Anyone living in Flood Zone 2?

[Moomin12345]

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of the actual risks related to living in Flood Zone 2 (flooding risk between 0.1% and 1% annually). The insurance quotes online seem to be ok, but I'll call the companies directly. I'm just hoping to hear actual experiences as this could be a potential dealbreaker in my ongoing house purchase (yet another one...).

I have personally seen the devastation of a house flooding and would never want to experience it again... it ruins your life for literally years... even a 1 in 1000 year chance would have me walking away instantly

Thank you!

Anyone else? It'd be really helpful as I can't make up my mind.

I considered purchasing a house in a flood zone but ultimately decided not to, largely because of the flood risk.

For me part of the issue was that with global warming (and possible further development in the area) the flood risk was realistically only going to increase. I couldn't predict how that would affect my own insurance and a future purchaser's ability to get a mortgage.

In addition, even if I was prepared to take the risk, a future purchaser might not be. It is always something that will reduce the pool of potential purchasers, no matter what improvements you make to the house etc.

For me it would depend on the reason you are in the floodzone - is it river bursting its banks, sea innundation, water run-off from higher land, flood plain, ...?

We have a slightly elevated flooding risk due to water run-off, but looking at the house we decided it was in reality a really low risk - something the mortgage company's valuer agreed with when she actually came and valued the property.

Hard to give a definitive answer as a result. Being flooded is horrible - even if a relatively low risk not one I would want to take - and flood maps are only an approximation based on mapping.

Bear in mind that climate change seems to be resulting in warmer, wetter winters and wetter summers (if this month is representative) - so the risk is likely to get greater rather than smaller.

I live on the very edge of a Low Risk flood zone (at risk of flooding from a river, 0.1% to 1.0%). I've lived in the area for a long time and to my knowledge it has never flooded. It has not affected my home insurance premiums at all and I can't see that it has affected house prices either - houses here sell really well.

We are also on the outer edge of the 0.1-1% zone. Houses built in 1940s and never flooded. I remember being anxious before we bought & think we went ahead because there were no problems with mortgage or insurance (long time ago). I do admit to keeping a nervous eye on flood alerts after heavy rain like the last few days. Our alert finished yesterday but the river levels didn't really come close to dangerous. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable any further into the zone.

Best recommendation is speak with NFU, they seem to be able to talk about micro location of flood risk and will provide insurance , I live opposite a river that has flooded in the past but not in the micro location that I live in, lots of insurance companies wouldn't cover us as they looked at the wider area. It may also be worth looking at river monitoring stations, I have one about 500m away from the house and it is a really useful gauge of what has and hasn't actually happened.

Thank you so much for replying.

I will still try to get more detailed information on this property's specific risk. Supposedly the current owners have lived there for 30 years and never got flooded, but that in itself is not enough.