What is cladding in the UK? What homeowners should know

It is still important that those looking to buy or sell a house in the UK are up to date on building safety. Homeowners need to know what cladding can mean for transactions, the risks involved and the improvements that have been made to safety regulations in recent years.

Cladding is a term used to describe a layer of material applied to the exterior of a home. Traditionally, it was used simply as a weatherproofing layer to protect underlying structural walls and surfaces from the elements. Over the past few years, it has started to become an aesthetic addition to the outside of homes and other buildings, improving the appearance of a standard exterior. It also serves to better insulate a home and help lower energy bills.

It is possible that you have seen rural buildings overlaid with wooden panels in a kind of alpine chalet style. Or, on industrial estates, commercial properties covered in sheets of aluminium. Both are examples of cladding. Timber cladding in particular comes with its own maintenance and lifespan considerations separate from the fire safety issues covered here, since it is a different material with different risks.

Whatever the material, poorly maintained or failed cladding can also let water into the wall behind it, which is one of the more common routes to damp in an otherwise sound property.

Since the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, cladding has been in the spotlight from a fire safety point of view, leading to a considerable amount of anxiety among tenants and property owners. Owing to the use of highly flammable cladding materials, the government has introduced new legislation to prevent another tragedy.

Owners of flats and buildings with cladding now require a valid ESW1 (External Wall System 1) form to sell or remortgage their property. Completing these forms requires the time and work of a surveyor. Developers and building companies have also been made liable for the cost of replacing defective or dangerous cladding, with leaseholders protected from being asked to fund remediation work on affected buildings.

In most cases, you will not need planning permission to install cladding on your home. However, there are some circumstances where you may need to consult advice before proceeding. These include living in a national park, an area of outstanding natural beauty, a listed building or a conservation area. It is likely that you will still be able to install your cladding, but you should always consult your local authority to get permission first.

The presence of cladding on a home is not in itself a problem, but mortgage lenders will not lend on a property unless they know exactly what the cladding is made of. Many buildings on which cladding was installed years ago will not have records of the materials used, so it can take some time to resolve the issue and progress with a purchase.

It is why it makes sense to arrange a full RICS Level 3 building survey when you are looking to buy a home and cladding is present, to get an accurate picture of the external wall system before you commit.

In most cases, it will be the landlord's responsibility to repair and maintain external or structural parts of a building, including the cladding. This means that if you are buying a leasehold property, you will not be responsible for replacing the cladding on the property.

If you do not undertake a full RICS Level 2 survey or even get a Level 3 survey on a freehold property at the time of purchase and the cladding needs to be replaced in the future, it is you who is liable. It is why you should take the time to compare the surveys available before going ahead with a property purchase, to avoid nasty surprises later down the line.

As covered previously, unless there is a formal record of the precise materials used to clad a property, it could be unmortgageable. Lenders are risk averse, so they will not lend on a property that they deem to be exposed to a high risk of fire in case they were to incur heavy losses should an accident happen. Your only options as a seller of a property deemed to have risky cladding would be to completely remove and reinstall the existing cladding, at a high cost, or sell your property for under its value to an investor or cash buyer.

If you are buying a property with cladding, a RICS Level 3 building survey will assess the external wall system and give you an accurate picture of the materials and any associated risks before you commit.

At Surveyor Local, we work exclusively with RICS-accredited chartered surveyors across England and Wales. If you have any questions about cladding or any of our services, our team is happy to help.

Call us on or get a survey quote online.