will you buy a house at risk of flooding

Scooby_Man

Factor in the climate changes to see if there are real risks of floods (historical data of the weather in the UK is getting increasingly inaccurate to predict the future).

Personally, I wouldn't.

epz_2

i would like to agree with everyone else and say no but in reality i would probably say maybie depending upon how much less the price is and the actual layout of the place.

eg if it was 40% less than similar propertes and uninsuable i could probably handle replacing the lower rooms furniture every 5-10 years though i would only do it if it was my long term home, ie i planned to stay there for decades since as pointed out it will be virtually unsellable.

sarah_elton

About 6 years ago when I still lived at home, our house was flooded. We only had about 2 inches of water in, but it led to 6 months of complete chaos. Not only do you have to take up the carpets, but take the plaster off the walls back to breeze-block, then bring in dehumidifiers for about a month to dry out the walls, before the process of putting the house back together even begins. Then comes re-plastering, redecorating, re-flooring, having a new kitchen fitted...

No, no, no. And as others have said, if it does flood you'll have trouble insuring against it. FYI, my parents total claim under their insurance for that incident was around £40k (it was large-ish 4-bed house so yours would be less, but still...) - not something you want to stump up out of your own pocket all of a sudden.

Guy_Montag

I seem to remember hearing about someone whose house was regularly flooded. The story was they tiled the floor & walls, made sure all the expensive furniture was upstairs & all the downstairs furniture could be carried quickly upstairs.

Basically they decided there was nothing they could do about it, & worked to mitigate the damage.

pricedout_1

I've heard that surveyors can sometimes put 'risk of flood' in the survey to cover their !!!!!
Def do your own research here as described in the other posts. Press the surveyor for more detail on exactly why this was in the survey.
Use the info to lower the price if you do buy

drowningnotwaving_2

No, cos you've always got to think about the re-sale value and, as others have said, everyone is beginning to sit up and take notice about climate change now. Our weather is so mad at the mo and can only get worse - what seems like a bargain now could be a very expensive unsaleable house in a few years time.

benood

It depends is it actually at risk of flooding or is it just near the river? If it's not flooded in living memory I wouldn't worry - I think the EA searches can sound worse than the reality.

If it has flooded I wouldn't touch it even if they say they've put in new defences.

yoocan

Try and understand the risk better. The Environment Agency flood risk search/map is only a best estimate of the 1 in 100 year flood outline (and the extreme flood outline), this is the search that most surveyors use.

If the property you're interested in is on a higher ground it may worth performing a flood risk assessment using a qualified flood risk engineer. A proper flood risk assessment will tell you precisley what the probability and scale of flooding is for your indivdual property. However, ensure that the assessment is not based on the EA's data alone.

If you find your property is at risk there are a number of products on the market which will help you protect your home.

Climate change is a real factor which the EA is considering, if the property you're interested in is situated in a narrow floodplain, climate change is likely to have a signifcant impact on water levels.

susieb

Hi
I live near a river, the main River Great Ouse (its tidal here), we had a full enviromental risk carried out (cost £40 extra) which confirmed the area has never flooded and is unlikely to. The highest tides for 20 years where in October and the river was fine then, it does have flood defence banks to 7 metres, which are at the bottom of the garden, and a relief channel.
So check everything out well, call the enviroment agency, they are very helpful, the one thing I would be cautious of is owning the riverbank as thats a huge responsibilty, luckily the EA own it here.

Woby_Tide

I remember trying to get insurance on our current place with our previous insurers, one question was 'How far above the water are you?"

right now? or when it's very wet? during a drought? when the tides in? should I call back tonight at low tide, will it be cheaper?