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Property woes

Sako-TRG

Sako-TRG

Site Supporter
Joined
Aug 3, 2018
Messages
3,643
Location
Gretna Green
I have an issue:
I’ll summarise:

In process of selling mums flat for her.. (1of 6 residents in low level building circa 1970 build)

In Scotland the seller has to pay for the Home Report - which I paid £400.
The appointed Charted Surveyor dropped a bollock initially when he initially put the roof down as a CAT2 needing repaired / ongoing maintenance.
I rejected the report and informed their offices the roof was relatively new - concrete tile, installed in 2012, I inspected the sarking board myself recently when running new RG6 to the communal Sat dish when upgrading the property prior to market
Roof was done same time as new rough-cast/render, soffits, glazing for stairwell etc......

I pointed out that a concrete tile rough lifespan should be circa 60 years.
They made the change to a Cat1 - no issues.
All good.
After two weeks on market received an offer but now the buyers money lender are demanding a EWS1 certificate - (external wall system) it’s to do with fire, insulation, cladding, post Grenfell....
Before they will loan the money to buyer. It’s
£600 at the sellers cost..... WTF!
The estate agent did not mention the probability of this cost and has referred me back to my home report.
There is nothing in my home report with any issues noted. States property is fully mortgageable.

After some research I see this has cropped up with multi resident flats with external cladding systems.
NOW.....
The Charter Surveyor who did my home report mentioned I had external wall insulation.
This has most likely prompted the EWS1 action.
Not sure where he got this assumption from.
The property has a roughcast finish applied direct to the external concrete wall.

What next?

Do I go back to the original surveyor and challenge the external wall insulation?
Problem is, I have accepted the report which is based on his expertise.

The good, it boosted the EPC rating to a B.
The bad, looks like I have a Grenfell type property, albeit not Alu cladding, I’m sure many properties have the insulation board that has been rendered.

Or

Do I pay for the new survey at £600 check the findings and bill it back to the original surveyor once they find there is no external wall insulation ?

Or
Refuse the EWS1 survey and explain to the estate agent the potential buyer needs to find another money lender - risk the sale falling through.
Not all money lenders demand the report.

Cheers for any comments
 
I’d wait for a few other buyers and see if they demand the same.

I predict if one ask for it they all will - given the fact they have billions tied up in property that’s worth a turd because cheap ass builders aren’t being held to account.

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Yeah but it’s the bank asking…


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Problem I have guys, I have paid for a full Home report already disclosing everything.
The Surveyor has wrongly implied that I have external wall insulation when there isn’t any.

This is a god damn monopoly for the surveyors.
I’m effectively paying for them to turn up and say there is no external cladding or insulation system. Which I already know but the Bozo home report surveyor incorrectly stated there was.
 
Maybe just write to the buyer…


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Neil McRae said:
Maybe just write to the buyer…


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Click to expand...
Funny enough, that’s what my Mrs said. I’ve got their address. I’m trying to do the best for my mum and hitting a few brick walls. I was happy to get the sale quickly but I was busy onsite at the time when I agreed to the sale, I asked the estate agent what the buyers financial position was.... she dodged my question. If I had known then what I know now, I would have maybe waited for a cash buyer perhaps...
 
I assume it’s a leasehold property with a ground rent and maintenance fee? If so Is it something you could put onto the lease holder as it would then surely apply to all the residents for future. Or at the least you could split the fee between all other residents and sell it to them it will come in handy when they sell!!
 
Spandangler said:
I assume it’s a leasehold property with a ground rent and maintenance fee? If so Is it something you could put onto the lease holder as it would then surely apply to all the residents for future. Or at the least you could split the fee between all other residents and sell it to them it will come in handy when they sell!!
Click to expand...

Its slightly different in England from Scotland, there is no freehold and leasehold distinction. What you buy in Scotland it’s 100% yours so kinda freehold.
But yeah, there is a factor for the maintenance of the communal areas and the other residents are a mix of private and council tenants.
The factor are a nightmare to deal with, I doubt very much they will be accommodating.
Even if I were to gather evidence of the non- external wall insulation, the money lender still has the report from the Chartered Surveyor so will take their word over anything.
I think I’m going to make a call to the surveyor on Monday who did the Home Report to see if they are willing to make an amendment.
 
Lender will insist on this before they’ll even look at mortgage application. It will be standard for properties they class as communal, no matter how big or small. Buyer may have favourable relationship with the lender so might not be willing to change. If it’s cropped up with this buyer it’s more than 50/50 it’ll come up with any others. Sold a similar flat ourselves for elderly relative, lost first buyer to survey bull**** which scuppered mortgage, ended up getting our own done with a recommended who correctly identified issues/ non issues. With this we sold to cash buyer. Took over 18mths to sell due to toing and froing.
 
^^^^ I’ve run the decision tree criteria on the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors website effective from 5th April 2021 to see if the EWS1 is required and it’s a definite no. So this is just a due diligence thing from the mortgage lender.
Absolute nonsense, if the Estate Agent was up front with me, I would have not accepted a lower offer on the property to help the buyer out in the 1st place. I think I’ll ask them to push the cost back to the buyer and see what happens but I think I’m gonna have to suck it up.
https://www.rics.org/uk/upholding-p...ccupancy-residential-buildings-with-cladding/
 
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It's not clear why you having "accepted" the surveyors report somehow means that you are now liable for its mistakes? You aren't a surveyor, so how would you possibly check it for accuracy before accepting it - that's the entire purpose of paying them. I'd phone them and ask (tell) them to get back and sort it out. If their initial response was anything other than 'no problem' I'd tell them I was going to escalate it with their trade-body - the hassle and negative publicity would far outweigh correcting their (second) mistake in the report.
 
Jagspete said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57240060Article Article on the BBC site about this, including an email address to add your case
Click to expand...
Oh.... seems to be a broken link....
Do you have the page matey?

I’m in stalemate just now ref my sale. This is what I sent to my estate agent a number of weeks ago:-
Hi ****

Please refer to the links below from the Royal Institution of Charted Surveyors.

The EWS1 is not legislation but guidance which has been updated recently, effective from 5 April 2021.

The Home Report compiled by ******* Chartered Surveyors did not request an EWS1 because one is not required for my property under the new guidance.


Date of Inspection 21st April 2021



My property has:

  1. No cladding or curtain wall glazing visible on the building
  2. Building is under 4 storeys


Perhaps the buyer’s lender is being a little too risk averse.

The buyer could find a solution, in one of the following ways:

  • Mention new guidance and nil requirement for EWS1 from the Home Report to lender
  • Buyer pays for the EWS1 to satisfy criteria to acquire their OWN mortgage loan
  • Find a lender who is well versed in EWS1 and willing to accept the new guidance


I feel it’s unfair for me to pay for this survey when my property falls outside the EWS1 criteria.



Please feel free to call if you wish to discuss further.

Regards,

Anthony



https://www.rics.org/uk/upholding-p...ccupancy-residential-buildings-with-cladding/



https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/latest-news/fire-safety/cladding-qa/
 
Thought I’d give an update:

Conveyancing solicitor tried to close the deal on the 10th June and didn’t even know about the EWS1 situation.

I called him when he sent the paperwork to be signed a few weeks to see if he was even aware and said he was waiting on the EWS1 report coming back!

I said what EWS1?

I haven’t paid for one!

I don’t need one!

He didn’t have a clue.

He then started rambling on.... saying I needed one to sell the house and sale would fall through otherwise!

I said he was completely wrong and told him he needed to go speak to the RICS to get himself up to speed on the latest guidance.

He then said the buyers were cash buyers...

I then said, in that case why would they/you be asking for an EWS1?

You are speaking nonsense!!!!

He said let me get back to you....

Got a call last week saying, good news, your correct, you don’t need an EWS1, bad news the buyers haven’t got their finance arranged.

I said, you told me they were cash buyers???



All said and done, I found out they told the buyers to find a different money lender that adhere to the RICS latest guidance.This is what I advised the solicitor over a month ago FFS!

Settled two days ago, without an EWS1.
 
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