Very worried about flat I'm buying.... please advise

bs0u0128

i lived all my life in a house within 50m of floodrisk, never happened once in over 20 yrs, ask if it has ever flooded, dont forget there will be measures to prevent as much damage if and ever it did happen

also with the landfill, a farm could be that,its not necessarily a massive pile of rubbish just sitting there might be worth getting in the car and scouting round urself

melonpan

MrsC, bs0u0128 - has this affected the price of your properties at all???

mrsc_4

I don't think so, we brought our 1 bedroom flat for 93k in 2004 it was owned by an 80 year old lady so we have decorated and had new carpet and flooring in bathroom and kitchen (haven't touched bathroom or kitchen) and we've accepted an offer of 110K we're happy with that, next door sold last year for 98K.

WestonDave

We had a similar issue re a landfill site coming up on our searches - I was actually aware of it anyway as a friend had bought a house slightly nearer it and it came up on their searches. Turned out to be just a farm with a slurry pit in a location that wouldn't affect us at all as any run off from it would be caught in a valley between it and our house.

This is where a bit of map reading and local knowledge comes in. Find out where the floodplain and the landfill are on a proper OS map, then look at the contours and see where any "water" from those sites might run to - i.e. it won't run uphill. If you aren't in line for either flooding or runoff then you have little to worry about. In the case of the flood plain, if you are within 250 metres of it, but that 250m is up a steep slope then there is no problem!

daveoh_2

Hi, If you go onto the environment agency you can look at the flood risk for that are yourself. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/826674/829803/

We recently brought a property and several insurers wouldnt insure without a more detailed flood survey as we are less quater of a mile from the River.

Anyway Kwikfit insurance were the ones we found who dont have the quater of mile rule in the small print.

I should add that we are in a city and the river is the Thames so hopefully a low risk (if the barrier works)

Cheers,

Dave

melonpan

God, this is such a nightmare. Have just contacted the Environmental Health Agency and spoke to the guy in charge of landfills, and he has just told me that the property is located either on or very close to a landfill. He said that there are two former landfills there, but wouldn't give me an exact location, unless I paid £80 for a report. I thought this information was available to the public?

He also said that my mortgage lender now might not be prepared to give me a mortgage on this basis, even though we have already had a mortgage offer from them.

melonpan

The guy at the environmental health agency has just emailed me and told me that the property is located on a former sewage works. It was used for sewage disposal and treatment from 1961 onwards, but was redeveloped about 6 years ago for housing.

I'm seriously thinking about pulling out now.....

mrsc_4

Personally if I loved the place that much it isn't enough to make me pull out

melonpan

To be honest, it's not a place I'm totally in love with, although it is a nice flat. It's within our budget though which was a major factor too. There's not much available around London that we can afford.

rchddap1

If what the environmental officer says is true about your lender possibly withdrawing the mortgage offer...that would be my first port of call. If the lender withdraws the offer then the decision has already been made for you.