Money Mail writer’s year-long battle to sell flat that isn’t even a fire risk
WHEN I put my flat on the market almost 12 months ago, I never dreamed I would be caught up in the cladding fiasco that’s brought thousands of property sales to a standstill. Yet even with the paperwork proving our apartment block is safe, Halifax — one of the biggest banks in the country — is still refusing to grant a mortgage to our first-time buyer.
With a general election and Brexit looming, there was already enough to be worried about when I put my one-bedroom flat on the market last October.
Five months and several disappointingly low offers later, I finally accepted a £175,000 bid. It was £10,000 less than the asking price, but I was just relieved finally to have a buyer. With the sale expected to complete in April this year, I thought the end was finally in sight. I could not have been more wrong.
Inevitably, the Covid-19 crisis caused further delays.
But in the end, it was not the pandemic that derailed the sale.
Instead, it was red tape and pedantic policy as I battled to prove an apartment block that has stood for more than 200 years poses no fire risk.
My flat, jointly- owned with my ex-husband, is in a converted cotton mill in central Manchester.
The building is exposed brickwork, so it never crossed my mind that we would need to prove there was no cladding.
It was only when our buyer began applying for mortgages we discovered we would still need to do so.
The block is more than 18 metres ( 60ft) high, so according to government guidelines it needs a fire assessment.
When I finally received the EWS1 (external wall survey) form from my building manager, it stated that a thin strip of cladding had been found on an adjacent building, but no work was needed.
The inspector said the risk was so low that we did not have to worry. I was optimistic once more that I could finally sell my flat.
That was July, and my mood has fallen far since then. After taking two weeks to look at the form, Halifax said the Rics chartered surveyor was not sufficiently qualified to sign off the EWS1 form.
The problem is that the wording of the form’s terms and conditions is being interpreted differently by each bank. In my case, because cladding was found on an office building next door, the professional completing the form must have expertise in assessing fire risk in outside walls.
The form states that this person should be a member of a relevant professional body that deals with fire safety in buildings, which ‘could’ be a chartered engineer with the Institution of Fire Engineers or equivalent.
Yet rather than taking the example of a chartered engineer as a suggestion, Halifax seems to think it is a stipulation.
There are fewer than 300 qualified chartered fire engineers in the country, according to Housing Minister Christopher Pincher.
I assume that’s why Rics, which designed the form, says professionals with equal qualifications are acceptable.
And my surveyor’s credentials are more than adequate: he has worked for a Rics-registered chartered building suveyor for 18 years and has experience in assessing fire risks in walls. Even Rics agrees he is qualified.
Yet Halifax refuses to budge. The bank says I must either get a new form signed by a chartered engineer or equivalent — which I did, and they declined it — or I can get a quote for the cost of removing next door’s cladding, which is likely to run into tens of thousands of pounds.
Since that isn’t a sensible option, it is back to the drawing board.
Several other lenders are prepared to accept EWS1 forms signed by appropriately qualified professionals, so my determined buyer plans to try again. In the meantime, my flat is standing empty, and is costing me hundreds of pounds in missed rent every month. I’ve worked in the property industry, as a mortgage broker and financial journalist, for 16 years. But this must be the most farcical red tape I’ve ever had the misfortune to come across.