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Committee chair raises concerns regarding fraudulent signatures on EWS-1 Forms
28 May 2024
CLIVE BETTS, chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee in Parliament, recently wrote to Justin Young, CEO of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and Ian Moore, CEO of the Fire Industry Association (FIA), to seek information for any home buyers who require an EWS-1 Form on how they can help to ensure that these documents are valid.

The chair’s correspondence raises concerns that signatures on EWS-1 Forms could be faked and has asked for an assessment of the likely scale of the problem, and what can be done about it, as well as its impact on the EWS-1 Forms process in general.
Betts observed: “It’s concerning that there may have been cases of fake signatures being used on EWS-1 Forms during the sale of properties. I hope people will take the opportunity to ask that any assessor providing an EWS-1 Form uploads it to the Fire Industry Association’s Building Safety Information Portal to help ensure the form signatories are indeed genuine.”
The chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee added: “In the past, the cost of registration fees has been part of the reason that thousands of EWS-1 Forms were not uploaded. I hope this will prompt Government and lenders to now explore ways in which to help cover the costs of this process.”
On its website, the RICS states it has “been made aware that unqualified people may be signing off EWS-1 Forms” and “encourages everyone to check the signatory on a form with the professional’s institution.”
In his letter to the RICS, Betts writes: “We welcome the advice to check that signatories are qualified with an appropriate body and note the guidance RICS has already provided about how to do this. However, members of the public have raised the concern with us that some individuals may still be using the fake signatures of qualified assessors on EWS-1 Forms, as occurred during the first few years after the EWS-1 Forms process was introduced by the industry.”
If an individual becomes aware that the signature on an EWS-1 certificate has been faked, Betts is keen to learn which is the most appropriate body (or bodies) to inform: the RICS, Action Fraud, Trading Standards or another organisation?
Betts and his colleagues are aware there have previously been concerns that the cost of registration fees meant thousands of EWS-1 Forms were not uploaded. Back in 2021, seven UK lenders (ie Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds, the Nationwide Building Society, NatWest, Santander and TSB) initially paid to cover the cost of uploading the estimated 6,000 EWS-1 Forms that had not been uploaded. However, that support ended in November 2021. Since then, costs for assessors to register and upload EWS-1 Forms have been borne by the assessor.
Response from the RICS
In his response to Betts, Justin Young notes the RICS’ data doesn’t suggest that fake signatures are a widespread issue. Since the EWS-1 Forms process was brought forward in December 2019, only three concerns have been reported to the organisation. One of those cases resulted in a criminal conviction at Liverpool Crown Court and the RICS member involved was duly expelled.
In terms of what methods exist for lenders and individual residents to verify that an assessment has actually been carried out by an EWS-1 Form’s signatory, the RICS can check the membership of an individual member. Individual membership can also be verified on the RICS’ ‘Find a Member’ portal.
Corresponding with Betts, Young asserts: “However, that individual should be approached to verify the signature on any EWS-1 Form. We also recommend this for other non-RICS professionals such as fire engineers. Publications such as those carried on the RICS website and educating consumers about what to look out for and request from RICS-regulated members have proven to be effective in raising levels of compliance and deterring potential breaches of the RICS’ own Rules of Conduct.”
Any falsified signature is, of course, an act of fraud. Young recommends that such occurrences are reported to the police service in the first instance and then the RICS for its own checking procedures. Where the RICS has concerns for the wider public, it boasts working relationships with Trading Standards, Action Fraud, the Insolvency Service and the Financial Conduct Authority and, as such, would make confidential reports.
In terms of the fees for EWS-1 Forms, Young voices the view that “it may be in the public interest” for Government to initiate a free portal for the uploading of EWS-1 Forms.
Closing his letter to Betts and the Committee, Young observes: “As the requirement for an external wall assessment has now been mandated under the Fire Safety Act 2021, with the introduction of PAS 9980 as a consistent methodology for such assessments, we anticipated the use of EWS-1 Forms would decline as reports on the fire risk appraisals of external walls become commonplace. It’s still early days yet in our opinion, and we anticipate it may be a few more years before EWS-1 Forms fade away completely. In the interim, the EWS-1 Forms do provide a mechanism for public protection, especially until the PAS 9980 is fully understood and implemented by all stakeholders.”
Fake signatures
FIA CEO Ian Moore’s response immediately deals with the issue of the potential for fake signatures on EWS-1 Forms.
Moore comments: “It’s difficult to give an accurate picture of the scale of potential forgeries. However, it may help to understand it in the context of the number of buildings that might require an EWS-1 assessment and the number of EWS-1 assessments that we have verified.”
The FIA’s CEO continues: “As per gov.uk, there are estimated to be 8,000 residential buildings over 18 metres high that may require an EWS-1 assessment. Additionally, there are a further 50,000 residential buildings between 11-18 metres tall where an EWS-1 could be insisted upon despite there being no requirement for this in terms of those buildings under 18 metres. Currently, the FIA has verified circa 1,500 buildings via EWS-1 Form uploads to the portal by verified assessors. Therefore, there are around 56,500 residential buildings potentially requiring an EWS-1 assessment of which we have no visibility. They may already have EWS-1 assessments. However, none of them have been independently verified unless lenders have undertaken to do these checks themselves.”
In terms of the Building Safety Information Portal, every assessor has a login linked to the e-mail address used at the registration stage. Forms are only able to be uploaded using this e-mail to login to the portal. No form is accepted if the name and signature on the form do not match the registered assessor.
When it comes to the fees for uploading EWS-1 Forms to the portal, the cost is £100+VAT. For PDF uploads, the total is £150+VAT. The prices were set to recoup the cost of developing the portal and also cover ongoing maintenance and administrative expenditures.
The direct upload cost is always paid by the assessor at the point of upload. It’s at their discretion as to whether they pass this cost on to their customer, which may be the building owner or individual leasehold property owners. For the engineers to register their credentials such that they can upload the EWS-1 Forms in the first instance, there’s a one-off fee of £200.
Moore concludes: “Standalone PAS 9980 assessments could be fraudulent as, at present, there is little or no verification on who’s carrying them out. A report prepared in accordance with PAS 9980 is not intended as an alternative to the EWS-1 Form. The basic difference is that the EWS-1 Form is a valuation form (to ascertain whether the building needs remediation works or not), whereas PAS 9980 appraises the fire risk of external wall construction and cladding. It may be possible for PAS 9980 to serve as a suitable report to support or otherwise inform an EWS-1 Form. However, any EWS-1 Form uploaded to the Building Safety Information Portal will still need to be uploaded by a pre-registered assessor whose qualifications have been verified.”
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