House flood after exchange of contracts but before completion

Roger_queen

Hi all, we desperately need help and advice.
My daughter and her boyfriend were due to complete on their house purchase last Thursday but the house flooded ( about 3ft all the way around the house) on Wednesday!
Unfortunately there seems nothing they can do to get out of the deal. The property had previously flooded in July 2007 and as the Surveyor said that in his opinion it would be another 50 years before it would flood again they exchanged. Last night the house flooded again and they really don't want to take this property now. Anyone got any experience of this situation? Thanks

Princess_kate

I think, after exchange but before completion, you can get out of a sale of a house but you would lose the deposit which was to be paid.

angeltreats

After exchange, you are legally bound to complete the sale. Unfortunately there's little they can do about it - if they refuse to complete the vendor could successfully sue them for breach of contract.

They should have had buildings insurance in place from the point of exchange, but this probably won't cover flood damage.

You would be better off re-posting this on the House Selling & Renting board, there would be people there who could give you lots of advice.

Fruball

If the surveyor put that in writing "50 years before it flooded again", then I would see a solicitor about that. Surveyors have to be very, very careful about what they write in a report and that would seem like a very flip comment, not to mention utter guesswork. Seek a solicitor's advice there.

Unfortunately there is nothing they can do to get out of the purchase but as they surveyor was clearly very, very wrong here, I would seek recourse that way.

Roger_queen

Thanks guys, all new to me, how do I re-post onto House Selling and Renting Board?
The suveyor was only from the mortgage company.

TonyMMM

Was it a full survey or a valuation ?

Did they take out buildings insurance from the point of exchange (if not why not) ?

Pink.

Hi Roger,

I'll move the thread across for you now.

Pink

Roger_queen

Thankyou Pink.
It was only a valuation survey, yes they have got insurance in place but really don't want to own a property that has now flooded 3 times.

Fruball

This was more than likely a mortgage valuation rather than a full Homebuyers report.

You say they were "due to complete last Thursday". Did completion not go ahead?

For future reference, and for anyone else who may read this, if a mortgage valuation or anything from the solicitor throws up anything about flooding, pay for an independent homebuyers report which will be very much more detailed. Or, better still, do not touch it with a barge pole

What rotten luck for your daughter and her BF.

Best of luck and please come back and let us know how you get on.

sabretoothtigger

Probably not a house 50 years old, been built on a flood plain maybe

Davesnave

It isn't nonsense to suggest that a property has a 1:50 chance of flooding in any particular year; "a fifty year event" is quite a normal way to describe the risk.

It sounds as if the surveyor was either quoting from Environment Agency data or just giving a personal opinion, which as he wasn't doing a structural type of survey, isn't worth anything.

Because flooding is so site specific, it could be the case that the surveyor is right and no more flooding occurs there until 2107. However, we've been told for years now to expect more extremes of weather, so everyone has to view the existing flood data in that context.

While your daughter may not want the house today, the financial implications of pulling out may see her change her mind by next week. It's a fair guess that the vendor will not be sympathetic, but one never knows. It's a certainty that the house will have lost value because of this and therefore inevitable that someone will have to take a financial hit.

The best ray of hope I can offer is that if many other properties nearby are similarly affected, the local authority might be persuaded to act and put some kind of prevention measures in place, lengthening the odds against it happening again.