Environmental searches - flooding

MrMagic

Going through the house buying processes and the moment and i've just received the results of our environmental searches.

All was as expected, until the flood risk section.

Initially it reads - 

"Data provided by the Environment Agency indicates the property and the building footprint (as determined by current OS mapping) are within an area of Negligible river & sea flood risk." and "The Ordnance Survey Map indicates that the property is not located within 250 metres of a body of surface water, such as a stream, river, canal, reservoir, lake or pond"

All good then, but I was also surprised to see -

"Data provided by JBA Risk Management indicates the surface water flood risk to the property is High (1.3% chance of flooding up to 30cm) and is likely to encroach the building footprint (as determined by current OS mapping). Therefore, we consider the overall risk of flooding to the property to be High"

There is Carpark at the front of the row of houses, which according to the map provided is the only 'high risk area', The shaded high risk protrudes around 5 metres(?) beyond the doors of the terraces properties next to it. All other areas on the map are either marked as low risk or no risk marked at all. 

The report then goes on to say - 

"Data provided by JBA Risk Management indicates there is a negligible risk of groundwater flooding to the property."  However - "The JBA Risk Management Floodability Rating at this location is Amber. As a result, it is likely that flood insurance should be available at standard terms. This should checked and an appropriate policy should be purchased prior to exchange of contracts"

Does anyone have experience of this sort of report outcome?

Its not the sort of place I'd think of as being of risk of any type of flooding. I've even drove past the property recently. We'd had an usually high amount of rain, but there wasn't any visible standing water in the carpark area at all, or anywhere else. However, I am starting to wonder whether we will have insurance issues based on the outcome of this report. 

user1977

Insurance issues are easy to check - get your quotes now from the usual comparison sites and see what they say. If insurers think it's a problem they'll either be high prices or refusing to cover.

tacpot12

Surface water flood risk is also something that could be reduced by installing better drainage. If you do buy the property, it could be worth working with the owner of the car park and other houses to improve, or at least properly maintain the drainage so that the proeprties are never flooded. Once a property has been flooded the 'risk' goes up exponentially.  

MrMagic

tacpot12 said:

Surface water flood risk is also something that could be reduced by installing better drainage. If you do buy the property, it could be worth working with the owner of the car park and other houses to improve, or at least properly maintain the drainage so that the properties are never flooded. Once a property has been flooded the 'risk' goes up exponentially.  

These are former council houses (sold off in the 1980s?) but the local housing association still owns the carpark land. Seems the survey is based on the ordinance survey description of the 'lay of the land' where the carpark area is very slightly lower than the road beside it. My understanding so fair is the housing association are obliged to keep the carpark accessible and also undertake necessary repairs. Obligations will become very clear as the check progress I'd imagine. The current owner has been there a few years and they told us carpark has never needed work and she has never been asked to pay anything. Its a tarmac carpark surrounded by grass on one side and residents gardens on the other. The findings have the whole carpark marked as high risk, plus the gardens and a few metres of the front of most of the houses. Oddly no high risk on the footprint of the house for our prospective neighbours property to the right, about 1 metre for the one to the left and 5 metres into our property. Moving along the row the area marked high risk intrudes onto the footprint of houses to a greater degree and sometimes much of a house is coloured as high risk, while the neighbouring one is not so much. Then again, the map is drawn in the style of blocks, so I'm not quite sure just how accurate all this risk really is.