Do insurers know about flooding on a property?

JoeEngland

When you get an insurance quote for a house you intend to purchase do insurers have access to information about past flooding on the property which gets factored into the quote?

Sandtree

They will have floodmaps for the area and have their own claims experience for the area.

Only if they have insured your own property during a flood with they definitively know the answer but otherwise they will use assumptive results from the flood maps

JoeEngland

Sandtree said:

They will have floodmaps for the area and have their own claims experience for the area.

Only if they have insured your own property during a flood with they definitively know the answer but otherwise they will use assumptive results from the flood maps

Thanks. I was wondering whether insurers also share a database on which properties have made flood claims.

TELLIT01

Doesn't one of the questions asked refer to flooding?  If it does, the insurer will have no need to share a database as failing to disclose that information would immediately invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim for flood damage.  Insurers will certainly have access to information about properties whether they insure them or not.

missile

In the event of a claim they will check and if they find you have not disclosed information your policy may be voided.

Mickey666

TELLIT01 said:

Doesn't one of the questions asked refer to flooding?  If it does, the insurer will have no need to share a database as failing to disclose that information would immediately invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim for flood damage.  Insurers will certainly have access to information about properties whether they insure them or not.

How can a new owner be expected to know the flooding history of a property?

If such a question is asked, just answer 'don't know'.

davidmcn

TELLIT01 said:

Doesn't one of the questions asked refer to flooding?  If it does, the insurer will have no need to share a database as failing to disclose that information would immediately invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim for flood damage.  

The insured can only disclose information they actually know about, I presume the OP is talking about historic claims by previous owners.

Sandtree

JoeEngland said:

Sandtree said:

They will have floodmaps for the area and have their own claims experience for the area.

Only if they have insured your own property during a flood with they definitively know the answer but otherwise they will use assumptive results from the flood maps

Thanks. I was wondering whether insurers also share a database on which properties have made flood claims.

There is the Claims and Underwriting Exchange db that insurers use; I've not used it in anger for Home insurance and so cannot say if anyone does a property level of search, its more commonly used to find policyholders who are lying about their claims history.

Thrugelmir

Mickey666 said:

TELLIT01 said:

Doesn't one of the questions asked refer to flooding?  If it does, the insurer will have no need to share a database as failing to disclose that information would immediately invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim for flood damage.  Insurers will certainly have access to information about properties whether they insure them or not.

How can a new owner be expected to know the flooding history of a property?

If such a question is asked, just answer 'don't know'.

Seller has to disclose this information when the enquiries are made. 

TELLIT01

Mickey666 said:

TELLIT01 said:

Doesn't one of the questions asked refer to flooding?  If it does, the insurer will have no need to share a database as failing to disclose that information would immediately invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim for flood damage.  Insurers will certainly have access to information about properties whether they insure them or not.

How can a new owner be expected to know the flooding history of a property?

If such a question is asked, just answer 'don't know'.

I wouldn't purchase a property these days without asking that question.  Flooding is becoming such a common experience it just seems common sense to me.

Mickey666

Thrugelmir said:

Mickey666 said:

TELLIT01 said:

Doesn't one of the questions asked refer to flooding?  If it does, the insurer will have no need to share a database as failing to disclose that information would immediately invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim for flood damage.  Insurers will certainly have access to information about properties whether they insure them or not.

How can a new owner be expected to know the flooding history of a property?

If such a question is asked, just answer 'don't know'.

Seller has to disclose this information when the enquiries are made. 

I understand that, but what if the seller lies about previous flooding what then?  Or what if the seller says they haven;t had any flooding but didn't know about a previous owner's flood claim - either genuinely, or because the previous owner lied?

Seems unfair for the buyer to have a claim denied because he passed on the seller's answer in good faith.