New Build Searches - Flood risk fail

shorty1988m

I’m back again trying to buy a house. This time I settled on a new build because i thought it would be so much easier. It’s actually an exactly what im looking for but the river views are causing a bit of a complication. It’s not due to be finished until September but they are pushing me to exchange quickly, as they do, but this has be concerned

I’ve received my searches back from the conveyancer after a delay due to the flood risk coming back as a fail. 

Not really surprising as it’s a river view house that is being built in an old ship yard. 

The search focuses on the plot but is laid out on the map which is from before the site was developed. This is a problem because the plot is half on and half off a historical flood area BUT the half of the plot in the flood area is because the area is 8m lower than the other half because a massive wall used to be there. 

The whole area has been redeveloped so my house will be on the higher side but instead of a wall there is a grass area that slowly slopes towards the dry dock. Other than this, there is a very low risk of flooding. 

What effect will this have on things like insurance as it looks to me like the fail mark has been given without all the right information!!?! 

It doesn’t take into account the redevelopment or the height differences between the areas. I’m fine with the risk as I don’t believe there is any, but surely insurers will just look at the ‘fail’

the search company can’t change the fail because it is given from a 3rd party which they have no control over. 

user1977

This has come up multiple times before - the desktop flood searches will be based on the undeveloped land. So it will tell you that e.g. Farmer Giles's field is quite floody.

But obviously, the developers are changing the levels of the land, making some of it impermeable, installing drains etc, all of which changes the flooding profile. So they'll have prepared reports about what the end result should be which will (almost certainly) form part of the planning papers, available on the council's website right now, free of charge, for you (and everyone else) to leaf through.

So go have a look, and encourage everybody else to also use some common sense...

(of course it's possible there will still be a risk of flood which some people find unacceptable, but the desktop reports are a waste of time in this situation)

shorty1988m

Yeh I’ve looked through all the reports and I believe these were all sent to the search company but they won’t change it from a fail. 

I’m just wondering how insurers and the like come to their decisions. If they’re using the current info then they’ll surely raise premiums no matter what I present them

Grizebeck

Why would you buy a house near a river that isn't very high up from the river.....

BobT36

https://flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk/location
https://www.floodmap.net/
https://www.gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk
https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/

Look for yourself. This is something I look at before I even view. 
Flooding is not something I'm willing to risk. Developers don't care though, they're building in marshlands and all sorts of stupid areas, where the land is cheap. 

ProDave

So you are thinking of buying a house, that is built straddling 2 bits of ground that were at different heights.  I would be more worried about what sort of complicated foundations they are using, and how stable the garden will be built up that much.

Go look for a house with less complications.

shorty1988m

Grizebeck said:

Why would you buy a house near a river that isn't very high up from the river.....

It’s 8 metres above the river. It’s a higher elevation than my current house

shorty1988m

BobT36 said:

https://flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk/location
https://www.floodmap.net/
https://www.gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk
https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/

Look for yourself. This is something I look at before I even view. 
Flooding is not something I'm willing to risk. Developers don't care though, they're building in marshlands and all sorts of stupid areas, where the land is cheap. 

I have already looked. The only reason it failed is the historical flooding which is 8m lower than the house but based on position from above it looks as if it is in the area it flooded

shorty1988m

ProDave said:

So you are thinking of buying a house, that is built straddling 2 bits of ground that were at different heights.  I would be more worried about what sort of complicated foundations they are using, and how stable the garden will be built up that much.

Go look for a house with less complications.

The whole area has been reworked over the past like 5 years. It is not built half on old land and half on new land. 

ProDave

shorty1988m said:

ProDave said:

So you are thinking of buying a house, that is built straddling 2 bits of ground that were at different heights.  I would be more worried about what sort of complicated foundations they are using, and how stable the garden will be built up that much.

Go look for a house with less complications.

The whole area has been reworked over the past like 5 years. It is not built half on old land and half on new land. 

If part of the land was 8 metres lower than it is now, it has been infilled.  That will require deep piles to build a house on, then should you later wish to build an extension, that too will have to be on piles, so probably not viable.

Carry on if you want to, but I would not.

This is why there is a housing shortage, because planners will only grant permission on old, unsuitable scraps of land like this forcing builders to re make the land before they can even build.

rigolith

Don't rely on the developer to flood proof it. They might install a working system now, but in 10-15 years when none of the home owners have bothered to maintain it...