Last week I asked whether you should buy a modern flat now in Battersea. The new government cladding figures came out on 28 October, so I went straight to the Wandsworth line. Short answer: nothing has moved.
So what's happening?
The cold hard facts, from the government's September building safety release (figures to 30 September):
- Across England, 4,732 buildings of 11 metres and over with unsafe cladding are now being monitored, eight more than in August.
- 2,621 of them (55%) have started or finished works. 1,878 (40%) are finished, up from 1,849 (39%) a month earlier.
- In Wandsworth, which covers Battersea and Nine Elms, there are still between 101 and 200 buildings on the list: 43% finished, 8% under way and 50% not started. In August it was 43%, 8% and 49%.
So England creeps forward, with 29 more buildings finished in a month. Wandsworth's finished share hasn't budged, and half the borough's listed buildings still haven't started work.
But what does it mean for Battersea?
Stuck buildings make nervous buyers. And nervous first-time buyers don't pick through a block flat by flat. They walk away from the whole building.
That's the mistake. Right now I'm seeing it on the patch: a good flat, a decent lease, a sensible service charge, and the buyer is gone the moment the word cladding comes up. That's my own observation, not a statistic. But that's exactly where value is being left on the table, because not every block on that list is the same. Some are fixed. Some are funded. Some genuinely are an open question. The trick is telling them apart.
Fixed, funded or open question?
Three things to ask before you fall in love, or walk away.
- The EWS1 form. It isn't a safety certificate and it isn't a legal requirement. It's a form lenders and valuers may ask for, to judge whether work on the outside walls could affect value. If the building has one, ask what it says and when it was done. If your lender wants one and there isn't one, expect delays.
- Who's paying. Ask the managing agent or freeholder which route the building is in: the developer, the Building Safety Fund, the Cladding Safety Scheme or the ACM programme. Lenders who signed up to the industry statement on cladding will lend on 11 metre plus buildings where the work is being done by the developer or through a government-funded scheme, or where the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act apply, backed by a leaseholder deed of certificate.
- When work starts. Funded isn't finished. Get a start date and a finish date in writing.
Fixed, or funded with dates, and you're buying a flat. No EWS1, no scheme and no dates, and you're buying an open question. Price it that way, or don't buy.
Watch 5 November
The Bank of England's next rate decision is on 5 November. In September it held Bank Rate at 3.75%, and three of the nine committee members voted for a rise. If rates ease, the first-time buyers who walked away come back. If they don't, they stay on the sidelines and flat prices stay soft for longer.
Either way, the buyers who've done the homework go first. They already know which blocks are fixed, which are funded and which are open questions, and their offers are in before the crowd turns up.
My take
Wandsworth is stuck, but stuck isn't the same as hopeless. Don't buy a block on its brochure, and don't bin a block on a headline. Ask the three questions, get the answers in writing and let your solicitor and lender check them. This isn't financial advice, so take independent advice, of course.
The next government figures land on 25 November. I'll be checking the Wandsworth line again.
Are you looking at a Battersea or Nine Elms flat with a cladding question hanging over it, or sitting in one waiting for a start date? I'd genuinely like to hear how it's going. Drop me a line at jeroen@claphampropertyblog.com or call 07837 093554.
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07837 093 554
Sources: MHCLG Building Safety Remediation monthly data release, September 2026 (28 October 2026) and August 2026 (30 September 2026); MHCLG, Understanding fire risk appraisals of external walls in blocks of flats; MHCLG, Building Safety Fund: information for leaseholders and residents; UK Finance, Industry statement on cladding; Bank of England Monetary Policy Summary (17 September 2026).
