Flood insurance

sportbeth

Dopey question. Does the insurance company tell you when it is absolutely not covered or do you have to request it?

We're near a river with no immediate risk but would rather be safe than sorry

davidwatts

Not a dopey question for anyone who doesn't have to know about something as dull as insurance for a living!

Home insurance including flood cover should be freely available to the vast majority of uk households, unless their property is at "significant" risk of flooding. In such cases an insurer will probably refuse to offer you cover altogether rather than exclude flood. If they did exclude it it should be made abundantly clear to you.

The Environment agency has plenty of info on flooding and a map you can view by postcode (England and Wales only though). Try this link: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/826674/829803/835495/?lang=_e

If you can get quotes for home cover online without being told to phone up to discuss, you've got nothing to worry about!

Hope this helps and I haven't breached any forum ettiquette. Be gentle on me, it's my first post!

sportbeth

Thanks David.

So can I assume then that if they don't query anything with us then we should be all covered?

We will of course read the small print when it comes through but we wanted to know if there was anything misleading that we should look out for

davidwatts

Absolutely! If there's any percieved problem they will either tell you they are turning you down because of the flood risk or ask you for more information about it. If they apply any non-standard terms to the policy (an increased excess for flood would be more likely than an exclusion) they should tell you about that before you buy the cover.

If you look at your policy when it arrives you'll see that flood is one of the things you're covered for. Just look for anything anything saying that endorsements apply to your policy, and make sure there's nothing saying that flood isn't covered! It's extremely unlikely though. Any queries once you've got the stuff through, just post again.

yoocan

It may be worth noting/clarifying what "flooding" refers to in your policy. Obviously you are referring to fluvial (river) flooding, however there are other types of flooding such as surface water (drain) flooding, sewer flooding (which you really don't want), groundwater flooding, tidal flooding etc. which you may not be covered for.

You mention your property is not at imediate risk (?) if your property is in the 1 in 100 year Environment Agency flood zone (or higher than 1 in 75 year ABI category, "significant risk") , this designation can be challenged, depending on how they arrived at this designation. Since the National Flood Risk assessment output is a compilation of a variety of techniques.

Your flood risk designation will also affect any future development you might consider under Planning Policy Statement 25 (Development and Flood Risk, ODPM) but that's one for another day.

www.yoocan.com