Latest news with #TriFire
The Guardian
14-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
An expelled fire safety engineer has made my flat unsaleable
I am trapped in a shared-ownership flat, which is proving impossible to sell because the fire safety engineer who surveyed the block is accused of forging fire safety certificates required by mortgage lenders. I own 45% of my home and pay rent on the remaining 55% to Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH). The building has a valid fire risk certificate signed by Adam Kiziak of Tri Fire, but because he was later suspended pending investigation, lenders of prospective buyers view my flat as risky. MTVH is unable to give a timeline of when this will all be sorted out, yet is happy to raise rents while I am stuck. Moreover, it waited three months to inform us, during which time my flat was pointlessly on sale. This is my first home, but it's beginning to seem like a prison. ZV, Stevenage Problems surrounding fire safety certificates have trapped hundreds of people in unsaleable flats, but yours is a particularly unpleasant situation. It was the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire that prompted the requirement for all residential blocks over 18 metres to be surveyed for, among other things, flammable cladding. Risky construction materials and a shortage of fire safety engineers have prevented many buildings from being issued with crucial certificates known as EWS1s. Without these, lenders won't lend. An unknown number of residents are now paying the price of alleged malpractice by Adam Kiziak, whose firm, Tri Fire, has signed off hundreds of buildings since 2020. He was suspended from the Institution of Fire Engineers last November after allegations of unethical conduct and incompetence. The allegations were upheld after an investigation, and he has since been expelled after allegedly forging signatures on EWS1s during the suspension. He denies all wrongdoing. Your EWS1 was issued in 2020, but some lenders have since withdrawn mortgage offers on properties surveyed by Tri Fire. MTVH confirmed it knew of the problem three months before residents were informed and said it had immediately asked your freeholder, Land Charter Homes, to commission a new fire safety assessment. This was agreed and announced shortly after you wrote to me. Land Charter Homes directed me to its managing agent, Six Hills Management Ltd, which said it had spent the intervening months seeking confirmation your building's EWS1 was legitimate before informing residents of the situation. Because of residents in your predicament, it undertook a new survey last month. This has just been completed and the final report is due imminently. In the meantime you have lost a buyer. Hopefully, armed with the new paperwork, you can start to move on by summer.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Suspended engineer accused of forging fire safety certificates for high-rise flats
An expert has been accused of signing off fire safety certificates for flats in high-rise blocks using the credentials and signature of another engineer without permission, the BBC has been told. Adam Kiziak has been under investigation for potential malpractice by the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) - which suspended him in August 2024. However, Mr Kiziak's company is understood to have continued to sign off safety certificates since then. Lenders, including NatWest and Nationwide, are now withdrawing mortgage offers to people hoping to buy flats with fire safety certificates issued by Mr Kiziak's company, Tri Fire. Mr Kiziak's lawyer told the BBC: "Any allegation of fraudulent activity is strenuously denied." Tri Fire carries out safety surveys and issues fire safety certificates for flats in high-rise blocks across the UK. These certificates, known as EWS1s, were introduced in 2019 after the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people. The form rates the fire risk of a building based on its overall construction and an assessment of any cladding. The majority of banks and building societies require EWS1 certificates when deciding whether to lend money on flats in apartment blocks. There is no official register of EWS1 certificates, but analysis by the Building Safety Register has found 410 of the 1,139 EWS1s signed off between March 2020 and the end of 2021 were issued by Tri Fire. Mr Kiziak, who is still allowed to work, can't sign off safety certificates while he is suspended by the IFE. Awwal Salisu, a qualified fire engineer based in Saudi Arabia, told the BBC he entered into an agreement with Tri Fire via a recruitment agency to assess up to 100 buildings. He believes Mr Kiziak used his signature without his knowledge to allow him to continue issuing safety certificates. In the majority of cases, Mr Salisu alleges there was insufficient information to be able to issue safety certificates and returned the forms to Mr Kiziak's company for further work. But the BBC has seen a number of EWS1 forms carrying Mr Salisu's signature and using his IFE membership number, which Mr Salisu says were not among the 100 he was asked to review and which he knew nothing about. "I am very angry about it," says Mr Salisu. "I've had sleepless nights - my reputation is at stake." Mr Salisu says he uses a unique electronic signature on documents that can be traced back to him using the IP address on his laptop He added: "The one good thing about all of this is every report that is submitted with my initials, none of them will actually have my electronic signature." He has written to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the IFE and UK Finance - which oversees the mortgage lending market - to alert them to what he believes has happened. Some major lenders say that they have now stopped offering mortgages on homes signed off as safe by Mr Kiziak, leaving buyers in limbo. First-time buyer Sam Ireland told the BBC his mortgage offer was retracted when his lender discovered the fire safety assessment of the property he hoped to buy had been issued by Tri Fire. "You feel completely powerless," says Sam, who now has to start looking for another flat to buy and arrange another mortgage. "It's just scuppered the whole thing." The BBC has also learned of other people whose applications have been rejected by other lenders where Mr Kiziak's firm was involved. Mr Kiziak's lawyer told the BBC they were unable to offer any further detail as there is a pending investigation, but added their client was "very sorry for any distress and the difficulties that the current situation may have caused". Flat owners urged by MP to check fire safety forms The IFE declined to comment further while its investigation is ongoing. The government recently announced plans to speed up the process of getting the thousands of tower blocks with flammable cladding and fire safety defects fixed. A Freedom of Information request by Construction News found more than 60 blocks accepted into the government's taxpayer-funded Cladding Safety Scheme had been carried out by Tri Fire, throwing into doubt if they have been correctly assessed.
BBC News
29-01-2025
- BBC News
Flat owners urged by Surrey Heath MP to check fire safety forms
An MP has asked apartment owners to check details of safety certificates issued since the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire after an investigation into a fire Al Pinkerton, Liberal Democrat MP for Surrey Heath, wants residents to get in touch if they have an EWS1 form completed by fire assessor Adam Kiziak and the company Tri body the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) has suspended Mr Kiziak's membership while an investigation is acting for Tri Fire have told the BBC the company is working to resolve the issues as soon as possible. A summary of the case said the IFE had sanctioned Mr Kiziak for breaching its codes of pointed to a "failure to hold adequate professional indemnity insurance" and said he had "failed to maintain and work within professional competence".The report also said there was a breach of the IFE's ethical principles for accuracy and a statement, the IFE added: "It would be inappropriate and inconsistent with our commitment to confidentiality to provide ongoing updates or detailed accounts of investigations."EWS1 forms were introduced after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, which killed 72 people when a high-rise block in West London caught fire, and confirm the safety of external wall systems in told BBC Radio Surrey the situation was having an impact on residents."This will be the case all across Surrey and that adds huge stress to an already incredibly stressful system of buying and selling your apartment," he society Nationwide said the investigation into Tri Fire meant it was "temporarily unable to make lending decisions based on its reports without further information and validation".A spokesperson added: "It is the responsibility of building owners to ensure that their building is inspected, and a valid report is in place signed off by a person with the correct qualifications. "We are continuing to work with building owners and the wider industry to find a way forward on impacted Tri Fire cases."A lawyer acting for Tri Fire said Mr Kiziak's suspension from the IFE had been extended pending investigation, but that suspension did not prevent him from working."Our client is very sorry for any distress and the difficulties that the current situation may have caused. It is working to resolve these issues as soon as possible, including alternative options for peer review," he said.
