RICS insists on fire forms, despite government u-turn
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has told surveyors to continue to ask for fire safety forms, despite a government pledge to scrap them.
The call by RICS to keep EWS1 checks in place for lenders follows a review after the government moved to eradicate them for buildings below 18m.
In July 2021, the government issued a statement saying the guidance should be updated. This was then reiterated by housing secretary Michael Gove, who said the safety advice would be withdrawn this year.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has told surveyors to continue to ask for fire safety forms, despite a government pledge to scrap them.
The call by RICS to keep EWS1 checks in place for lenders follows a review after the government moved to eradicate them for buildings below 18m.
In July 2021, the government issued a statement saying the guidance should be updated. This was then reiterated by housing secretary Michael Gove, who said the safety advice would be withdrawn this year.
But RICS has told surveyors to keep asking for external wall system safety certificates before flat-owners can sell or switch mortgages.
Janet Paraskeva, chair of the RICS independent standards and regulation board, said: “This is so that purchasers do not risk finding themselves trapped in flats of any height because potentially crippling costs are ignored and passed unwittingly on to them, which so many current owners have discovered too late.
“In taking this position the board has heard the views of the lenders, valuers and conveyancers and is clear that RICS must not let this critical issue be swept under the carpet because the correct inspections have not taken place.”
The move means that a government plan to free owners of up to 800,000 flats in smaller blocks from needing the forms is likely to fail.
The RICS said it “deeply sympathises with leaseholders who find themselves trapped, through no fault of their own”.
But it added: “The problem must not risk simply being moved from one unsuspecting purchaser to another.”
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