Buying a Flat With Cladding — What You Need to Know in 2026

Cladding does not make a flat unbuyable. Lenders came back to this market some time ago, and the Building Safety Act 2022 shifted most remediation costs away from leaseholders. Plenty of flats with cladding sell perfectly normally.

What it does do is change what you have to establish before you exchange — and the single most important question is not "is there cladding" but "who is liable for putting it right". Since the Act, for most leaseholders in most affected buildings, the answer for the cladding itself is: not you.

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Who actually pays

Before 2022, a leaseholder could receive a bill for hundreds of thousands of pounds to fix a defect they had no part in creating. The Building Safety Act 2022 largely ended that, and the detail matters:

• Cladding remediation is nil for a qualifying leaseholder in a relevant building. Not capped — not payable at all.
• Non-cladding defects are capped at £10,000, or £15,000 in Greater London, spread over ten years with a maximum of one tenth in any twelve months.
• Lower-value flats are exempt entirely. If the flat was worth under £175,000 — £325,000 in Greater London — on 14 February 2022, the cap is nil for everything, not just cladding.
• Higher-value flats have higher caps: £50,000 between £1m and £2m, £100,000 above £2m.
• Costs already paid count. Anything you have paid towards remediation since 28 June 2017 comes off the cap.

The cap also disappears altogether where the landlord is responsible for the defect, is associated with the developer, or belongs to a group worth more than £2 million per relevant building. And the legal and professional costs of arguing about liability cannot be passed to you.

The bit most people get wrong: it follows the lease

A qualifying lease is one granted before 14 February 2022 for an original term of more than 21 years, where on that date the flat was the leaseholder's only or principal home, or they owned no more than three UK homes.

Read quickly, that sounds like it excludes anyone buying now. It does not. The protection attaches to the lease, not to the person holding it. If the leaseholder on 14 February 2022 qualified, the lease remains a qualifying lease when you buy it, and you inherit the protection.

This cuts the other way too. If the seller owned four or more properties and this was not their main home, the lease is not qualifying, and buying it does not fix that. It is a question your conveyancer needs a documented answer to — via the leaseholder deed of certificate — rather than a reassuring word from the agent.

What an EWS1 form is, and what it is not

The EWS1 — External Wall System form — was introduced in December 2019 by RICS, UK Finance and the Building Societies Association after Grenfell. It exists so that valuers and lenders can decide whether to lend against a flat.

Three things about it are routinely misunderstood:

• It is not a safety certificate. RICS says so explicitly. It does not replace a fire risk assessment and it does not certify that a building is safe.
• It covers the whole building, not your flat. One form serves every flat in the block. You cannot commission your own; it is for the freeholder, right-to-manage company or managing agent to arrange.
• It lasts five years, unless the building owner commissions a new assessment.

The outcomes divide into two. Option A is for buildings where the external wall materials are unlikely to support combustion. Option B is where combustible materials are present: B1 means the fire risk is low enough that no remedial work is needed, while B2 means remedial work is required. A B2 is the one that historically stalled sales — though with the Act's protections and the funding schemes, a B2 is now a question about timing and evidence rather than an automatic dead end.

Not every building needs one. RICS guidance is explicitly proportionate: a valuer should have a reason for asking, and buildings under 18 metres with little or no combustible cladding generally should not need a form at all.

Will a lender actually lend?

Generally yes, provided the paperwork exists. Major lenders returned to this market and will typically consider a flat where there is either a satisfactory EWS1, or evidence that the building is covered by a remediation scheme with the leaseholder protected from the costs.

What lenders want is certainty about who pays and when. A building with a B2 rating, a funded remediation plan and a leaseholder who is statutorily protected is a more straightforward proposition than a building with no assessment at all and no answer to the question.

If your lender declines, that is not necessarily the end of it — criteria vary considerably between lenders on this, and a broker who has placed cases like yours is worth more than usual here.

Questions to ask before you exchange

Give this list to your conveyancer. None of it is unreasonable, and an agent who resists it is telling you something.

• The EWS1 form, its date and its rating — and if there isn't one, why the building doesn't need one.
• The building's fire risk assessment, and any Fire Safety Order enforcement notices.
• The landlord's certificate. A landlord must serve one to pass on any remediation cost at all.
• The leaseholder deed of certificate for the current lease, establishing qualifying status.
• Whether the building is enrolled in the Cladding Safety Scheme or the Building Safety Fund, or covered by a developer remediation contract.
• Whether the developer is a signatory to the Responsible Actors Scheme.
• The service charge history and forecast, including any waking watch costs, and the buildings insurance premium — which rose sharply on affected blocks.
• Whether the building is registered with the Building Safety Regulator (required for buildings of at least 18 metres or seven storeys).

Should you buy one at all?

There is a reasonable case that affected flats are among the better-value purchases available, precisely because the fear is now largely priced in while the legal position has improved substantially. A qualifying leaseholder in a relevant building is, on paper, better protected than an owner of a house with an undiscovered structural problem.

The risks that remain are real but different from the ones people worry about. They are about time and liquidity: remediation programmes run for years, service charges can be unpredictable in the meantime, insurance may be expensive, and your eventual buyer will ask the same questions you are asking now. That is an argument for buying with the documents in hand rather than on a promise that they are coming.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a mortgage on a flat with cladding?

Usually yes. Lenders returned to this market and will generally consider a flat with a satisfactory EWS1 form, or one in a building with a funded remediation plan where the leaseholder is protected from the costs. Criteria vary between lenders, so a broker is useful.

Who pays for cladding removal?

For a qualifying leaseholder in a building of at least 11 metres or five storeys, the answer is nobody — cladding system remediation costs are not payable by you under Schedule 8 to the Building Safety Act 2022. Costs fall to developers and building owners, supported by government schemes.

What is a qualifying lease?

A lease granted before 14 February 2022 for an original term of more than 21 years, where on that date the flat was the leaseholder's only or principal home, or they owned no more than three UK homes. The status attaches to the lease, so a later buyer inherits it.

Do I need an EWS1 form to sell my flat?

Only if a lender asks for one. It is not a legal requirement and not a safety certificate — it is a valuation tool. RICS guidance says valuers should be proportionate, and buildings under 18 metres with little or no combustible cladding generally should not need one.

Does the cladding cap apply to everything wrong with the building?

No. Cladding remediation is nil for qualifying leaseholders. The £10,000 and £15,000 figures are caps on non-cladding historical safety defects, spread over ten years, and they are nil for lower-value flats.

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General information on the law of England and Wales, not legal or mortgage advice. The leaseholder protections turn on documents specific to your building and lease — confirm your position with a property solicitor before relying on it. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate arrangements. Related reading: fire safety ratings and mortgages, leasehold explained, and the leasehold and freehold reform changes.