Do letting agenst have legal requirement to inform prospective tenants of flood risk?

ladyrider260

We have rented a bigger property & moved in Saturday. On Monday we had a letter plop on the doormat from the Environment Agency saying that we are at risk of flooding & to register with them so they can alert us. :eek: We are located by a river so it's hugely worrying.
I did wonder why:
A, For the size & location of the property, it was so cheap.
B, they made it into an 'upside down' house.
It's an old granary so it has cob walls & is rather cold at present (it was emplty for a while before it was put on the market) so I thought they had done it for conservation reasons, but it seems there's a lot more going on.

I know that the landlord wanted to sell but couldn't (possibly due to the market) & that Estate Agents are required by law to inform prospective buyers of the flood risks, but surely they should have the same obligation to tenants?

Anybody any ideas?

We don't need the worry. We've been through enough & it was a battle to get a half decent home to live in. I was planning on getting contents insurance but now thats going to go through the roof.
I've a nasty feeling we have just moved into a money pit. The heating is almost permanently on, there are cheap spotlights which (I recon) are draining the electric meter & now the thought of doubling the contents insurance.

ILW

ladyrider260 wrote: »

We are located by a river so it's hugely worrying.

.

Do you honestly need a letting agent to tell you that a house located by a river could be liable to flooding?

poppysarah

I was just going to say what ILW has said.
The fact there's a river outside your front door - and if it's one thats been on the news for flooding recently then it should have rung alarm bells.

Where's the kitchen? Is it still downstairs? There's a house not too far from me that's been for sale was a long time and has a kitchen upstairs - so you get a good view of the brook flooding your house whilst you're cooking.

Contents insurance - will be expensive IF you say it's flooded before. you could just say you don't know - but if you know for sure you're best telling them.

Keep all your good electricals upstairs. That way there's less to move if the river rises. (ie: computer upstairs rather than in the lounge)

Ask the landlord what measures they have in place to protect the house - have they got any of the doorway devices that stop water coming in?

ladyrider260

It's a very shallow river about 150mtrs away & there's been nothing about it flooding recently. I know plenty of people whose houses are literally backed onto rivers & even in the worst weather have not been flooded.
I'm guessing that the environment agency only send these mailings out to properties which have flooded in the past - asking around it seems that the people who get them have been flooded before & others who have rivers in their back garden haven't had any mailings.

My question is if anyone knew the law. I don't really need silly comments like 'Do you honestly need a letting agent to tell you that a house located by a river could be liable to flooding?'. You can't see it from here & I only noted that it ran through where it does when I took my son out for a walk. It simply isn't as obvious as that, you can be flooded due to poor drainage from a field.
If there's a legal obligation to tell buyers, it surely must apply to renters?!

maninthestreet

How far is your front door ABOVE the river - it's the vertical distance from the river that is critical, not the horizontal distance.

Planner

No, theres no legal obligation for them to tell you this information when renting, I doubt they would even know unless they are selling/recently bought.

If this is a concern for you then the EA website has flood risk maps that you can check by typing in your postcode when you are looking for property in the future.

If you arent aware that the property has flooded recently, then it may never have. All that the EA can predict is the chances of a property flooding, and all their maps are only indicative. This means that the property may never flood at all, may never flood in your lifetime, or may flood every other year. On the otherside of the coin a property not falling within an indicative flood zone may still flood in an 'extreme' event.

Wickedkitten

Aren't they only legally obliged to tell you if you specifically ask if its prone to flooding? I'm pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that even if you buy a house, it's not compulsory to include a flooding report

tbs624

ladyrider260 wrote: »

...I've a nasty feeling we have just moved into a money pit. The heating is almost permanently on, there are cheap spotlights which (I recon) are draining the electric meter & now the thought of doubling the contents insurance.

Side issue to the flooding question but were you shown an EPC for this property prior to signing up for the tenancy?

Did you specifically ask the LL or LA about flood risk?

You can input a postcode at the Env Agency website to check the likelihood of flooding in a specific area so you could have taken some responsibility yourself for making the necessary checks before signing up.It will tell you whether the risk is
" low, moderate or significant" , so you could still check it out now and then ring round for some quotes before jumping unecessarily to conclusions about the potential insurance costs. Moving house is stressful, and the flood risk may not be as bad as you think.

ladyrider260

tbs624 wrote: »

Side issue to the flooding question but were you shown an EPC for this property prior to signing up for the tenancy?

Did you specifically ask the LL or LA about flood risk?

You can input a postcode at the Env Agency website to check the likelihood of flooding in a specific area so you could have taken some responsibility yourself for making the necessary checks before signing up.It will tell you whether the risk is
" low, moderate or significant" , so you could still check it out now and then ring round for some quotes before jumping unecessarily to conclusions about the potential insurance costs. Moving house is stressful, and the flood risk may not be as bad as you think.

The last time I moved was 10 years ago, so I've realised actually how naive I am about it & how so much has changed!
Whtas an EPC?

I didn't think of asking about flood risks, I was daft to assume that they'd tell you of any problems as I'm not psychic! When I looked to buy years ago one of the houses I looked at was prone to flooding & the agent pointed this out, so I thought that it goes across the board.

barnaby-bear

ladyrider260 wrote: »

The last time I moved was 10 years ago, so I've realised actually how naive I am about it & how so much has changed!
Whtas an EPC?

I didn't think of asking about flood risks, I was daft to assume that they'd tell you of any problems as I'm not psychic! When I looked to buy years ago one of the houses I looked at was prone to flooding & the agent pointed this out, so I thought that it goes across the board.

When you buy a house - the person buying it does their *own* flood checks and their mortgage company will insist they do this. It's not up to the vendor/EA to supply the info. and besides it might not be truthful or they may simply make a mistake.... the mortgage company certianly insist flood and environmental checks are undertaken by the buyer themselves.

barnaby-bear

ladyrider260 wrote: »

I was daft to assume that they'd tell you of any problems as I'm not psychic!

Like.... please rent my house out but be aware the neighbours are scum who play music to 3am, that pub on the corner is the local crack-den, the areas known for gun crime......