Advice on whether to buy this house - flood risk

sxp842

Hi everyone, would appreciate some advice on how to proceed with our house purchase.

We recently had an offer accepted on a lovely house. However, we’ve just had the solicitor’s searches back and it shows that the house is in a high risk flood zone for rivers, significant risk for surface water flooding, and low risk for groundwater flooding.

I then got a separate report done which has shown a moderate to high risk for river flooding and surface water flooding, and moderate risk for groundwater flooding. It’s in flood zone 3.

I’m getting a more in depth report done, however we just had a survey done and the surveyor said that he couldn’t see any signs of flooding. The seller has also confirmed that the house has never flooded. I’m thinking about going to the area this weekend and asking the neighbours. I know from a google search that the town centre in purley (London) was flooded quite badly a few years ago, but I can’t tell whether our particular road was affected.

I suppose my question is - what impact will this have on resale? I know some people won’t even consider a house like this, but do you think we will have real difficulty selling it in the future? If so, would it be worth trying to negotiate a discount? There is a chain though so I’m not sure how practical that would be. Building insurance won’t be a problem by the way.

Best case scenario is that the house has never flooded, but it’s always going to be in a high risk flood area and will show up as such on any future searches. And the local area has flooded before, and likely will again. But, it’s a perfect house for us, and if we don’t go for it, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to afford something like this again.

Any opinions would be welcome!

Thanks

sleepymans

Why not ask your buildings insurer to give you a quote for cover which includes flood cover.

Also if you are applying for a mortgage you may run into problems with their valuation, or willingness to lend at all.

Personally I would be very wary, Though I do think as time goes on much of Britains housing stock will become included in flood risk maps at some level!
It!!!8217;s similar to weather forecasts today.....they always predict extremes in some inane attempt to avoid under reporting!!

sxp842

thanks, the mortgage actually isn’t a problem though. Would almost be easier if it was, then the decision would be taken out of our hands lol

Tiexen

Have you checked this site?


https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/warnings

sxp842

I just took a look at that website and it says that there are no flood alerts in place for the property, but I don’t know if that helps us assess the future flood risk?

thermal2844

https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk/map

Davesnave

sxp842 wrote: »

I just took a look at that website and it says that there are no flood alerts in place for the property, but I don’t know if that helps us assess the future flood risk?

It was the wrong page. thermal has given you the correct one.

KL0001

We!!!8217;re about to purchase a house with a flood risk similar to yours, intact the whole village (of 3000 homes) has the same flood risk. Essentially it seems that if you are anywhere near a river, the flood reports show a risk of flooding. Having spoken to several people I work with, who all live in different areas, many of them say their house was in a flood risk area, but no one has had any problems. So long as you can get insurance to include flooding, and the property has no history of actually flooding, then I!!!8217;d go ahead.

victoriavictorious

Our present (Victorian) house is in a street 2 lines back from a 'naughty' river that floods a lot. It's currently SSTC.
It also has a moderate to high surface and groundwater risk.
Has the house (or street) ever flooded? No.
Did we have problems getting insurance or a mortgage? No.
Have there been increased premiums? No.
Have we had problems selling on as a result? No.
I think your best bet is to approach a couple of the better known insurers, tell them the situation and see what they say. If they don't see it as an issue (which they probably won't if there has never been any flooding) then future buyers/ their lenders are unlikely to see it as an issue either.
FYI, we have been insured with Halifax in the past, and are with Nationwide at the moment. Both were happy with the situation.

sxp842

Thanks for the replies. Just took a look at the map and it says medium risk for river and seas flooding. According to the map, the flooding will cover just our house, but not the garden! Which is odd because the owners say they!!!8217;ve never been flooded. The road in front of our house has a high risk of surface water flooding, but the house has a medium risk.

To the people that are buying and selling their house - did it take a bit longer for the house to sell? And did the flood risk affect the value of the property?

Building and contents is coming up as approx £300 per year. That includes £50k contents cover and a rebuild value of £330k - does this sound about right?