Navigating the 5-Year EWS1 Deadline: What Leaseholders Need to Know

Navigating the 5-Year EWS1 Deadline: What Leaseholders Need to Know

For many flat owners, the EWS1 form has been a crucial key to selling or remortgaging their homes since its introduction in December 2019. However, as the earliest forms reach their five-year expiry dates, many leaseholders and building owners have been left wondering if they will face further hurdles. Thankfully, joint industry updates in 2025 has provided some much-needed clarity and relief.

Why Did EWS1 Forms Have a 5-Year Lifespan? 

Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, lenders became extremely cautious about the risk of combustible cladding on high-rise residential blocks. The EWS1 process was developed by RICS, UK Finance, and the Building Societies Association as a temporary measure to assess external walls and get the housing market moving again.

The forms were nominally given a five-year lifespan because the industry originally anticipated that all defective cladding systems would be remediated, renovated, or adapted within that timeframe.

Good News for Expiring Forms 

As those early forms begin to hit their five-year anniversary, lenders want to ensure the market for affected flats continues to operate without friction. In April 2025, an updated Joint Industry Statement on Cladding was released, in which lenders pledged that they will not require "wholesale reviews" of EWS1 forms that are more than five years old.

Subject to individual lender policies and risk appetites, an EWS1 form can continue to be used in mortgage applications well past its original expiration date. Furthermore, multiple leaseholders in a single block can continue to use the same assessment to support the sale or refinancing of their properties.

However, there is a caveat: if substantial works that affect the original conclusions have been carried out on a building within that five-year period, a new assessment may still be required.

Tackling Invalid Signatories 

Public confidence in the EWS1 process was recently shaken by the "Tri Fire" case, which involved the suspension and expulsion of a fire engineer professional and sparked concerns about forms signed by invalid signatories.

To address this, the updated industry statement confirmed that lenders will also not require wholesale reviews of EWS1 forms affected by invalid signatures. Instead, lenders can consider alternative evidence to verify a building's remediation status and leaseholder protections. This alternative evidence can include:

• A statutory Fire Risk Assessment of the External Wall (FRAEW).

• The building's inclusion in a recognised remediation funding scheme.

• A valid Leaseholder Deed of Certificate.

It is worth noting that for buildings under 11 metres, individual lender policies will continue to dictate the requirements.

The Future: Will EWS1 Forms Disappear? 

According to RICS experts, the need for EWS1 forms is expected to decrease over time and eventually become obsolete.

Under the Fire Safety Act 2021, it is now a legislative requirement in England and Wales to assess external walls, balconies, and windows when conducting a building's routine Fire Risk Assessment. Going forward, these regular Fire Risk Assessments, informed by an FRAEW according to the PAS 9980 methodology, will become the standard expectation.

While it may take some time for lenders to fully transition their processes to accept other forms of documentation in lieu of an EWS1, the legislation is already paving the way for its phase-out. For now, leaseholders can take comfort in the fact that passing the five-year mark on an EWS1 form does not mean hitting a brick wall.