Flood risk - low/medium risk border

Zetlandroad

Hello all,

The property I'm in the process of (potentially) purchasing appears to be in a flood zone. According to the .gov.uk maps of long term flood risk, the rating for the property is "low risk", however I've noted that the property next door (terraced) is "medium risk". Although my proposed property is in the lightest blue, it's right on the border of the medium blue. There's no deep blue immediately nearby but as there is a large stream (called a river) not far away, there are some deep blue areas (not nearby). I'm slightly concerned given climate change and the future effect this will have on saleability, mortgeability and insurability. I ran a dummy insurance quote and noted no higher premium, nor have there been any issues with mortgage valuation or connected conditions (pending reporting to the lender on search results). I'm aware that the property may not have flooded, hence the low premiums, but that this could change in the event of a flood. The comments are regarding river risk, not surface, which is also low risk. The entire area appears to be low surface risk but with low and medium risk areas for river floods. I'm also aware that there will be uncertainty in the boundary and that the true risk may be very low or medium.

How would the community proceed in this situation? It would be good to hear a few views as this may reflect the sentiment of future buyers. The property status as of now wasn't a major detraction for me, but I'm aware of the increasing risk for floods and hence I could appraise it very differently a few years from now.

The property is on the ground floor of a converted house.

Future saleability is an important factor.

TripleH

It's interesting, where we've bought is a high flood risk area (apparently). I'm not overly concerned because we are at the top of a hill but lower down on the estate we live on I would be a little concerned.

You could be very lucky, lines have to be drawn somewhere and you happen to fall on the better side than your neighbour. It probably means that you are both at near equal risk but you get the lower premiums.

Chandler85

Rivers that flood now, are often rivers that have always flooded.  How often do you hear that the river overwhelmed the defences, if there are defence there then it has previously flooded.

In the same respect there are rivers that have never flooded and are extremely unlikely to ever flood because of what their catchment areas are.

So you are affectively trying to get a crystal ball and guess the future, I would guess if a river floods now it may well get worse, if it doesn't ever flood, then it is a complete guess.