Anyone have a brook / stream / river very near their house?

[Packar]

Next week will be viewing a house that has whats described as a running brook (in the EAs particulars) in the back garden which is just decking. The house and decking appears about 5ft above the water which seems fast flowing from the images and the house, in parts, seems only about 4ft away from the banks of the water. The brook appears about 4ft wide.

I really like the house and don't have DC but might the water be an issue? How would I find out? What should I look out for? And what questions should I ask the EA?

You can check the flood risk on the gov website.

You need to check the local council’s flood maps. Ask around. Be polite and knock on neighbours doors; ‘has it ever flooded round here’? You need to be very very wary about rising floodwater.

Look really carefully at what flooring they’ve got in the downstairs - if there’s no carpet it’s often a dead giveaway for previous flooding.

If you get as far as a purchase, it will come up on the housing docs that your conveyancing solicitor will do, but you don’t want to go that far if there are issues.

Brooks tend to come up very quickly (much more than rivers), but then they go down very quickly.

We live near a brook which regularly floods up to 5.5ft.

Bear in mind that you might struggle to get insurance.

And bear in mind what is or might be entering the brook up stream.

flowergirl24
Longlazyday
Very good points

I would say as well as the flood risk it is v likely there will be rats under the decking.

Sprig1 Rats! 😱

Yes. Water+decking= many rats. Always.

I would be wary of it. Have you he led the flood maps? Also think of resale, it wouldn’t be suitable for anyone with children.

I lived next to quite a big river. I loved it. The far bank was a lot lower than my side so it would have to flood the entire town before it got to my house. But all the info is avaiable online.

We have a beck at the bottom of our garden. It's over our wall but the wall is low. You have to declare it on buildings insurance for flooding purposes but it's never been an issue and I've never considered it unsafe.

We live near a brook that regularly floods over 5ft and it has ruined the downstairs of all the houses living within 50 metres of it at least twice in my time here and comes close many more times than that . It took approx 12 months to completely dry out, rip out and refurb everything. It was not habitable during this time.

We live a ten minute walk from a canal. We have had 2 flood warnings in ten years . Both times other areas flooded instead.

I would not risk something so close.

Your posts have opened my eyes to the potential horrors of a pretty little stream in the garden.

Is this the best place to check flood risks?
www.gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk

"Look really carefully at what flooring they’ve got in the downstairs - if there’s no carpet it’s often a dead giveaway for previous flooding."

As a dog owner, I would just change this word to "sometimes"!

Have a really thorough Google (news, local Facebook groups etc) to see if it's ever flooded, or been near flooding. Britain is expected to get warmer and wetter due to climate change, so flood risk areas will increase.

My friend owns a house next to a brook. It's usually a trickle, but when the nearby river gets high it fills very quickly. It's never flooded so far, but if does get close. They have very good, very expensive flood insurance.

Also find out who is responsible for maintaining the brook, and check whether any maintenance has been done regularly.

Personally I wouldn't. It is lovely - I very much enjoy sitting in her garden listening to the water and watching the dragonflies. It's idyllic. But I also know that in heavy rain when the town she lives in floods (which happens fairly regularly - there is a flood meadow) - she stands at the back door in the middle of the night, watching the water rise. It wouldn't be for me. And yes there will definitely be rats, but there are everywhere.

I have a stream and a canal behind my house. Canals are unlikely to flood but the stream has flooded our garden a few times but never the house (about ankle height). Everything in our house when we bought it was at least 30 years old!!

We can only buy insurance via companies registered with the flood:re scheme. This is designed to provide affordable insurance (government underwrite it).

Environmental agency offer a text message service for when there is a flood risk. However, we can work put when it will be an issue for us - no rain for months then a heavy thunderstorm = flood. Days and days of heavy rain = flood. This means we can pack the garden furniture up and move pots into the front garden.

I did a lot of googling before we bought, our whole village is just at a high or medium surface flood risk. Local councillors archive had a lot of info about how they were trying to alleviate the problems.

Decking & stream = rats. We had rats in our floorboards at our old house and they were so loud! We have only ever seen one rat in our garden in this house and it was because our cat caught it.

I wouldn't rule it out but do your research.

As well as the immediate vicinity, get a map, trace the stream back to source and look at flooding along there and at building and planning for building.

I would never buy a house near a Brook or river. The country is getting wetter and floods getting much more common. It's just not worth the risk to me. Plus as said above. here will be rats!

We have a river in our garden. It’s about 30m from the house and is in ‘flood zone 3’.

It does flood if we get a prolonged period of rain, but it’s never come up more than about 10m into the garden.

We do get rats in the garden and it always full of ducks, moorhens and coots because my husband feeds them twice a day.

It’s harder to insure a property close to a watercourse, and applying for planning permissions means you’ll need a flood risk assessment, but we feel lucky to live somewhere so beautiful where we see kingfishers most days 😊

Yes I used this for the property I was looking to buy and also ordered a report from groundsure, it was about £45. Both had high flood risk all over it. Then I went out and knocked on the neighbouring properties and asked them about flood risk as our vendors claimed it never flooded. Everyone told me don’t buy it, it’s floods, and should never have got through planning.

Did you really mean four FEET away from the house?
That’s not a house, it’s a barge. Except that it won’t float above the waters when they rise.

I wouldn't go near a house with water anywhere near it if I am honest. Only because I know someone who bought a house with a little brook running at the end of her garden and it floods the garden constantly. The lawn is always waterlogged and unusable and although her house has not flooded, it comes close a lot and has caused her nothing but grief and anxiety. Doesn't mean that this will happen here but for me it wouldn't be worth the risk and I would just worry constantly. But that's just me.

I have a stream but also lots of grass not decking. It's beautiful! But there are most definitely rats about - had to get rid of my bird feeders as rats came out and they also often are in the bins - which are outside of the garden but it's a wooded area so inevitable.

On the day a property I own came with inches of being flooded I checked the government website and it said the flood risk was very low.
The road was flooded up to the number plates on the cars. Loads of houses around us were flooded but luckily as we are slightly elevated we were saved.