On 16 December 2019, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), The Building Societies Association (BSA) and UK Finance agreed a new industry-wide process to help ensure a consistent approach to the fire safety assessment of external walls in buildings.
The process seeks to address these issues by requiring that an appropriate investigation has been carried out by a competent person to ensure that the risk of fire spread over or within the external surfaces is acceptably low.
This investigation is not carried out by Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service or any other fire and rescue service.
Action on mortgages for properties in high-rise residential buildings
The Government recognises that it has become more challenging for some households to obtain mortgages for high-rise residential properties and is supportive of industry efforts to apply consistency in how such properties are valued.
To address this, an industry group has been set up to design a data-sharing portal so that lenders and leaseholders can access the information needed to proceed with sales and re-mortgaging for buildings with the introduction of a new process to support valuation through an ‘EWS1’ form.
Further information: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/the-external-wall-fire-review-process-ews/
Frequently asked questions: https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/latest-news/fire-safety/cladding-qa/