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Original poster

High risk flooding area - would you buy a house.

98 replies

BronzeProp · 13/09/2023 13:05

We're looking at a cottage needs a lot of work, big garden, along a river.

The garden is showing as high risk of flooding on the EA map. The estate agent fobbed off any question about flooding.
A friend of the neighbours said that the garden floods probably every year and the house has at least once in the last ten years but we haven't been told this directly.

It ticks a few boxes for us but I'm very nervous about the water.

Anyone got any experience/thoughts about flooding?

OP posts:
yogasaurus · 13/09/2023 17:34

No, there’s a beautiful village near me, but it’s on a flood plain.

Houses don’t sell except to the odd newbie who doesn’t realise why they are so much cheaper compared to everywhere else

TiredandLate · 13/09/2023 17:40

I wouldn't for all the reasons mentioned. I woke up to the boxing day floods in 2017 (I think?) And the rate the water rose was scary. Watching cars being swept sideways down an A road was crazy and the number of homes destroyed was awful.

caringcarer · 13/09/2023 17:46

No. I'd never buy in a flood risk area.

Hecate01 · 13/09/2023 17:50

As someone who's had their house flooded and lost everything downstairs plus 2 cars I'd avoid it.

You honestly can't comprehend the damage and the aftermath of flooding, even now 2 years on I get nervous when there's a storm.

Insurance is also a nightmare for the house and the cars, you can't just go online because they won't quote you.

MiniBossFromAus · 13/09/2023 17:54

Hecate01 · 13/09/2023 17:50

As someone who's had their house flooded and lost everything downstairs plus 2 cars I'd avoid it.

You honestly can't comprehend the damage and the aftermath of flooding, even now 2 years on I get nervous when there's a storm.

Insurance is also a nightmare for the house and the cars, you can't just go online because they won't quote you.

That fear of the sound of rain is awful. I also lost a car and the house was flooded downstairs. I was so happy to move.

Iwasafool · 13/09/2023 17:55

Hecate01 · 13/09/2023 17:50

As someone who's had their house flooded and lost everything downstairs plus 2 cars I'd avoid it.

You honestly can't comprehend the damage and the aftermath of flooding, even now 2 years on I get nervous when there's a storm.

Insurance is also a nightmare for the house and the cars, you can't just go online because they won't quote you.

Oh I remember than fear when it rained. It did eventually go but even when we moved house I would stress.

Spottywombat · 13/09/2023 18:27

No, it's not worth it. Water is foul and damages everything, including plaster up the walls.

Issummernearlyover · 13/09/2023 18:28

No. There was a big flood when we lived in our last house. We were unaffected but some neighbours were out of their homes for a year. It was foul for them with sewerage soaked floors etc. My house insurance was trebled, but we moved out and my ex neighbour told me that hers had gone up to £3000 a year. It took us two years to sell as we lost five buyers because of the flood potential.

coolpineapple1 · 13/09/2023 18:36

I lived in a house that flooded once, it's horrific totally heartbreaking. The 2 years I lived in after that I spent every moment on edge as soon as bad weather came. Sold up for less than it was worth due to the flood but the peace of mind was worth it.

DepartureLounge · 13/09/2023 23:35

Yeah, no way. I used to live close to a flood zone and have a lot of friends who have been though the experience. Leaving aside all the uninsurable money pit stuff, having your home flood is completely and utterly traumatising.

lapsedbookworm · 13/09/2023 23:41

heldinadream · 13/09/2023 14:27

Absolutely not. My DH works in environmental science and our top criteria when we bought was to avoid ANYTHING at risk of flooding because
it's
all
going
to
get
worse.
Sorry.
It really is.

Yes. Similar. DH has a science background and I have an environmental one and we both looked very closely not just at current flood risk maps but also topography before buying.

It's going to get worse.

lapsedbookworm · 13/09/2023 23:42

Sorry to everyone who has experienced a flooded home, it sounds absolutely awful

dubsie · 28/10/2023 10:06

Here's some advice, don't. High risk means it will happen and when it does you'll be homeless for months. You won't be able to insure it and that will also force your car insurance up as well.

There is a family near us that is living in a caravan, the insurance claim hasn't even been approved and a local builder has told her the house may need to be rebuilt. Water can cause structural issues that aren't easily repaired.

RaisinsOfMildAnnoyance · 28/10/2023 12:40

We live on the coast and are selling up now to live further inland and away from any flood risk areas. It's not worth it. Not at all. Not with climate change.

SirVixofVixHall · 28/10/2023 12:40

Kissmas · 13/09/2023 13:40

Are you mad? Nope, not with somebody else's barge pole

This.

Essenceofpetunia · 28/10/2023 12:42

Sorry no, I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole.

Ritasueandbobtoo9 · 28/10/2023 12:47

Living in a house that floods or may flood is a stress in life you do not need. I grew up in one and it is traumatic. Never anything nice downstairs in case it floods. Never any insurance because it did flood. The trauma is immense and not understood by people who haven’t experienced it. By a river looks idyllic but rivers can rise meters in spate so it could be very dangerous.

Lindy2 · 28/10/2023 12:47

If it's flooded at least once in the last 10 years it will flood again. With climate change it will only get worse.

Flooding is devastating. A friend who flooded was out of her home for almost a year while it dried out and was repaired. Unfortunately, she knows it could happen again at any time.

Thankfully for her, the EA are putting flood defences in place but that process takes a very long time.

trulyunruly01 · 28/10/2023 12:49

I live on the edge of one of the country's famous marshes (south coast) and when I bought this house the risk of flood was 1 in 70 years.
Since then I've seen the lane itself 8/9 inches deep on two occasions, and once it got to the front door (the house has two steps to ground level).
My ditches are my friend, I clear them regularly, but many neighbours (upstream so far thank heavens) are diverting the flow through narrow gauge pipe and filling in their ditches for extra parking.

PauliesWalnuts · 28/10/2023 12:51

Definitely not - other half works for a water utility company and he won’t live anywhere that isn’t up a hill. They are currently bracing themselves for an El Niño year.

We went walking in Todmorden a couple of years back and I saw a house for sale that I liked the look of. Got home and looked it up on Right Move - no mention of flooding in the post, despite it being across the road from the River Calder. Scrolled through the pictures only to spot a load of wet sandbags piled up drying out against the side of the house.
So don’t trust estate agents.

twattydogshavetwattypeople · 28/10/2023 13:27

Ask yourself whether you can handle being flooded every few years, moving out for months on end, having to act as your own insurer..........then ask yourself whether you will still be able to handle all this as you get older, bearing in mind that you may not be able to sell.

YourWinter · 28/10/2023 13:28

Nope, not at any price.

Isheabastard · 28/10/2023 13:36

My friend was very badly flooded a few years ago. It was caused by an exceptionally heavy downpour and was unprecedented. The water run off collected all in one torrent which poured down the main road slope and through her front gate into her house. She is not even at the low point of the village, but it just turned out that she was in the path of the collection point.

Massive, massive damage.

They were able to install a very expensive metal floodgate in retrospect.

They later sold their house, but I don’t know what sort of hit they took if any.

Im moving soon and flood risk is something I’m going to be very careful of.

The sort of downpour that caused my friends flood is becoming more common.

Fallenangelofthenorth · 28/10/2023 13:45

Lollygaggle · 13/09/2023 14:34

This map is just to show coastal flooding. Just looked at a few areas near to me that flood regularly and they aren't highlighted, presumably because it's inland rivers that burst their banks rather than caused by sea levels. It would be good to see a map that shows all flloding, if such a thing exists.

Bloodsweatntears · 28/10/2023 13:54

My sister bought a beautiful thatched cottage along a river. She bought it outright with an inheritance, it was really cheap as no one could get a mortgage. It costs a fortune in pumps to stop it flooding regularly. A couple of years ago it flooded on New Year’s Day, and they had to get emergency accommodation. The clean up operation was awful.
They’ve tried to sell but no one will touch it.
I wouldn’t.