Groundwater flood risk

[fathom5]

We are in the process of purchasing a shared ownership flat in Islington and our groundwater flood risk has come back as Moderate. The bottom floor of the flat is in the basement so if a 1 in 100 year event occurred we could be affected. Is this a dealbreaker?

Weve just bought a property with the same risk. It didn’t put us off. If you read the small print they say it’s only an estimation and whole areas can be classed as “moderate risk” depending on what the soil is like. We are on clay.

It would be a definite dealbreaker for me. We had a 1 in 100 year flood risk at a previous property. We got flooded twice and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Luckily it was a beautiful house in a tourist area so a wealthy local bought it to Airbnb it. So thankful! We now live on a hill, in a very low risk area for all types of flooding. With the way climate change is going, it’ll get much harder to sell flood risk properties as your post proves. IMO it’s too much of a financial risk even without getting flooded. If you do flood, it could even become unsellable.

Even before getting on to the flooding, have you typed "shared ownership issues" into Google? You should only be going into SO with eyes wide open. Many people didn't and regret it.

Flood risk? Why bother with the hassle. You may be fine with it but it will immediately limit potential future buyers.

Use the Area360 RM add-in on Chrome when house hunting to filter out risky properties.

I became obsessed with surface water recently, there’s a government map you can look at, not quite the same as ground water but the map has both I believe. Maybe you have seen this already though. https://check-long-term-flood-risk.service.gov.uk/postcode

Thanks for ageing that link. As I said upthread our searches said we were at Medium risk of surface water flooding. That website puts us at Very Low! We are at the top of a hill, which is why we ignored what the search said.

I replied in a hurry and completely forgot to make the second half on my point, ooops. Either way surface water, which again I know isn’t ground water, I realised that more than half of London was at some sort of risk and that made it not a deal breaker. So same sort of situation as you, hopefully we will all be ok in 100 years, ha!

I would never buy a basement flat. Aside from the groundwater risk you could also get flooding from surface water run off and if you've got any bathroom or washing machine etc down there you're the first port of entry if the drains block and back up.

Also it’s worth noting places get recategorised when things happen. Our previous property went from a 1 in 100 risk, to a 1 in 30 risk after our two floods. Thankfully this happened a year after we sold it though. Obviously this can happen with any property but if you’re already at moderate 1 in 100 risk, it’s more likely. Even though we’re now on a ridge and at very low risk of any flooding, we also paid for the extra flood report during conveyancing. Think our solicitor thought we were paranoid. But then having two foot of water in your house twice tends to do that. Also the stress when heavy rain/storms were forecast really affects your mental health. I felt close to breaking point with it by the time we left. As I said I am grateful and thankful it was bought by a cash buyer, especially as an Airbnb. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone else living there.