How to Pass Your EWS1 Review: A Guide for UK Flat Owners
Since the Grenfell catastrophe in 2017 the government has banned using combustible materials on new high-rise buildings over 18 meters in height. Which was an important step to help prevent a future disaster. However this new legislation has resulted in many homeowners struggling to insure or sell their homes.
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Chief Writer
Thu, 28 Jul 2026
How to Pass Your EWS1 Review
An EWS1 form is a standardised, RICS-developed valuation document that records a qualified assessor's judgement on the fire risk of a residential building's external wall system, for mortgage lending purposes. "Passing" generally means the building is rated A1, A2 or B1 — no remedial works needed — rather than A3 or B2, which flag potential or required remediation. Since 2021, RICS and lender guidance has narrowed considerably: many buildings, especially those under five storeys without cladding, no longer need an EWS1 at all.
Disclaimer
This article is general information for UK residential leaseholders, freeholders and buyers, correct to the best of our research as of August 2026. It is not legal, fire engineering, financial or valuation advice, and it is not a substitute for a site-specific fire risk assessment. Whether an EWS1 form is required for a specific building, and what rating it should receive, are judgements for a RICS-registered valuer, mortgage lender and a suitably qualified fire engineer or building surveyor. Always check current lender and RICS requirements directly before relying on anything below.
At a Glance
Question
Short Answer
What is it?
Form EWS1 — a one-page RICS/UK Finance-developed form recording an expert's fire risk judgement on a building's external wall system, for mortgage valuation purposes only
Is it a safety certificate?
No. RICS states explicitly it is "not a life safety certificate"
Who asks for it?
Mortgage lenders and their valuers, as a commercial (not statutory) requirement
Which buildings?
Narrowed considerably since 2021 — broadly, buildings of 5+ storeys with meaningful cladding, or any height with ACM/MCM/HPL panels; most buildings of 4 storeys or fewer without such panels shouldn't be asked for one
Who completes it?
Option A: a suitably experienced construction professional. Option B (where combustible materials are present): a fire engineer or equivalent qualified assessor
What does it assess?
External wall cladding and insulation, balconies and other attachments, cavity barriers/fire-stopping, and how they interact
"Pass" ratings
A1, A2, B1 — no remedial works required
Ratings needing action
A3 (possible remedial cost to attachments), B2 (remedial works required)
Validity
Up to 5 years from the date of the form
Underlying methodology
A fire engineer's Option B judgement is typically informed by a PAS 9980-based Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) — a related but separate document
What Is the EWS1 Form?
EWS1 stands for External Wall System, Form 1. It’s a standardised form developed by an RICS-convened industry working group, agreed in December 2019, so that a building owner can give lenders and valuers a consistent, expert-verified statement about the fire risk of a residential building’s external wall construction.
It was introduced in response to widespread mortgage valuation problems following the Grenfell Tower fire of June 2017, when lenders and surveyors began asking informally for wall safety evidence with no agreed format. RICS is explicit that the form exists to support mortgage valuation and lending decisions — it is not a life safety certificate and does not replace a building’s statutory fire risk assessment.
Who Requires an EWS1, and Is It a Legal Requirement?
There is no law requiring building owners to obtain an EWS1 form. It is requested by mortgage lenders, via their valuers, as a commercial underwriting decision — typically because the lender’s own risk policy, informed by RICS professional valuation standards and UK Finance’s industry position on cladding, calls for evidence of external wall risk before lending against a flat.
Because it isn’t a statutory instrument, requirements can and do vary between lenders. RICS’s valuation standard is designed to give valuers “a rationale to justify” any request, rather than asking for a form as a routine box-tick.
Which Buildings Actually Need One?
This is the area that has changed most since EWS1 launched, and it's worth checking current guidance rather than assuming your building needs one. RICS's professional valuation standard for buildings with cladding sets out proportionate criteria, broadly:
Buildings of 7 storeys or more: likely to need an EWS1 if there is visible cladding or curtain wall glazing, or vertically stacked balconies built with combustible decking, balustrades or linking materials.
Buildings of 5–6 storeys: likely to need one only where there is a significant amount of cladding on the building (RICS guidance has used a rule of thumb of roughly a quarter or more of visible elevations), or where ACM, MCM or high-pressure laminate (HPL) panels are present, or for the same combustible-balcony scenario above.
Buildings of 4 storeys or fewer: generally should not be asked for an EWS1 form unless ACM, MCM or HPL panels are present.
Buildings with no cladding at all — traditional masonry cavity walls, concrete or stone panels, or timber-framed construction with a masonry outer leaf — generally fall outside the EWS1 process altogether.
This is a considerable narrowing from the early post-Grenfell period, when many lenders requested forms for almost any multi-storey block regardless of construction. Government data on lender practice has, in recent quarters, shown only a small minority of flat mortgage valuations actually requiring an EWS1 or equivalent — heavily concentrated in taller buildings with cladding. RICS published a second edition of its valuation standard in May 2026, taking effect from 1 November 2026, which further refines this decision framework — so it’s worth confirming the current position with your lender or valuer rather than relying on older guidance.
Who Completes an EWS1 Assessment?
The form has two possible completion routes, known as Option A and Option B, depending on what the assessor finds:
Option A is used where the assessor — typically a chartered building or construction professional — is satisfied there is no need for a detailed fire engineering judgement, for example because there's no significant combustible material in the wall system or its attachments.
Option B applies where combustible materials are present and a more detailed fire risk judgement is needed. This must be carried out by a fire engineer (typically an Institution of Fire Engineers Chartered or Incorporated Engineer or equivalent) or, for buildings below 18 metres, another professional who has completed RICS's EWS Assessment Training Programme.
Either way, the assessor inspects (and where necessary investigates intrusively) the external wall build-up, forms a professional judgement, and records the outcome on the form — which is intended to be supported by a fuller written report.
What Does the Assessment Actually Look At?
An EWS1 assessment considers the building's external wall construction as a system, not just the visible cladding panel. That typically includes:
The cladding and insulation materials and how they're likely to behave in a fire.
Balconies and similar attachments, including their construction materials and whether they're linked in ways that could spread fire between floors.
Cavity barriers and fire-stopping — whether they're present, correctly installed and effective at limiting fire and smoke spread within wall cavities.
How these elements interact as a whole system, rather than being judged individually against a simple checklist.
What Do the A1, A2, A3, B1 and B2 Ratings Mean?
The form's outcome is recorded as one of five options:
A1 — There are no attachments (such as balconies) containing significant quantities of combustible material, and the wall system itself doesn't require a combustible-materials judgement.
A2 — Attachments contain some combustible material, but a suitable risk assessment concludes no remedial works are required.
A3 — Neither A1 nor A2 applies; there may be a need for remedial works to attachments, with associated costs to be identified.
B1 — The wall system includes combustible materials, but the fire engineer's assessment concludes the fire risk is sufficiently low that no remedial works are required.
B2 — The fire engineer's assessment concludes the fire risk is sufficiently high that remedial works (or interim safety measures) are required.
What Does "Passing" an EWS1 Review Actually Mean in Practice?
In everyday terms, a “pass” is a rating of A1, A2 or B1 — the assessor has concluded no remedial works are needed, which generally allows a standard mortgage valuation to proceed without lending restrictions specific to cladding risk.
An A3 or B2 rating doesn’t automatically mean a flat is unsellable or unmortgageable. Under the UK Finance-coordinated industry statement, participating lenders have committed to continuing to lend on A3/B2-rated buildings where a costed and funded remediation plan with committed dates is in place — for example, where the building is covered by a government remediation scheme or developer-funded works, or by leaseholder cost protections under the Building Safety Act 2022. Lending without a resolved position, however, is likely to be far harder.
How Do Building Materials and Construction Choices Affect the Likely Outcome?
Materials don't determine a rating on their own — an EWS1 outcome is a professional judgement about the whole wall system, made by the assessor. But construction choices materially affect what that assessor has to weigh:
Buildings with no ACM, MCM or HPL panels, and without significant amounts of cladding overall, are more likely to fall outside the EWS1 process entirely under current proportionate criteria.
Where an assessment is needed, non-combustible or well-documented, tested materials on balconies and attachments (rather than unknown or untested combustible decking and balustrades) give the assessor clearer evidence to work with, which can support — though never guarantee — an A1/A2 or B1 outcome rather than A3/B2.
Vertically stacked, combustible balcony construction
linking floors is specifically flagged in RICS’s own criteria as a trigger for requiring an EWS1, regardless of building height, because of the fire-spread risk it can create.
Documented Euroclass fire classification
(tested to BS EN 13501-1) for cladding, decking and balustrade products gives an assessor concrete evidence rather than assumption — but the product certificate itself isn't the assessment, and no manufacturer can promise a particular EWS1 rating for a building.
Non-combustible options — such as aluminium decking and balustrade systems, including those EnviroBuild manufactures, or porcelain paving for balcony surfaces — are one way building owners can reduce the amount of combustible material a fire engineer has to assess on balconies and attachments. That can support a stronger evidence base for a favourable outcome, but the rating itself remains the assessor’s independent judgement about the building as a whole, not a property of any single product.
How Does EWS1 Relate to PAS 9980 and FRAEW?
EWS1 and PAS 9980 are related but distinct, and it’s important not to conflate them. EWS1 is the RICS/lender-facing valuation form itself — a one-page summary of a fire risk judgement, used for mortgage purposes. PAS 9980:2022 is a British Standards Institution code of practice giving fire engineers a structured methodology for appraising fire risk across a building’s external walls; when applied to a specific building it produces a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) — a much more detailed technical report.
A fire engineer completing an EWS1's Option B assessment will typically use PAS 9980's methodology to reach their judgement, and a robust FRAEW can provide the evidence behind an EWS1 rating. Historically, RICS treated a FRAEW as not an alternative to an EWS1 form — they served different purposes and audiences, and a lender's specific request for an EWS1 was not satisfied by a FRAEW report alone. That’s genuinely changing: RICS's second edition of its valuation standard, published May 2026 and effective from 1 November 2026, confirms that a suitable executive summary or summary report from a FRAEW may now be relied upon instead of an EWS1 form in some circumstances, provided it gives a clear outcome on whether remedial works are required and is signed by a suitably qualified professional. This is a real shift from the earlier position, so it's worth checking with your lender or valuer whether they're accepting FRAEW-based evidence in place of a full EWS1 under the new standard, rather than assuming the older “not an alternative” position still applies unconditionally. For more detail on PAS 9980 and FRAEW specifically, see our companion article on PAS 9980 compliance.
FAQ
Does every flat need an EWS1 form?
No. Current RICS and lender guidance means most buildings of four storeys or fewer without ACM/MCM/HPL panels shouldn't be asked for one, and the proportion of mortgage valuations requiring an EWS1 has fallen substantially since the early post-Grenfell period. Always check with the specific lender and valuer involved.
Is a B2 rating the end of the road for selling or remortgaging?
Not necessarily. Participating lenders have committed to continuing to lend where a costed, funded remediation plan with committed dates is in place, or where leaseholder protections under the Building Safety Act 2022 apply. It does, however, generally make a sale or remortgage more complicated and may reduce the pool of willing lenders.
How long is an EWS1 form valid?
Up to five years from the date it was signed. Some lenders have said they won't automatically demand a wholesale re-review purely because a form has passed that date or its signatory's qualification has since lapsed, but practice varies — check with the specific lender.
Can a FRAEW be used instead of an EWS1?
Historically, generally no — RICS treated them as serving different purposes, and a FRAEW didn't substitute for a lender's specific EWS1 request. That's changing: from 1 November 2026, RICS's updated valuation standard confirms that a suitable executive summary or summary report from a FRAEW may be relied upon instead of an EWS1 in some circumstances, provided it gives a clear outcome on remedial works and is signed by a suitably qualified professional. How quickly lenders adopt this in practice will vary, so check the current position with your specific lender or valuer.
Who pays for an EWS1 assessment, and how long does it take?
Typically the building owner, freeholder or managing agent commissions and pays for it, often recharged to leaseholders via the service charge, though arrangements vary. Waiting times have historically been affected by a limited pool of qualified assessors, particularly for Option B (fire engineer) assessments on more complex buildings.
Does replacing decking or balustrades with non-combustible materials guarantee a better rating?
No single product change guarantees an outcome — the rating is a judgement about the whole building's wall system. Non-combustible, well-documented materials on balconies can reduce the combustible material an assessor has to weigh and support a stronger evidence base, but the final rating remains an independent professional judgement.
Further Reading
Sources
RICS — Form EWS1: External Wall Fire Review (form, version 3)
RICS — RICS publishes updated standard for multi-storey residential buildings with cladding
GOV.UK — EWS1 or equivalent lender data on mortgage valuations for flats (data collection)
House of Commons Library — The Cladding External Wall System (EWS)
BSI — PAS 9980: Fire risk appraisal of external walls and cladding of flats
