Building and fire safety

Announcement

On 21 November 2020, the Government announced that homeowners who live in buildings without cladding will no longer require an EWS1 form in order to sell their property.

It should mean that fewer leaseholders require an EWS1 form in order to remortgage, staircase or sell their homes.

L&Q will be consulting with the Government, and our industry partners, to clarify our understanding of the impact on our buildings. Where we become aware that a building should not be subject to an EWS1 inspection we will update affected homeowners.

In the meantime, it is important to note that EWS1 forms are not a legal document and are required by mortgage lenders solely for the purpose of assessing the value of a property. How lenders approach the use of EWS1 forms is at their discretion.

For this reason, if you have previously been asked for an EWS1 for your building, but believe it may now be exempt, please contact your mortgage lender in the first instance.

This announcement does not affect L&Q’s programme of building safety inspections as these are still necessary to ensure that our homes meet current building safety guidelines.

Your safety is our top concern – that is why we carry out fire risk assessments as required by law.

We make sure that fire equipment is not damaged and that there are no fire risks in the communal areas. We do this regularly to make sure our residents are safe.

We have committed £250 million to implementing the Government’s new building safety advice and are a part of the Early Adopters Group, who are leading the way in developing the changes recommended in Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building safety.

Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding, as used on Grenfell Tower, has been removed from our buildings and we are now in the process of inspecting other homes covered by the new building safety advice.

We are working with the fire authorities and local councils to make sure all fire safety requirements are met and kept up to date.

£250m committed to new building safety works

We would also like to reassure our residents that all of L&Q’s purpose-built apartment blocks:

received Building Control sign-off at the time of build
received approval from a licensed warranty provider after they were built
have an up-to-date fire risk assessment

We review these each year for our high-rise blocks (18 metres or above) and any recommendations are dealt with immediately or put into a programme of work to be completed as soon as possible

However it is still very important that you know what to do in the event of a fire, and how to reduce the possibility of a fire in your home or building.