Is it madness to consider buying a house by a river?

[sparkleymummy]

Both in safety terms (DS1 is 2 DS2 is 8 mths) and in flooding and therefore cost of insurance terms?

depends how long it has been on the market...

Beautiful house - in this market I would start off low BUT tbh I wouldn't buy a house near water like that with children as young as yours are.

ive always wanted tyo live by the water.

saw a prog about climate chanbge last night made me think twice about it. apparently the likelihood is that we will be getting lots more rain , year round. and therefore lots more flooding.

Gorgeous house, but I wouldn't do it. The "moderate" risk house we didn't buy, tempted although I was, has now been flooded 3 times in the last 18 months (since we didn't buy it, and since someone else did!!)

Just got round to opening the post. There was a letter from the Environment Agency informing us that our property is at risk of flooding and we should go on the Floodline Registry. Which of course is bound to hold off the rising tides...

Don't buy it

I lived in a house on the river with a LONG garden going down to the river itself , and we had mosquitos in the garden every summer. Couldn't walk down the garden after twilight without getting covered in them. We turned down another dream house on a river after this because of this. And the rats. And the difficulty of getting insurance if your house is near a river or a flood plain.
And it will only get more difficult in future with flooding risk.

I know it is a lovely house, but there will be other houses.

Thought mosquitos were likely to be a problem with slow-flowing/stagnant water - the Trent is pretty fast isn't it?

We were put off buying one with a stream in the garden because even in January there were midgies in the garden.

we are actually contemplating renting a house that backs onto a canal - are we being stupid? I hate mosquitoes!

My house had garden going down to the canal and don't ever remember mosquitoes.

Wonder if you made a decision about the gorgeous house Sparkle Mum?

I wouldn't.

Keep in mind that plenty of places with no source of water near them are in flood areas, though.

totally stupid
my mates dads dying words were " never buy a hosu e near water"

Yes peasoup. We decided not to go for it. Its a lovely house but really really close to the river. Went for a walk along the river there on Sunday with our toddler and I was terrified the whole time. There is a ten foot drop into the river so its not even as if they could scramble out if they did ever fall in.

We're now looking at another but its near a power station and the village has no amenities other than a church and church hall. Its ridiculous that for three quarters of a million pounds in the midlands we can't find a house that doesn't have any major downsides! My only requirements are four bedrooms, three reception rooms, a decent sized garden and not too long a commute. Its not like I'm asking for the world!

This moving lark is way too stressful.