The Building Safety Bill had its second reading at the end of July, signalling big changes for the safety of buildings going forward. But while the second reading demonstrated clear progress on the Building Safety Fund and promised positive news on the continuing EWS1 Form debate, responses from major lenders have been muted about the lack of clarity around timeframes, leading critics to suggest that there is still work to be done.
The results of the second reading of the Bill initially seemed to have resolved the issue of the controversial EWS1 form when the Housing Minister definitively said that EWS1 forms should not be a requirement for buildings below 18 metres. An estimated 61,000 buildings of between 11 and 18 metres in height seemed to have been granted a reprieve from the lengthy EWS1 form process, which has left thousands of leaseholders trapped in properties they can’t sell.
The UK’s major lenders have said that although they welcomed the news, they would not alter their approach to requiring an EWS1 form for mortgage approval until RICS updated its guidance note on the matter. This guidance was released in March 2021 and clarified exactly which buildings would require an EWS1 form, and included buildings of 18 metres or lower if they met certain criteria. A consolidated advice note (CAN) by the Government from January 2020 also considered buildings below 18m in height to require an EWS1 form. They have since announced that this will be withdrawn.
For more on the Building Safety Bill, watch Quarterly Legal & Compliance Updates for Block Managers Q3, part of a series of webinars with leasehold lawyer Cassandra Zanelli. In this edition, we discuss the latest on topics such as EWS1, the role of the building safety manager, and the Bill itself, focusing on the results from its second reading in Parliament.