Would you buy near a river?

[Badgerstripe]

The house is very old and has, as far as i know, never flooded, but its right next to the flood plain. The last time the river flooded 2 years ago it was about 30m away from the water with only a slight incline protecting it.

No way. Avoid at all costs

I bought a house at the top of a hill for a reason.

The house I'm buying is on the street behind and perpendicular to the river, so there's a row of houses between us, and it's about 50m from my new house.

The river is also man made, has high defences, my house is approximately 10m higher than the level of the defences, and it's never flooded.

So my answer is yes, if it's far enough away, and your house isn't at the "bottom of a bowl", so to speak.

Apart from flooding, there tend to be rats around rivers which would put me off, especially in an old house. Also can be quite smelly

No

We live near a river and the fields behind the house flood regularly but the house/street has never flooded and is up a steep bank from the flood plain area. No issues getting insurance. If you check environment agency maps you can see what the risk is.

No, mostly because of rats, though. I couldn’t deal with them year round.

My house is near a river but it's up a hill,I can see it from my garden. The home insurance is quite expensive and I feel it will be difficult to sell in the future.

No, because you will have trouble selling and flooding is only going to worsen.

I would potentially reconsider if there are approved and funded flood alleviation works coming that would make a difference.

We have a house near a river. Its definitely a worry. It's a narrow and shallow river where we are about 100 metres away and although it looks very flat we are possibly 20ft plus above it.

We are downstream from a sewage farm and although it looks very clean it is a worry that there is a massive new estate feeding into it.

So there is lots to think about buying neat a river. Anything near a wide or deep river for example I wouldn't want to get to close too. We have the same river going through a big town with locks on. It was all opened once and flooded a major town downstream. I also remember a bad thunder storm once and the river rose at least 15ft in two hours. That was about two decades ago. Total carnage. I dont think anyone knew what was about to happen it was so fast

No.

No.

No, potential future flood risk is a significant factor in buying a house for me.

Don't buy. Way to risky given the climate predictions.

Thanks again everyone. It’s pouring with rain for the second day here. I think we have discounted the river house now.

I live next to one, at the top of a steep hill.

Do you like rat invasions that take months at a time to get rid of? Damp, mouldy walls? Wearing wellies/well grippy shoes to simply walk on grass from September till May?

We live across the road but it's not a flood risk as there's flood protection up stream

Not a cats chance in hell would i buy near a river. Each year we see more and more flooded houses on the news near us.
Insurance can be expensive, resale is difficult.
It must be nice in the summer to live near a river, but not when your living room has 4ft of water in the winter including sewage that's constantly pumped into our rivers.

absolutely not, no way, never.

Really interesting thread

We are specifically looking to buy overlooking a river or lake as it's one thing that massively helps my mental health

Won't be for a few years though and I will definitely be taking house height above waterline into account!

We did. We have lived in a house on a navigable backwater of the Thames for over 20 years.
The house is built sufficiently above the 1947 flood level that the two major floods on our street while we have been here didn't get into the house.
The advantage of having a day boat moored at the bottom of the garden, which we can go out on whenever we like outweighs the risks for us.

Nope, not a hope. House Insurance would be a nightmare. Global warming and weather changes make flooding a bigger risk. Also changes up river can have an impact. Town near me got destroyed in a flood a few years ago. Houses near river that had never got flooded were flooded. Turns out it was because of some estate that was built in a field and works that was illegally done to river bank.

I wouldn't. My house is at the top of a hill, so we'll never be flooded!

@purplecorkheart this something that worries me. There’s a huge amount of development locally which is only going to compound the problem.

Not sure about rats being a problem. It’s a small rural river for 360 days of the year. Grass banks, sheep and horses either side. It’s just when it floods and then it’s terrible for a week.

Nope. Flooding is getting worse. I live in a village and thankfully our road is about 20m above the river level. The poor people on the high street haven't been so lucky. They've had a flood every year in the 5 years we've been here. Most of the people in the village spent Christmas morning a couple of years ago helping residents on the high street who woke up to flooding. The couple we invited for Christmas dinner told us they'd lived here for 40 years and hadn't had a flood until 10 years ago then suddenly it became an annual event. I haven't looked into it but they said part of the problem is the environment agencies deciding that dredging the river causes ecological damage and flooding is preferable.