Should we reduce our offer due to flood risk?

Davesnave

You need to speak with your solicitor about the apparent disparity between what they have been old and the publicly available information on the Environment Agency's flood mapping.


Surface water flooding is often a rare event and the likelihood of water actually entering the house can best be assessed at an individual level. No one here can tell you about that, but a surveyor who is familiar with the area probably could.


If the house has had no insurance claims for flooding recorded, it's unlikely the vendors will take seriously any reduction in your offer for potential flooding risk.

RockOnZombies

You would very hard pushed to get any discount on as a result of flood risk as if the EA did their job properly the value of house would reflect its location.

What I would be looking for is to see if there had been any history of flooding in the area from what ever source rainfall, river, drainage network. as pointed out at lot of these maps are developed using complicated modelling but ultimately all they are based on is applying rainfall to topography and see where and how the low spots fill up.

There may be more detailed flood maps available but you will need to contact the Local Authority to see if they have them or ask them about the history of the area, there will be someone whose job title will cover this, either a Drainage Engineer or Flood Risk Officer or variation of that.

Smodlet

AdrianC wrote: »

Which would have been blatantly obvious to a casual observer on the first viewing, way before any offer was put in.

Besides, cracked paving slabs will make zero difference in the event of a surface water flood.

If cracked paving slabs made any difference at all, they might actually assist with drainage a tiny bit, assuming they were laid correctly in the first place. Surface water flooding is literally as unpredictable as the weather.

ProDave

If there is a flood risk, I very much doubt changing the angle of a path would make any difference, unless it was a silly situation where it was on a hill and the path acted like funnel to channel water running down the road into your front door.

Smodlet

It really is high time FTBs had to pass an exam before being allowed to offer on any property, imho. I may contact the Ministry of Fairness (copyright shortcrust) and see if they know how I can get hold of the Ministry of Common Sense. :rotfl::rotfl:

Tzili

Smodlet wrote: »

It really is high time FTBs had to pass an exam before being allowed to offer on any property, imho. I may contact the Ministry of Fairness (copyright shortcrust) and see if they know how I can get hold of the Ministry of Common Sense. :rotfl::rotfl:

Well, maybe. Meanwhile, when the market will crash (and it will crash, it's just a matter of time as these things are cyclic), if I will be in the situation to need to sell, everybody will pick on this issue. Nobody cares about risks till they become reality. And it's Britain. Lovely country with a lot of rain. Sometimes for weeks in a row. This risk must be mitigated and if we decide to go forward it will be mitigated. At the time of placing the offer, the flooding thing wasn't there. Now we have a paper with a big red exclamation mark on it. No need for mockery.

It's interesting and sad at the same time to see how everything is reduced to "Homo homini lupus". Long live the "free world" :beer:

AdrianC

Tzili wrote: »

Well, maybe. Meanwhile, when the market will crash (and it will crash, it's just a matter of time as these things are cyclic)

Smodlet

OP, are you perhaps here on an exchange visit with Crashy Time?

timeism0ney

You need to find out if this property was actually flooded recently, or maybe even ever - 17 years isn't such a long time! If it has I wouldn't buy it for any money for 2 reasons: 1) difficulty selling in the future; and 2) worrying every time it rains - who needs that?

If it hasn't been flooded then I'd think very carefully and still wouldn't buy it.

Reducing the offer by 10k is neither here nor there. You should be either !!!!!! scared or not worried much at all depending on your attitude to risk and on your plans to live in this house forever.

DairyQueen

We have owned a house in an area of surface flood risk for 12 years. It has never flooded.

The area last flooded in 1993 but the house didn't flood.

It backs onto a flood plain which occasionally contains standing water after heavy rain. The last time that happened was 2012.

I pay a higher premium to insure the house but insurance has never been refused.

EA maps of flood risk areas are freely available online but the price of properties here are only minimally affected. When I come to sell I will ensure that any prospective buyer is advised of the flood categorisation and ask them to do their due diligence before wasting my and their time.

Bottom line is that properties in flood risk areas rarely flood. It's a 1 in 100 year risk on my property. 1 in 10 on the flood plain and 1 in 1000 for the lowest flood risk area.

If a property has flooded in living memory then the selling price will reflect that. I wouldn't expect any vendor to fall for the "we have discovered the flood risk and will now pay you £10k less" trick.