To buy a house on a flood plain?

[Arkbuilder]

We have fallen in love with a house, offer accepted etc. Turns out it's the highest level of flood risk (3). There is a small brook that runs along one boundary. The owners had said it has flooded but never got to the house. We intended to build something bigger on the land. Is this a show stopper? Am I being a fool to proceed?

There is more than one way to build on a flood plain www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/07/building-flood-plain-drainage-architects

www.e-architect.co.uk/england/hind-house

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dezeen.com/2017/04/19/office-of-architecture-elevates-zinc-clad-hamptons-home-above-floodplain/amp/

root-ad.com/designing-high-flood-plain-high-street/

No way!

Hopping in with a more positive point of view:

It doesn't sound like you're in a "housing estate on a river flood plain" scenario.

What you actually have is a house, next to a brook or stream. Like hundreds and thousands of other houses in the UK.

It might be a problem, but equally it might not.

My parents house is next to a stream: the house is rated a 3 flood risk. The stream is in a channel about 8 foot deep, and it regularly gets up within a foot or so of coming over. The road outside their house floods every year. But the next door neighbours have lived there (3 generations) for over 100 years, and neither house has ever flooded. The house is expensive to insure, but not uninsurable. There hasn't been any point at which any of us have been concerned for the safety of the house.

I think you'll need to do your local research before you know whether it's a one in twenty years house or a one in a hundred years. Then you can decide if it's a risk you can live with.

Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole!!!

I’m a geotechnical engineer. I would not buy a house on a floodplain.

Is it in a flood storage zone?

You’ve said that the house has a brook along one boundary - what is the elevation between the brook and the house?

What development is there upstream? Is anything else planned (or likely to be) upstream?

@ContinuityError there is a village about a mile upstream. Between us and the village is a football club and a garden centre. The house is raised about a meter up as it is. I don't know about the flood storage area. How do I find that out? Thanks for your help.

If you’re intending to build on the land you’d need detailed modelling of how that would effect the run off to the stream; any loss of free-draining ground increases the severity of flooding. So far It hasn’t reached the house because there’s sufficient land to absorb the overspill but if you muck about with the current set up you could have problems. You’re also at the mercy of any changes up or downstream that can change the character of your stretch of the stream - building work a mile away could push more water in your direction. Get a proper environmental assessment done if your serious.

Part of my job involves dealing with new developments

Phrase I hear every year when the rains come is “ What is this flood plain you keep mentioning”

Google is my friend and they suddenly realise what a flood plain is.

Normally when the house is ankle deep in water 😳😳😳

My partner is a climate scientist. He chose our current house with reference to avoiding flood plains as top priority.

No, absolutely not.

Some years ago, our house (semi-detached) had a lot of smoke damage when the adjoining house was gutted by fire. It damaged everything in the house; all our carpets and curtains, clothes and accessories, linens and soft furnishings were ruined, a lot of electrical goods were written off. We also had to live outside the house for a long time. We were covered by insurance, and didn’t lose out financially, but it took 21 months and huge emotional resources to conclude.

Dealing with smoke damage was bad enough; I can only imagine how much worse water (and raw sewage) damage would be. You couldn’t pay me to live on a flood plain.

Sorry, OP, I know it isn’t what you want to hear, but that would be a deal-breaker for me.

No. At least check out if you could get insurance before you do. But still I wouldn't.

You could check if it is eligible for insurance through Flood Re www.floodre.co.uk/ where everyone who is insured pays a levy into the pot to underwrite the flood insurance for properties most at risk of flooding.

When you do your extension - make it flood resilient, put your electrics above 1m, render with floor resilient plasters, have a pump sump, landscape your garden so you have channels flowing away from the house et al.

We live 50m above the flood zone 2 and still get flooded due to the lay of the land.... it channels through our back garden, so we have lowered our laundry by 20 cm to create flow through. To stop the rest of the house flooding we open the back door & front door on the laundry & it flows through - no damage to the main living areas. The white goods are raised above the sink flow so don't get damaged.

No I wouldn’t, especially if you are wanting to build something bigger on the land

Definitely not. Where I live there was a major flood a few Christmases ago and for so many people it was utterly devastating. Not only to lose most of your stuff but then to be unable to insure your property and contents going forward is a nightmare.

Bare in mind if it does flood, even if you're reasonably unscathed yourselves you'll struggle to sell your house in the future. Avoid!

No, never, not even with insurance and guarantees. I have seen the damage water can do and I will never move to somewhere at risk of flooding.

Arkbuilder Have you looked at the flood maps? Depends where you are in the UK - Wales shows flood storage areas, not sure about England.

Bear in mind that plenty of owners lie and say that their property has never been flooded, because of the impact on the property value.

I would not touch a flood zone property with a barge pole no matter how idyllic.

We have been flooded twice - overseas so different issues in terms of drainage etc - it's a nightmare, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It's not just the demolition & rebuilding works, it's all the stuff you lose - things the kids made & other items of sentimental value that the best insurance available won't ever replace for you. We have been lucky with our insurance. We have spent a fortune on trying to "flood proof" our house & I do panic about being able to sell it in the future.
I would say don't buy a place that you know is a flood risk, ours wasn't at the time but 2 freak storms changed all that.

Don't do it as you will struggle to get insurance for it. One of the questions on form they always ask is how close to stream/river is house. A friend of ours was flooded in Kent 5 years ago and can no longer insure her house now. She can't sell it either as too close to river and it has flooded twice in 8 years. I am sure you can find a nice house not in flood plane. Floods are getting more common in UK with global warming.

You need to speak with somebody qualified who knows what they are talking about.

None of the replies so far on here are worth reading

I wouldn't buy it if it's as you say. However - get a detailed flood report done before you proceed. You won't get a mortgage if there is a big risk - and are unlikely to get insurance (or you will get extremely costly insurance.)
It's all about risk.

I have lived in my area since I was a child. There is a beck that runs along the whole valley.

In my entire life it's flooded once, in 2007 when we had some awful rain. Some of the properties next to the beck were flooded.

Because of that they are now deemed at high risk of flooding. When I would say actually the risk is still very low.

Nope. No. Just no.

darkcloudsandsunnyskies you’re a hydrologist / hydrogeologist are you?

Yes