Buying house with medium risk surface water flooding?

[thelastmullercorner]

Hello, I was just wondering if anyone had any advice please, as this isn't something I really have much experience with.

We have offered on a house, and have just had a survey done, which has mentioned that is in a low risk for sea and river flooding and medium for surface water.

I feel really stupid, I should have thought to check this before offering on the house, but it must have slipped my mind (we had to find a house quite quickly, and things were going very quickly, so we ended up bidding on a few).

Does anyone have any advice regarding this - is this a no-go, or is there a way of seeing how big the risk might be (at the moment all I can seem to work out is that it is 'medium'?)

I would really appreciate any advice, as I just feel so over my head with this

We bought a house with a high risk of surface water flooding. We've been here years and never had an issue with getting insured, and never come close to flooding. It was the right house for us in all other respects so we took the chance.

I should add, on the EA maps even the worst case scenario doesn't put water anywhere near our property, so I'm quite confused as to why we are high risk. So definitely check the maps, you can do so online.

I’ve just checked for you. It means that every year you have somewhere between a 1% and 3.3% chance of flooding to your home. This is quite significant. It would certainly put me off the property. Insurance will be available but more expensive....and increasingly so as more insurers integrate this info into their underwriting systems.

Personally I wouldn't touch it, whilst I dint want to scare you you really need the facts and figures and talk to some one who has lived through floods. Look at many areas with similar risk ratings that have still flooded.
Remember its a massive expensive clean up and you may struggle to get insurance especially if it does flood.
Now for a fact as these are what you really need to see.
Lets look at St.Asaph in North Wales as a typical example Flood risk is 0.5 to 1%
Flooded in 1964 ( remember these are floods that made it to the press)
These defences were raised again during 1975
More recently, in November 2012 the flood defences were overwhelmed when prolonged, heavy rainfall caused the Elwy to rise to 3m above its normal level.
This caused flooding to some 300 homes and 70 caravans within the city. The November 2012 flood was estimated to have had between a 0.5% and 1% annual chance of occurrence in any given year.
Six years yes I did say six later additional flood defences have been added, but I believe they have been breached on more than one occasion.
Talk to these people as this is the local Facebook page to let each other know about flooding, I am sure they will either put your mind at rest or make you run a mile
www.facebook.com/groups/469294483255384/

OP, I'd be asking the locals. I'm assuming you're either near fields or a hill? if you ask around in local shops etc you will get a much better idea. I unfortunately think surface water flooding happens more often than some river flooding (around here anyway) but I don't think any property around here actually floods. It's a big problem round here (both types of flooding) and I've never heard much about the aftermath iyswim.

I'd definitely proceed with caution and be prepared to walk away. But don't rule it out yet. Locals may tell you that whatever caused the surface water flooding may have been sorted? Lots can be done to help with digging ditches into verges etc.

I’ve just looked on the EA maps and only just discovered my house is high risk. I’ve lived in the house 25 years and never even seen any surface water flooding in the street never mind near the house. I’ve lived in the village nearly 50 years and never known the street flood.

I’m a bit cross now that we’ve been labelled high risk. God knows what the EA criteria are. And insurance isn’t expensive or hard to get.

It means that every year you have somewhere between a 1% and 3.3% chance of flooding to your home

Taking an average of 2.15%, you can expect to be flooded within 33 years.

We don't flood - allegedly but in the last 5 yrs having the porch washed by surface water is becoming an annual event. We're nowhere near the local river but the drains can't cope with really heave rain.
Once you have flooded it will be much more difficult to insure your property. With climate change the risks are only going to increase. I'd avoid.

@Ifailed

It means that every year you have somewhere between a 1% and 3.3% chance of flooding to your home

Taking an average of 2.15%, you can expect to be flooded within 33 years.

Is that right though? It's a long time since I did GCSE Statistics but I remember my maths teacher saying this wasn't true.

It doesn't accumulate like that....so the risk is reset every year and would be between 1-3.3% each year. The house doesn't know it hasn't flooded in the last 32 years so time for a flood.

Not sure if I'm explaining this well or even if I understand it properly myself.

I have a similar issue on my search results, but it's a high risk of surface water flooding. It's quite common around here, so there's no certainty I'd find another suitable house risk free. The gov.uk maps show the risk area being the garden really, and insurance quotes were fine, so we've decided to go ahead. But climate change and the potential for problems selling on does bother me.

Yes, there is a risk of it flooding every single year, or 3 years running, etc, etc. Every single year there are localised weather events that can cause local drainage systems to be overwhelmed and surface water flooding to occur. Many people will buy thinking that if a property hasn't flooded in the last 30 years since it had been built they will be fine. Some of them will be fine going forward, others won't be so lucky. If you are unlucky, you face maybe 6 months plus (can be 18 months if many homes in your area are affected) in alternative accommodation while the mess is dealt with, plus difficulty with future resale of the house. It is unfortunate and many homes are built in medium risk surface water areas. Most of them are fine each year, but some of them aren't.

Hi I just wanted to say a really big thank you for all of your replies.

I've had a look at the map on the government website this morning - it looks as though the pinpoint bit of the house I'm buying shows it to be low risk of surface water in the garden, and next door to be medium risk on the opposite side of the garden to me (if that makes sense?). In saying that, my eyes and laptop are rubbish!

I don't know the area that well (same city but opposite side to where we live now, but have had a google and couldn't see anything about previous floods, though I do appreciate that flooding etc is increasing

Looking at the government map there also looks to be lots of patches of houses and streets affected in the area.

There looks to be an option to get a flood report from the Environmental Agency - does anyone know if I'm best sorting this myself, or if I'm supposed to go through the solicitors? I'm on the facebook group for the area so I will ask on there too

The issue we had is that we bought in a desirable area, and loads of the properties have similar issues, so we didn't have a huge amount of choice! I looked at the EA map again and realise we are high risk because the very furthest back corner of our detached garage (which is quite fair from the house) backs on to a bit with surface flood potential which is why we are banded that way. It's quite frustrating as the house itself has a very low risk. I wonder if there's anything you can do about it?

I just dug out our flood survey and although it does list us as at high risk, Aviva underwriters determined our flood risk to the property to be negligible and the impact on our insurance to be negligible, too. Apparently there had been zero claims for flood damage in our postcode. I guess, as I said before, it's a case of looking at all the evidence and deciding if it's worth the risk for you. Houses here sell without issue, but I'm sure some people will be put off.

I don't really know how private messaging works, but if you send me the exact address I can look it up for you and let you know what water depths the property is subject to in different types of event. That will be more detail than you can get from the environment agency.

We too are considered high risk. The whole village is rated the same, the eating does not take into consideration that we are on a small elevation. The site did not flood in 1946 nor in the more recent floods.

Local knowledge essential in these xasss.

We’ve just completed & moved to a house today that flagged as very high risk for surface water flooding. We were really freaked at first but in the end, after a lot of research, we felt comfortable. We went to Landmark & got a more detailed flood report that marked our house as low-medium. The risk is it’s built down a hill (I live in Yorkshire, most houses are on some kinda hill) on an old railway line, so water has the potential to flow down. However our house is half way up that hill and very unlikely to get water pooling around it. The original report only considered the site as a whole. In our case, it’s also a 4 year old development & the council were able to confirm additional SUDs & emergency flood escape drainage added. Again, the original report only considered the land on an historical, non residential basis. Again, old train line & the council advised it had never flooded according to their historical train records.

So all points to consider maybe. We discovered that the surface water flood reports are a fairly new EU thing & only came in in 2017. So unless you’ve bought a house in the last 3 years, most people wouldn’t have a clue. Turned out our current house we bought 5 years ago was medium risk.. 🤷🏼‍♀️ But we had no clue obviously..

Hi, sorry for the late reply.

I have messaged you @daisyphase , thank you so much, that is incredibly kind of you

Weirdly @Renovnono I checked my family's homes earlier, and my Dad's is medium risk - he's lived there 11 years and I've never known any issues, which has made me feel a bit better

Thank you @MoirasRoses, I have just had a look at Landmark report, I think I will see about getting one done