Information needed re buying house in flood risk area

boots_babe

Hi all,

We're helping my parents to move to a bungalow, and their favourite is in a flood risk area - in terms of being zone 1, 2, 3 with 1 being the highest, it's zone 1.

Now I know this doesn't mean it will flood, but I also know that near to me in December 2015 certain areas that had never flooded before, did, given the unprecedented rains. So it's a serious risk to consider.

So, before deciding whether to make an offer I want to look into this more for them. Firstly I tried to find online information as to when this propery HAS flooded in the past - I've drawn a complete blank. Is there anywhere that I could find this information out?

Secondly, where should I be looking to find information on flood protection we could put into a property? On googling I get lots of hits but all for companies that are selling things. I'm after impartial information and advice though. Does this exist anywhere?

Sorry if the answers to these 2 questions are obvious, I can usually find what I need online but have really struggled here. My parents love this property so I want to at least look into options for them.

Many thanks.

Ebe_Scrooge

According to this page, you can email the environment agency to get the flood history of a property :


https://www.gov.uk/check-flood-risk


There's also a link on there called "Prepare for flooding" which gives some useful advice.


The other point to consider - insurance. You're likely to find that getting cover in a high-risk area is very expensive indeed, and it's possible that you may struggle to get cover at all. It would be well worth while going onto one of the price comparison sites and getting some dummy quotes beforehand - you may find this influences your decision.

boots_babe

I'd not seen that so thank you, I've just sent an email request, it says they'll reply within 20 working days. Hoping it'll be sooner though!

qazitory

I would recommend getting a home insurance quote as due to flooding, we really struggle obtaining a good price.

I believe the current owner has a legal duty to inform you if it's flooded in the time they have owned the property?

boots_babe

Just to update on this. My parents ended up going for a different house, not in a flood zone, and things are currently progressing with their purchase.

I had in the meantime done as suggested and put a request in to the environment agency, for the flood history of the original property. They were supposed to respond within 20 working days, they managed to reply on day 21, by which time they'd already offered on the other house!

robotrobo

boots_babe wrote: »

Just to update on this. My parents ended up going for a different house, not in a flood zone, and things are currently progressing with their purchase.

I had in the meantime done as suggested and put a request in to the environment agency, for the flood history of the original property. They were supposed to respond within 20 working days, they managed to reply on day 21, by which time they'd already offered on the other house!

it was a no brainer, why buy a worry!.