Flood history for buildings insurance

junglist_matty

We are in the process of buying our first house... It's in an expensive area but the house we are buying is cheap. Probably because it has flood history.

However, in recent years, the local environment agency spent a good few million pounds investing in flood defences for the area so the house is now defended from flooding. Obviously this is not a guarantee it won't flood, nor is it a reason to stop the purchase going through because the house was built around 1870 and is in good condition (survey report says so).

Now, the problem is that our solicitor raised the enquiry with the sellers:

"We note property has been affected by flooding. Kindly provide further details."

To which the seller's solicitors responded:

"The seller has no information in this regard. The buyer should rely upon the result of their own searches or contact the environment agency".

The house was owned and lived in by the sellers father who unfortunately passed away 2 years ago and left the house to his daughter (who has spent time renovating the property to sell on). As he has passed away she does not have any exact details about previous floods on the property.


Insurance requirements suggest we inform them about flood history, however, we do not know the flood history for the property and can only go on current information from the environment agency who suggest the property has between a 0-75 and a 0-250 chance of flooding.

How can I find flood history? I've read the flood report from our solicitor's flood search but it has no records of flood history. It's impossible to find any information and it feels like I'm going round in circles!

I am led to believe the property flooded in 1998, although I have not found any official records relating to flood damage on the said property.


Any help or advice would be much appriciated.

Thanks.

huckster

1998 was a bad flood year for many areas of the south of England.

If the Environment agency don't know, the local council authority may have details about flooding in the locality. Just make some enquiries and advise the Insurers of any information you find out.

If you are struggling to obtain Insurance, there are specialists who can arrange cover in most circumstances at a price. One such company is HomeProtect.

rs65

You can only give information to the best of your knowledge. I would be sure to keep a copy of the solicitors correspondence as proof that you have tried to find out.

If the CUE database has a record of that address, you will probably find out more when you take a policy out.

Might be worth trying local papers or the met office if you want to continue trying.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/easter1998/

*Scarlett

Could you ask the seller of the property who they insure with? They may be willing to continue covering the house.

If you are getting other quotes from other insurers they will normally want to know when the flooding happened, what caused it, cost of claim, what defences are in place to prevent further flooding, distance of nearest body of water & the height of the property in relation to it.

I realise that you probably don't have all of this information but insurers may consider cover as it was in 1998 providing there have been no other issues.

Some insurers may make you an offer at a higher premium or with a higher flood excess.

You could ask your solicitors how they came about the fact that the house was flooded. You might be able to find out more that way.

Would the seller be amenable to checking with the company that her father had insured the house with for previous claims?

As an aside, the reply from the seller's solicitor may tell you that there were not any serious flood issues with the house (unless the seller is being deliberately evasive). I'm certain that if my parent's home had flooded they might have mentioned it to me! But all families are different!