Found out devastating news about house we are about to buy, Should we pull out?

[Welikethemoon]

We were all set to move, got everything in place, went for second viewing to show our daughters thier new house for the first time. Owner was there so I asked her about the flood risk which has come up as surprisingly high on the survey. She looked shocked and said she thought we knew it had been flooded twice in last 10 years but flash flood rain water run off and also before she moved in. She had instructed estate agent to tell everyone who viewed. We have had the offer accepted since April, estate agents just told me, sorry they "forgot" to tell us. Now don't know what to do. Thus was supposed to be our "forever" home, that had everything we needed. I have a very specific list of things I wanted and this ticks all the boxes, there us nothing else currently on the market that comes close. It's a significantly bigger mortgage than current place. I don't want to move again after this. Seller has said she has put in extra drainage since the last flood, but it hasn't been tested in similar conditions since so no guarantee it would work. Plus with climate change its more likely to happen.
Husband still wants to move, I'm not so sure. What would you do? AIBU to pull out now, risk losing our buyers and wait for a better house to come on the market?

But if our buyers decide to pull out then we will definitely be severing all ties with this EA!

Well done OP - right decision

Oh and we are not paying any fees to the EA, and they have agreed we don't owe them anything

Buyers don't pay anything to the seller's EA, so they haven't done you any favours there. I doubt you will be able to sue them for the cost of your survey or searches as they will argue that you should have waited to receive the TA6 Property Information Form from your solicitor first. It's usually one of the first things you receive. It's always worth waiting for this before you spend any money. Hopefully you chose a 'no completion, no fee' solicitor so you won't have their fee to pay.

Don't do it.
With this recent spell of dry weather, the next deluge of rain is going to affect a lot of properties. The ground is bone dry so lots of surface water.
If you buy and it floods again, you have to live with the fall out. High insurance, not being able to sell or at a big loss. Why take the risk?

If it is a severe risk don't. I lived in a high risk area, The house next door was engulfed twice, but I wasn't over 20 years of occupation.

However, I was glad to leave. I used to worry about it whenever the water was high, and I used to have terrible nightmares about flooding. You need to have a thick skin about this sort of thing.
My current house has some risk, and I have seen I am vulnerable from studying flood maps of the area, but it never concerns me.

Re disclosure - we bought a house in 1995 and I asked the posh couple of teachers (who banged on about being Christians) if they had ever been burgled. 'Oh, no, never' came the reply. We got nothing in writing (we were like babes, first time buyers) After we had been there for 3 months a letter came in an envelope showing it was from Avon & Somerset Police. On a whim, I 'accidentally' opened it. 'Dear Mr and Mrs Smith - about your recent burglary...' I rang them up at their new address and politely asked if Jesus knew they had lied to sell their house. She said 'Oh I forgot'. New window and door locks all round. Not been touched since.

Probably kids from their school who found out where they live. Bet they were shit teachers.

Missing he point slightly - but you should immediately change the locks when you move in. Day one.

Oh yes and never expect Christians to be more honest, ethical, kind or law abiding than the general public.

Oh, I didn't then, and don't now, but I thought it was kind of ironic. They had a 'Jesus lives here' poster in the hall. I believe they were in a kind of sect called the Alpha Church.

i thought that was a legal requirement to tell things like this

We travelled nearly 200 miles to view a house. The agent had also “forgotten” to mention that it had flooded twice in the previous 5 years.

I wouldn't buy, in your position.

I would probe further on the flooding to see how bad it was and I would check out insurance. Our new house was in a flood risk area and we struggled to get insurance in the first year and paid massively for it.

you need more detail to make a decision but if not convinced its ok , i’d find another house

Op you seem to be getting a pretty hard time for not knowing the minutea of a process that you've only ever been through once before over a decade ago - and that will very likely have changed slightly in that time.
Some people on here must move house more frequently that they change their underwear.

You e don't the right thing walking away. All the mitigations put in were beholdent upon others maintaining things out with your control. They might be in ok condition now and the responsible parties willing to spend to maintain them but in 10, 15, 20+ years time I wouldn't be so sure.

the very fact that they tried to hide the fact that it has been flooded tells me they’re trying to get rid of it as fast as possible. It’s a liability to them. The flooding is probably very bad. Don’t do it. Get out now.

Sorry to hear you pulled out. I am a solicitor and have worked in conveyancing the Property Information Form (TA6) is a document that should be sent very early on and before searches are undertaken.
I would recommend you have different solicitors for your next purchase. They should have highlighted the flood risk witching a covering letter of the report, as you said why would you know. Generally along the lines that it is a high risk so consult a surveyor / do more searches and they would raise enquiries with the vendors solicitors too.

Your solicitor should have checked for flooding as part of their searches! Pretty poor that they didn't.

I'd pull out.

Flooding is devastating - and could get more likely with climate change, as you say.

Pull out, I know someone who has been flooded repeatedly, they can't get insurance, can't sell and have to watch their home get destroyed repeatedly, moving out for months at a time. It's devastating.

Estate agent "forgot" to tell you that" - well, tell that to your grandmother. The house might tick all your boxes for now but all you need is one big flood and all your boxes will be wiped off - literally. My sister lives in a flood prone area and each time it rains her heartbeat is put on hold. She tells me the last time it flooded, her fridge-freezer (a big heavy box) just floated around in her kitchen like a boat!