Should I live with the risk?

[Scrittle]

I really really don't want to move. I love our house and the area. But it is in an area of risk for surface water flooding and there has been local flooding in the last few years, which has affected properties in the neighbourhood. Our house is assessed as medium risk rather than high risk but the last time there was flash flooding the water came so close! Our street was flooded and it nearly breached our front path. We decided to move last year, then Truss happened. We decided to press go again about six weeks ago and by the time we had the house ready to go on the market, there was new market turbulence with further interest rate rises etc. It's once again not a good time to move! Do I just live with the flood risk for now and wait until the market calms down? I'm so stressed out about this. I'm terrified of being flooded - every time it rains heavily I feel physically sick - but I don't know if it's wiser to just stay put for now. What would you do?

Are there any preventative measures you can take? Wall round the front with a flood gate or such like? Be cheaper than moving.

Surface water flood maps are very coarse and extents are very sensitive to ground levels (the maps basically show low spots and depressions where runoff will pond), they don’t take detailed account of local drainage or features (walls, etc). But, if there has been a history of flooding, maybe work taking action.

couple of good resources are

https://floodmary.com/
and
https://floodmary.com/ (north west focused, but most of the advise and info is nationally applicable. )

Sorry. Second link should have been.

https://thefloodhub.co.uk/

@Calmdown14 it's not that straightforward, the water can come up from under the floorboards (this happened to houses near us) so it doesn't help to only stop water from coming in the front door.

Just to add:

I know deep down that we need to go sooner or later because I am the sort of person who can't live with the anxiety of it but what I can't work out is if we should go ASAP or wait until next year or the following because of the bad market situation. Part of me thinks that climate change is not happening that quickly but then maybe that's foolish.

@Geekygeek thank you for the links.

I live on the Thames towpath, we moved here just under a year ago, it’s our retirement home. My flood risk is similar, potentially worse than yours but I wouldn’t move for all the tea in China. Every morning I wake up and see my beautiful view and feel full of gratitude. We have house insurance which includes flood cover and we will be getting flood defences, quite an investment but a lot less expensive than moving.
Ultimately only you can decide if you can comfortably live with the risk but you can mitigate the risk of damage with flood defences and the risk of being out of pocket with good insurance. X

On Monday it was 14 degrees and I had to put the upstairs heating on.

Today it has been 30 degrees with tropical feeling winds and then a thunderstorm. The same is meant to happen tomorrow.

Don’t kid yourself that climate change isn’t knocking at the door.

@KievLoverTwo meaning go now rather than wait 12-24 months?? I realise you can't make the decision for me... :-)

@Lovepeaceunderstanding your home sounds lovely. I guess if it's a retirement home you're possibly less worried about a flood event affecting the value of the property (on the basis that it's a forever home)? I'm terribly worried about that. A friend on the adjacent street to us has been unable to sell after being flooded twice.

I think my worry would be, if a flood happens before you are ready, you will have to declare it to future owners, insurers, it will come up on searches.

It’s a terrible time to be looking, there is very little worth looking at on the market, but maybe set up some alerts and start easing yourself in gently.

Excuse unexpected italics.

@Scrittle

MOVE

It's horrible being flooded & then living with the fear of it happening again.

If you can afford to move & buy a house that you can live in for quite a few years then you'll ride out any price dips creating negative equity.

It doesn't sound like you are enjoying your home anymore @Scrittle as it it giving you anxiety, so I would be inclined to move.

There's never a perfect time. Prices are often rising (bad time) or falling (bad time). If you are planning to move to a more expensive property, then moving during a falling market is no bad thing (unless you are in negative equity).

I wouldn't want to wait until after there has been a flooding incident at the house, because then it will have to be declared which will reduce the value.

@Twiglets1 I take the point that there’s no perfect time re rising or falling market. It’s not the falling house prices that is making me question if we should postpone the move but the rising mortgage rates. The timing is awful - by the time we are able to proceed (having found a place and be under offer) there will likely have been two further rate rises.

There's risk either way for you, isn't there? It's a risk to move and a risk to stay. Are you on a fixed rate mortgage at the moment? If so, I would be talking to my building society/bank about whether I could potentially port it to another property if I moved house.

We were on a fixed rate until April then went onto a tracker because we knew we would be moving. Things didn't look too bad then, they are looking worse now and will be worse still by the time we can get our ducks in a row. You're right about choosing between the risks. I wish I knew what to do. I'm feeling utterly paralysed (and scared).

So after a bit of googling, homes that have flooded fall in value between a 20 and 30% (for three years after, when they begin to rise).

The average family will have to move out for nine months until it is repaired.

I guess the question is, which is the bigger financial risk for you? Two years on a horribly high fixed rate, losing 30% of your home's value for 3-4 years and still being in danger of more flooding?

Sorry to sound harsh, but digging your head in the sand ain't gonna stop climate change.

Do you have other options option to you, e.g. renting for a few years, living with family?

ING are currently predicting interest rates will be 2.45% in the final quarter of 2025. Whilst I don't quite share their optimism, I also don't think we will still be suffering mortgage rates of 6.5% + by then.

Have any homes sold near you recently? Do you have any issues with home insurance?

I recently sold an apartment which had a small pond around 150 metres away and I had to supply detailed answers from the buyer's solicitors about it.

@KievLoverTwo you put it really well.