UK Cladding & EWS1 Costs: How to Protect Your Mortgage in 2026

AngelaWelcome to Cost Saver Conversations. I'm Angela, and I ask the practical questions so you can quickly understand what matters. Today, I'm joined by Asad. Asad: Hi Angela. We are unpacking "UK Cladding & EWS1 Costs: How to Protect Your Mortgage in 2026" today and tying it back to the wider Cost Saver ecosystem, including tools like UK Cladding EWS1 Cost and Mortgageability Calculator, so you can turn insights into action quickly. Angela: Just a heads-up before we dive in: we are your synthetic hosts. We are great with numbers, but as AI, we can sometimes be confidently wrong. Think of us as the digital versions of your most knowledgeable, slightly caffeinated friends. Asad: Exactly. Treat this chat as a smart estimate only, not as professional financial guidance. Always check important details with official sources or a qualified expert before making any big decisions. Angela: Welcome back, everyone. So today we're getting into something that, um, honestly has been a nightmare for a lot of homeowners across the UK. The cladding crisis. It's been — what — nearly a decade since Grenfell, and thousands of leaseholders are still stuck. Asad, it's still really bad, isn't it? Asad: Yeah. I mean, honestly, it is. The Building Safety Act came in in 2022, and it was supposed to sort things out. And in some ways it has, like, genuinely. But in other ways it's just — it's created new layers of paperwork, new arguments about who counts as a qualifying leaseholder, who actually pays. Which is always the big one. Angela: Always the big one. [laughs] So we're sitting here in 2026, and I feel like the panic around EWS1 forms has, sort of, cooled off a bit? Some lenders are even lending without them now? Asad: They are, yeah. Particularly for buildings under 11 metres. A lot of the major lenders have relaxed on that front. But — and this is the thing — the underlying problem hasn't gone anywhere. If your building still has dangerous cladding, or even compartmentation defects, then your flat's value, your service charge, your ability to get a decent remortgage rate — Angela: — all still on the line. Asad: All still on the line, yeah. And doing nothing, right, for an average leaseholder in a flagged block, that can mean £200 to £500 a month in higher service charges. Plus thousands in lost equity at remortgage time. It's... a lot. Angela: Wait, £200 to £500 a month? Just in service charges? Asad: Just in service charges, yeah. Angela: That's wild. Okay, so — and I want to make sure people understand this — the EWS1 form itself isn't actually a legal requirement, right? It's more of a — Asad: — it's a valuation tool. Created by RICS and UK Finance. Lenders use it to decide whether they'll lend. But just because your building doesn't have one, that doesn't automatically mean it's unsafe. It's just... lenders want to see it. Does that make sense? Angela: Yeah, that does. So who actually foots the bill for getting the EWS1 done? Asad: Officially, it falls on the building owner or the freeholder. Not on individual leaseholders. But — and this is where it gets annoying — that cost is almost always passed through the service charge unless protections apply. So for a mid-rise block in 2026, you're looking at between £6,000 and £15,000 for a typical assessment. Angela: That's a big range. Asad: It is. And for high-rise buildings, anything over 18 metres, where they have to do intrusive surveys — you know, actually opening up wall sections — that can push it to £25,000 or more. Even if you spread that across, say, 40 flats, that's still several hundred quid per leaseholder just to find out whether there's a problem. Angela: Just to find out. Not even to fix it. Asad: Just to find out. Exactly. Angela: [sighs] Okay. So what else drives the cost up? Is it mainly the height of the building, or...? Asad: Height's the biggest factor, because anything over 18 metres triggers stricter oversight from the Building Safety Regulator. But then you've got cladding type — ACM, HPL, certain insulation materials, those are all flagged as higher risk. And then — this one surprises people — compartmentation defects. Missing fire breaks between flats. Those often cost more to fix than the cladding itself. Angela: Oh! Really? Asad: Yeah. And then balcony materials — timber decking, combustible substrates — that's become a whole remediation category on its own now. And, um, surveyor availability. There's a real shortage of qualified fire engineers, so in some regions you're looking at six to twelve month waiting lists. Which obviously pushes prices up. Angela: Hmm, I hadn't thought about the waiting list angle. That's — yeah, that's frustrating. Okay, so if your building actually fails its EWS1, who pays for the remediation? Because I know the rules changed. Asad: They really did. So in 2026 there are basically three funding routes. First, developer-funded remediation. Around 50 large developers have signed legally binding contracts to fix buildings they built or refurbished in the last 30 years, at their own expense. Angela: Okay, so that's good if you're in one of those buildings. Asad: Right. Then second, government-funded schemes. The Building Safety Fund covers cladding on buildings over 18 metres, and the Cladding Safety Scheme covers buildings between 11 and 18 metres where no developer can be held responsible. And then third — and this is the one nobody wants — leaseholder contributions. For non-qualifying leaseholders, or for non-cladding defects in certain scenarios, you may still face capped contributions. Angela: So — okay — what actually makes you a qualifying leaseholder? Because I hear that phrase thrown around constantly and I'm not sure everyone really gets what it means for them personally. Asad: Yeah, so this is really important. The Building Safety Act introduced statutory caps on what qualifying leaseholders can be charged for non-cladding defects. Those caps are £10,000 outside London, £15,000 inside London, spread over ten years. But here's the key bit — for leaseholders whose property was worth under £325,000 outside London, or £1 million inside London, on 14 February 2022, and who owned it as their principal home — cladding remediation costs cannot be passed on at all. Zero. Angela: Wait. Zero? Asad: Zero. Angela: Oh, that's actually reassuring. But — I'm guessing if you're a buy-to-let landlord, it's a different story? Asad: [exhales] Yeah. If you bought your flat as a buy-to-let and you've got three or more UK properties to your name, you're very likely a non-qualifying leaseholder. You could face the full, uncapped cost. And this is — I mean, it's a real trap for accidental landlords. People who just sort of drifted into having a couple of properties. It's absolutely worth checking before any purchase or refinance. Angela: So what are we actually talking about in terms of remediation costs? Like, give me the numbers. Asad: Okay, so — and these vary a lot — but typical 2026 figures for mid-rise blocks: full ACM cladding replacement, £40,000 to £80,000 per flat. HPL or timber cladding, £25,000 to £55,000. Compartmentation and fire-stopping works, £8,000 to £20,000. Balcony remediation, £6,000 to £18,000. And then waking watch — that's the interim fire patrols — £150 to £500 per flat per month. So you can see why one defective building can cause, you know, six-figure financial stress for unprotected leaseholders. Angela: That is... I mean, those numbers are just staggering. You mentioned a real example in the source material — Priya, in Manchester? Asad: Yeah, Priya. So she's in a 14-storey block, her EWS1 came back B2 in 2023 — ACM cladding and timber balconies. As a qualifying leaseholder, her flat was worth £210,000 in February 2022, she paid nothing for the cladding works, hit the £10,000 cap for the non-cladding defects spread over ten years, and she successfully remortgaged in 2025 once the developer contract was signed. But her neighbour — who owned four buy-to-let flats across the country — faced an uncapped bill estimated at £62,000. Angela: Wow. And the difference between them was — Asad: — one form. The leaseholder deed of certificate. That's it. That's what separated a manageable situation from a £62,000 bill. Angela: [laughs nervously] Okay, well, that's terrifying and motivating at the same time. So let's talk mortgages. What do lenders actually want to see in 2026? Asad: Right, so even if you're in a remediation programme and your liability is capped, lenders still want certainty about the funding pathway. They're looking for, um — an EWS1 form, ideally rated A1, A2, A3 or B1, dated within the last five years. Evidence of remediation funding — like a developer contract or government scheme acceptance. Your leaseholder deed of certificate. A landlord's certificate from the freeholder. And reasonable service charge projections, including any waking watch costs. Without those, even a technically safe building can be deemed unmortgageable. Angela: That's