners can benefit from this measure. While originally not proposed in the initial document that went out for public consultation, but in the light of the evidence received during the consultation, buildings of any height that have high pressure laminate (HPL) cladding and those of five stories or higher with combustible cladding linking balconies, will still need an EWS1 form.
Criteria for an External Wall Fire Review:
For buildings over six storeys an EWS1 form should be required where:
- There is cladding or curtain wall glazing on the building or
- there are balconies which stack vertically above each other and either both the balustrades and decking are constructed with combustible materials (e.g. timber) or the decking is constructed with combustible materials and the balconies are directly linked by combustible material.
For buildings of five or six storeys an EWS1 form should be required where:
- There is a significant amount of cladding on the building (for the purpose of this guidance, approximately one quarter of the whole elevation estimated from what is visible standing at ground level is a significant amount) or
- there are ACM, MCM or HPL panels on the building or
- there are balconies which stack vertically above each other and either both the balustrades and decking are constructed with combustible materials (e.g. timber), or the decking is constructed with combustible materials and the balconies are directly linked by combustible materials.
For buildings of four storeys or fewer an EWS1 form should be required where:
- There are ACM, MCM or HPL panels on the building.
Further information:
