FALSE fire safety certificates issued in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy are leaving residents in the district unable to sell or insure their homes.
MP Matt Western said a number of people living in apartments in his Warwick and Leamington constituency had got in touch to raise the issues they were having.
They reported being unable to sell or insure their homes due to their ESW1 form turning out to be false.
Mr Western has since raised what he has called the ‘scandal’ of false fire safety certificates in Parliament and called for an official register of these certificates.
Fire safety certificates are also known as ESW1 certificates and were first introduced in 2019 after the Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people in June 2017.
An ESW1 form is required by most banks and building societies when determining whether to lend money on flats in apartment blocks. The form evaluates the fire risk of a building by considering its overall construction and assessing any cladding.
Last month, it was reported nationally that an engineer had been accused of signing off ESW1 certificates using the credentials and signature of another engineer without permission.
The Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) has been investigating Adam Kiziak, whose company is called Tri Fire, for potential malpractice. He was suspended by the IFE in August 2024.
Various lenders have withdrawn mortgage offers to people who were attempting to purchase flats with ESW1s issued by Tri Fire.
In the Commons, Mr Western said, “tens of thousands of homeowners are affected” by false ESW1s and that their homes are now “uninsurable and unsaleable”.
The leader of the house, Lucy Powell MP, responded that the “government is taking these issues incredibly seriously” and said she “will ensure there is ample time for the house to debate these matters.”
Mr Western added: “I have heard firsthand from residents how false ESW1s have left them feeling completely and utterly stuck, unable to sell their home and unable to insure it. Some have already lost thousands of pounds from property sales which have fallen through.
“Shockingly, over seven years on from the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the systems in place to try and prevent such a horror happening again are being manipulated, leaving thousands in an awful situation.”
