Cladding victims preyed on by fire safety fraudsters: Thousands of flat certificates may be fakes

Leaseholders are being charged thousands of pounds for forged fire safety certificates needed to prove their homes are safe from dangerous cladding, the Mail can reveal.

More than a thousand homeowners desperate to know if they are living in fire-trap flats have been shocked to discover that crucial reports have been forged or signed off by unqualified engineers.

Experts believe thousands of dodgy investigations are being carried out across the country.

Rogue companies can pocket five-figure fees for the surveys alone – and can then cash in from any work deemed to be necessary. 

Around 1.3million private flats are unsellable unless they pass safety tests after guidance issued in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy

One firm even used a rugby club teammate of the boss to sign off one survey, despite him not being qualified to do so.

It means families could be living in fire-risk flats wrongly signed off as safe, with others facing paying hefty bills for safety measures imposed on the basis of insufficient evidence.

The Daily Mail is campaigning to end the cladding scandal. Around 1.3million private flats are unsellable unless they pass safety tests after guidance issued in the wake of the Grenfell fire, which killed 72 people in 2017. 

But with fewer than 300 engineers qualified to carry out these surveys, known as EWS1, some leaseholders have been told they may have to wait up to ten years to get one.

At least ten buildings have fallen victim to forgeries, according to evidence obtained by the Mail – but experts believe this is the tip of the iceberg.

Labour housing spokesman, Thangam Debbonaire, called the scandal ‘extremely troubling’.

Ms Debbonaire said: ‘This is the latest sign that the Government has completely failed to tackle the building safety crisis over the last three years. The EWS1 system isn’t working and ministers need to urgently take control of it and put in place a much faster and fairer process.’

Of the ten forged certificates, nine were provided by Welsh fire safety firm Specialist Facade Inspections Ltd (SFI), which says it has ‘certified and experienced inspection teams’ to carry out EWS1 tests.

Ex-policeman flagged up fake form 

Gareth Griffiths with wife Una outside their flat in Century Wharf, Cardiff

Retired police inspector Gareth Griffiths saved leaseholders from paying £110,000 for a fraudulent fire safety certificate after he discovered that it had been forged.

Fire safety firm SFI conducted a survey at Century Wharf in Cardiff in July last year.

But Mr Griffiths, 67, who has lived at the 941-flat development for 13 years, said the resulting certificate ‘didn’t look right’.

He rang the surveyor whose signature was used, who told him she had nothing to do with SFI. Mr Griffiths said he reported it to the development manager, who ‘thanked him for saving his bacon’ as he was about to pay £110,000 for the survey.

Mr Griffiths said: ‘A new survey could be around £300,000 – and that’s before they even tell us what needs to be fixed.’

SFI said its survey has since been reviewed and verified by a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

A spokesman added: ‘The fact that certain residents do not accept findings does not invalidate the conclusions.’

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Issues were first raised in August last year, when leaseholders at a building in Wallington, Surrey, were told after an SFI survey they would need repairs costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

Residents discovered the firm’s director was 22-year-old business graduate Joshua Tedstone, who had no background in fire safety.

His father, Paul Tedstone, has run a string of construction companies. The surveyor whose signature was on the form had also pinned a note to her LinkedIn profile stating EWS1 forms using her name are ‘fraudulent’.

She told the Mail: ‘Any EWS1 forms signed off using my name are fraudulent. At no time have I ever undertaken EWS1 inspections, or signed off any reports, or agreed for them to be signed on my behalf.’

Challenged by residents via a lawyer, SFI returned its £14,000 fee for the survey. The Mail has seen the same forged signature on EWS1 reports for nine other buildings in England and Wales.

Eight of these were also provided by SFI, while the other was by PT Consultancy, whose director is Paul Tedstone.

In at least two instances SFI recalled the certificates, but reissued forms signed by a teammate of Joshua Tedstone at a rugby club, who was not qualified to do so.

SFI, which has carried out 79 EWS1 reports, said it initially used a surveyor who said he was qualified to sign the certificates, but – unknown to SFI at the time – had actually been using a colleague’s details to validate them without informing her.

SFI said its surveys were ultimately signed by a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), who upheld the original findings. Paul Tedstone, 52, from Gwent, South Wales, has previously said the firm was a ‘victim’ of the fraud.

Chartered fire engineer Jason Hill warned the system was open to exploitation because there were not enough qualified professionals to carry out the work, while the certificate can be downloaded from the internet. He suspected ‘thousands’ of substandard reports are likely to have been carried out.

A RICS spokesman said: ‘RICS is aware that unqualified people may be signing off EWS1 forms and condemn anyone using the current situation for their own personal gain, with potentially dangerous consequences.’

A Government spokesman said: ‘We utterly condemn this vile practice and if there is evidence of criminality we urge anyone to contact the police, trading standards and RICS.’

The Government has promised to train 2,000 more engineers to carry out EWS1 surveys by the end of June.

n RICS is today issuing guidance to clarify which buildings require an EWS1 form which could mean nearly 500,000 leaseholders no longer need one. For example, it will not be required for buildings of five or six storeys where cladding covers less than 25 per cent of the wall.