Making Sense of "Flood Risk due to Surface Water" (See Map)

lovehols

Purchase is going through, mortgage sorted and they have done their valuation etc no issues so they will lend against property. We paid for a full structural report and although we haven't had this back in full, we have had a long conversation with the surveyor.

One of the issues I want to clarify is the flood risk. The surveyor said it is at flood risk due to surface water. The property is canalside (not on same side to towpath) and we are awaiting environmental searches. We have spoken to neighbours, checked local records about flooding in the area and the seller has said it has never flooded. We have contacted Enviro Agency to ask for the history of flooding in the area and are awaiting their reply.

The information from the environmental agency says the flood risk from surface water is high and the map you can see below (hopefully everyone can see this) the bits in dark blue in the garden. The mark in green I've highlighted is where you drive over the canal bridge to the access the property (the lock is to the right of the bridge the other side of the property). The two bits in pink are the two old railway bridges (tunnels on canal) and are significantly higher than the house but the railway is no longer there, tracks etc gone and a disused piece of land. I wonder if it is at surface water risk because of the high ground above it?

https://flic.kr/p/23Eofbp

Following some advice on other posts I've had some insurance quotes on Compare the Market and it's cheaper than our current house nowhere near a canal in a cul-de-sac! I've ticked it is within 400m of a canal and it does have trees more than 10m nearby so I've done it all right, however taking the cheapest with LV I've reviewed the quote and it then asks:

As far as you're aware, has the property ever suffered from flooding and/or is it located in an area which is currently under a flood warning issued by the environment agency?

So is it under a flood warning or not??? If I say yes we can't get insurance from LV, but I don't know how to interpret 'currently under a flood warning' wording? Other quotes, say with the Post Office don't ask for this information at all, just the proximity to water.

ACG

Have you spoken to your solicitor?

Surface water (from my understanding) is not a flood risk. It just means that if the heavens open and it is a significant amount of water, the drains may struggle to cope and so there would be some water around for a short period of time.

I once seen someone get higher premiums because he was around 15 metres from a river, it just happened that his property was a thte top of a steep hill so his would be fine short of needing an ark to survive. Some calls to insurers and normal quotes were arranged.

But dont hold me to the bit about surface water, I just had something similar when I bought my home last year and I queried it with my solicitor as I am no where near a river or canal - about a mile away.

lovehols

ACG wrote: »

Have you spoken to your solicitor?

Surface water (from my understanding) is not a flood risk. It just means that if the heavens open and it is a significant amount of water, the drains may struggle to cope and so there would be some water around for a short period of time.

I once seen someone get higher premiums because he was around 15 metres from a river, it just happened that his property was a thte top of a steep hill so his would be fine short of needing an ark to survive. Some calls to insurers and normal quotes were arranged.

But dont hold me to the bit about surface water, I just had something similar when I bought my home last year and I queried it with my solicitor as I am no where near a river or canal - about a mile away.

Solicitor has just requested further search on top of the other 'standard' ones, and has asked for the full structural report when we get a copy. If we can get insurance and the mortgage company has no concerns part of me isn't too worried, but the other part of me is analysing everything the surveyor said and worrying!

kaych

Check this site to see if the property is in an area where EA issues flood warning:
https://www.fws.environment-agency.gov.uk/app/olr/register;jsessionid=NLTLZL6MJbnNQYsn8DHpMzFp93gnpL5mXvbh1wJFP1nHlxzQQbTx!1734060942

Flood warning is normally issued for sites at risk from fluvial (river) and tidal (sea) flooding. I would be more worried if your site is at risk of either of the two.

You can use this site to check the surface water flood risks:
https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk

You can find information on how you could manage surface water flood risk from the site. As ACG said, surface water flood risk is more like if there is a large amount of rainfall in a short period of time and they cannot be drained quickly enough, the map shows where the water could be accumulated.

Even though the risk of surface water flooding may be high for your site, you can use the gov website above to check how 'likely' it could happen. So the flood risk could be high but the probability of occurring could be very low.

Slinky

lovehols wrote: »

As far as you're aware, has the property ever suffered from flooding and/or is it located in an area which is currently under a flood warning issued by the environment agency?

So is it under a flood warning or not??? If I say yes we can't get insurance from LV, but I don't know how to interpret 'currently under a flood warning' wording? Other quotes, say with the Post Office don't ask for this information at all, just the proximity to water.

The 'currently under a flood warning' would be if you were to look up the environment agency website and find your house is currently showing as being at risk right now - for example high tides and expected storms.

This is to stop people taking out flood insurance if flood water is coming up the street right now and flooding is a certainty.

Slithery

And there's me trying to figure out why your food is at risk.

freeisgood

Always dry your counter tops thoroughly.

lovehols

Slithery wrote: »

And there's me trying to figure out why your food is at risk.

Oh my god I didn't notice that!!! I can't seem to edit it either.

lovehols

kaych wrote: »

Even though the risk of surface water flooding may be high for your site, you can use the gov website above to check how 'likely' it could happen. So the flood risk could be high but the probability of occurring could be very low.

How do I check the likelihood, that is the website I got the map off but I can't see how to check how likely it is.

The other link seems to suggest everything is fine.

We don't give flood warnings for this address
Xxx

Go back to try another postcode or
Search the nearby area

Possible reasons why we don't give flood warnings are that:

the area is at very low risk of flooding
your area may flood due to surface water or flash flooding but we can't send warnings for this type of flooding yet
our equipment or forecast does not cover that area

lovehols

Slinky wrote: »

The 'currently under a flood warning' would be if you were to look up the environment agency website and find your house is currently showing as being at risk right now - for example high tides and expected storms.

This is to stop people taking out flood insurance if flood water is coming up the street right now and flooding is a certainty.

Ah I see that makes sense so actually the quotes I got for insurance seem fine then despite the high flood risk due to surface water and with the declaration of living less than 400m away from water (canal).

Slithery

In my opinion the flood search results are often useless. The last property my mum bought was classified high risk because there was a stream 100m away, never mind the fact that it was 30m lower than the house.