House search advice, please!

erm28

Hi!

Me and my husband are in the latter stages of buying a house - we’ve received the mortgage offer and we’ve had the house survey completed, we’re now waiting for the solicitor searches to be completed.

However, the house survey flagged that the property is in a high risk area of flash flooding (it’s also within 300m of a stream) and we’re now worrying that it will crop up in the solicitor searches (we’re expecting it to do so), which might implicate the mortgage offer? Is it likely that the solicitor will inform the lender about this, or would the lender have checked this before issuing the offer? We know we’ll need to consider it when insuring the property, we’re just concerned that the lender will revoke their offer once they know the property is in a high risk of flooding area.

TIA for any info! 

user1977

I wouldn't expect any normal survey to give particularly useful (or any) information about flood risk - what exactly does it say?

Usually insurance quotes would tell you whether the insurers think it's high risk - have you checked yet?

erm28

Hiya! Comments from the survey state that the property is in a high risk of flood area and we should consider this when taking out insurance. We’ve looked into insurance and we are able to get cover. We’re not so worried about this, we’re more worried about the lender receiving information from the searches to say that it’s a high risk property and revoking their offer.

I don’t even know if this is a concern!? We’re first time buyers and new to the process, so maybe we’re worrying about nothing. I’m hoping as long as we can provide evidence of suitable cover, then the lender will be happy to continue with the offer?

Thanks again!

BobT36

I'd be more concerned about flooding than the mortgage! 

Have you checked the official flood maps online yourself? It's one of the first things I do before even bothering to view. 

Keep_pedalling

Flash fooding is another term for surface water flooding and you really should not be that concerned. Our house is in a high risk area for this, but the worse we have seen is water flowing down the street and rather sodden gardens. We have been here 37 years and have never had water enter the house and neither have any of our neighbours. 

The one you would have real problems with are flooding associated with rivers and the sea.

You can check the risk for for any location here.

https://check-long-term-flood-risk.service.gov.uk/postcode

anselld

Get some insurance quotes to see what risk you are actually dealing with.  Bear in mind also things may deteriorate in the future.

user1977

If there were an actual history of flooding then the insurers would know about it, so if the quotes seem at a normal level then that suggests it hasn't (yet!) been a big problem in modern times.

Have you checked the online flood risk maps at e.g. https://www.gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk ? I don't think the typical desktop flood risk searches give you much more detailed info than those. And whether your solicitor gets one is up to them and/or whatever you ask them to get, they're not a standard compulsory requirement of lenders.

propertyrental

How far away is the stream? Is the house higher or lower than the stream? How much?

Kikewise with surface water flooding - is the proiperty higher or lower than the road? The surroundingn land? Is it onnan slop where water might run down into the garden/house?

What did the postman/newsagent / neighbours say when you asked about the most recent flash flood? Have you checked the local paper for reports?

Most of this is commonn sense if you do a bit of investigation...

Like others, I'd be concerned about the actual risk of flooding (who wants that even with insurance?!) than what a lender might/might not decide (which in any case is beyond your control).

BobT36

propertyrental said:

Kikewise

Whew...
(I jest)

Buying on a hill is another good one. Pain to walk / drive but great for less flooding chance. Not impossible, though. Drains can still be a problem.