A growing number of flats are being sold at steep discounts amid cladding-related uncertainty – creating an unlikely property windfall for buyers who work with the right mortgage advisers.
The fallout from the Tri Fire scandal, involving allegedly invalid EWS1 cladding certificates, has triggered widespread lender pullback.
Major banks including Nationwide, NatWest, Halifax and HSBC have pulled mortgage offers on affected properties, locking out thousands of would-be buyers. But where many see risk, some see opportunity.
Enter specialist brokers like Luther Yeates, Head of Mortgages at Orton Financial, who recently helped a Bristol-based couple navigate the chaos – and secure a flat that’s since risen 70% in value.
HELPING HAND
“We purchased the property for just under £250,000,” says Carlton Howard, 29, an architect who bought the apartment with his partner, Abi, 24. “An identical flat in the same building has now gone on the market for £425,000.”
The couple’s experience was far from straightforward. What was promised as a no-chain quick sale turned into a nine-month ordeal.
The transaction was delayed by cladding certification issues and a botched title plan, which failed to account for an additional room added during construction. Multiple previous buyers had pulled out.
“We were mentally and financially drained,” Carlton says. “We gave up our rented home on the agent’s advice and ended up sofa-surfing and relying on a client’s spare flat.”
SKILL AND PATIENCE
Yet through persistent engagement with lenders and solicitors, Yeates kept the deal alive. “These kinds of properties aren’t unfinanceable – they just require more skill and patience than most brokers are willing or able to give,” Yeates explains.
With mortgage criteria tightening and EWS1 confusion rampant, many buyers – and advisers – are retreating.
But Yeates warns this creates a distorted market where flats are wrongly undervalued. “Thousands of buyers are missing out because the industry avoids complexity. But these are the deals where savvy clients can find real value.”
The cladding crisis has put an estimated 1.3 million flats under scrutiny across the UK.
And while the government has pledged reform, many lenders remain cautious.
Yeates says the key is specialist knowledge: “We’re seeing mortgage offers collapse simply due to certificates being linked to engineers under investigation — yet there are ways through.”
ALTERNATIVE FINANCE
With another EWS1-related case already underway, Yeates has lined up alternative financing and expects completion soon.
“These are the transactions most brokers walk away from. But they’re also where the biggest capital gains are hiding.”
For now, cladding uncertainty remains — but for those with the right adviser, it may be the UK property market’s best-kept secret.
