Buying a flat with flood risk - conflicting info. Need help!

ToreeDee

Hi all. 

We are FTB and buying a leasehold flat. Our searches came back this week with the following flagged up in red/amber:

River and coastal flooding - High
Surface water flooding - Significant
Ground stability (subsidence) - Moderate-High

I have checked this on the government’s long term flood risk website, and a conflicting information comes up. On the gov website the building appears to be in the low flood zone; however, the underground stream seemingly runs directly under the building, hence that thin stream line is marked as a high flood zone.  I’m really confused, as at the same time groundwater flooding comes up in green on the report as says “low”. There are no other bodies of water around. Can anyone please suggest what this means, and is it really a risk?

The report also has two historical flood records, but both in 1988. It doesn’t specify the type of flood. I found information online that this was addressed in 1990’s, and earth dam was built approximately 1 mile from the property. Since then, there’s no record of any type of floods in the area.
This is a leasehold flat and buildings insurance is included in the service charge. Service charge is £100 a month, which is normal for this area. Our solicitor has sent the relevant enquiries to the seller’s solicitor, but in the meantime we are just trying to understand if we should continue with our purchase..?

The block of flats itself is located on a slight slope, but also down the hill. We asked a few neighbours and they said they have not experienced flooding.  

We’re not sure what to do? How serious this is, also considering the subsidence being moderate-high?
How difficult it will be to sell the property in about 5-6 years? We are buying in the borough of Watford (Hertfordshire) with very good connections to London. 

I have attached two pictures for reference (red stream under the house- river flooding, and second picture surface water flooding)

Many thanks! 

ToreeDee

Edit: Past floods in 1988 were fluvial. 

Skibunny40

Have you tried a dummy check for getting buildings and contents insurance? This might be another issue with insurers unwilling to quote / sky high quotes, if they're using the same data

user1977

What floor is the flat on? 

How old are the flats? Modern developments will have much more detailed flood risk assessments among the planning papers.

ToreeDee

Skibunny40 said:

Have you tried a dummy check for getting buildings and contents insurance? This might be another issue with insurers unwilling to quote / sky high quotes, if they're using the same data

I did try and it looks ok? But from what I know the buildings insurance is already included in the service charge, so we don’t need to worry about it?

ToreeDee

user1977 said:

What floor is the flat on? 

How old are the flats? Modern developments will have much more detailed flood risk assessments among the planning papers.

It’s a ground floor flat unfortunately, which we would quite prefer in normal circumstances..it was built in 1980s. I searched, but couldn’t find any documents.