Preparedness for when

Frugalsod

thriftwizard wrote: »

They've abandoned the last tranch of housing on the new, 260 residences plus, estate where the old factory was, down by the river. They put in pumps to "drain" the site last autumn, when water was literally fountaining out of the foundation trenches. The pumps are still running 24/7, and the water still fountains out when it rains, although they have managed to get rid of all the waterfowl that had set up home in the small lake that had developed. You wouldn't get me, or anyone with local knowledge, to pay half a million pounds for a waterside executive townhouse down there...

Yes but they are not going to be sold to locals anyway. There is a development near me which has almost entirely been sold to Dubai and the surrounding areas. So 900 or so apartments with sea views make up much of the local authorities new housing requirements but will do absolutely nothing to help local housing. So in a few years time we will still have a housing crisis and politicians will wonder why didn't all the house building help solve the problem?

[Deleted User]

Our village is actually on the river, we have a little beach and a public hard for boating and even a tiny harbourmasters tower on the front and then the road steeply slopes upwards and the actual village is 1/4 mile from the river front. A friend worked for a local estate agent whose offices were at the top of the slope up on the edge of the village and she got a call from the insurers saying they weren't going to renew the policy on the building, when she asked why the girl on the other end said because you are right next to a river. 1/4 mile uphill at the top of the slope said my friend, but you'll flood said the insurer, hell will freeze over first said my friend and we never have flooded in this village, ever, honestly, but you're next to a river said the insurer, look at a map and look at the contours said my friend, but it's a river said the insurer.......so my friend phoned round and got various quotes from other insurance companies all of whom would insure the offices and then got a phone call from the supervisor of the girl in the first insurance company to say sorry we will insure you as you've never been flooded before have you? TOO LATE they'd accepted a much better quote for the same cover from another company, Insurers should really train their staff in customer service and map reading shouldn't they?

calicocat

When I was buying 2 yrs ago, I must admit I did look into flood patterns for the area and where was likely......and did avoid those areas to be fair.

However, once, a few years ago it did happen (massive snow fall), hadn't before for years, and probably won't again, but the potential insurance was insane for those properties.

The more people shove flagging or concrete around their house though, the more this is going to happen.

I don't think i'm at any major risk, but I have planted a couple of trees in the front,titchy baby ones at the moment, as when it pours down, it is clear the drains can not cope. I wonder whether modern building takes this into consideration in the long term.

jk0

I have two ground floor flats in neighbouring blocks at the same level. One pays a flood premium and one doesn't. The only difference is the last two letters in the postcode.

Mad beggars, eh?

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

Well in theory once they are satisfied any harassment should cease until the next round in a couple of years.

A pity the theory doesn't match the reality.

Thee's also the possibility of assault, rape, and a falsified TVL 178.

Softstuff

GreyQueen wrote: »

:eek: Blimey, first four digits of your post code in a lot of places I know is a post town covering an area of about 15 x 15 miles, with a huge variety of topography and therefore flood risk. You'd get a poor result of flood risk assessment using such a method..

Over here there's some insurers working purely from postcodes, but a postcode here is a 4 digit number which denotes at least one town! At our flat, a previous insurer declined our renewal the subsequent year deeming us to a flood risk based on postcode. We weren't, we were on stilts there with drainage into a huge field lower than us, but then again, they also would have declined our upstairs neighbours on the same basis!

Flooding is a huge risk over here in a lot of areas and happens regularly. So much so that state government made it mandatory recently that if an insurer will insure your house, it has to include flood cover. Thus raising premiums and making it impossible for many people to be insured for anything else....

Mrs LW, having worked for an insurance company, it wouldn't have been down to the person your friend was speaking to to do the map reading and flood assessment, most insurance companies have entire departments that deal with flood risk assessment. Chances are after speaking to your friend, that representative got onto the flood department and told them what your friend said and then they reassessed that particular address based on information given. You'd be surprised though how many people phone an insurer saying "I'm nowhere near water " when they could dip their toes in the river from their back porch! People phoning us for quotes used to think we were in the city, but we were local and knew exactly where they were calling from and if it was even worth calling the flood department to see if they could be rerated.

[Deleted User]

The silly thing about the insurance policy was that the estate agents offices had been insured by that particular insurer for quite a few years previous to the refused renewal and we'd never had any problems from the river in all that time, nothing had changed, no floods, no problems at all and not likely to be problems because of the height of the slope above river level, so my friend was totally mystified at the change of circumstances. It may be that the insurers were being ultra cautious but without any reason to do so.

[Deleted User]

In terms of prepping stores I always keep in a good supply of cuppa soups and yesterday in T*sco the HEINZ TOMATO cuppasoups were on offer at 59p a packet. They are by far and away the nicest I've ever tried and taste very like the tinned tomato (the only tinned soup I've ever liked) and make up to a thick and comforting cup full, would be worth investing if you like tomato soup!

Frugalsod

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

In terms of prepping stores I always keep in a good supply of cuppa soups and yesterday in T*sco the HEINZ TOMATO cuppasoups were on offer at 59p a packet. They are by far and away the nicest I've ever tried and taste very like the tinned tomato (the only tinned soup I've ever liked) and make up to a thick and comforting cup full, would be worth investing if you like tomato soup!

Making Cream of Tomato soup is also incredibly easy to make. I use a couple of packets of passata to make the equivalent of 4 cans of tomato soup. It tastes as good as the Heinz variety.

ivyleaf

Frugalsod wrote: »

Making Cream of Tomato soup is also incredibly easy to make. I use a couple of packets of passata to make the equivalent of 4 cans of tomato soup. It tastes as good as the Heinz variety.

My husband detests Heinz Tomato soup because when he was a child, that was what his mother always gave the children for lunch or tea after they'd been to the dentist!