Does anyone own a house on a flood plain?

[ButtercupWafflehead]

Hi there, we have just found out the house we are about to buy is on a flood plain. I've had a quick google, but I'm not really sure what the implications on our insurance etc are going to be - does anyone have any advice for me? It would be much appreciated!

I have no experience of owning one but do live in an area where there has been alot of building on flood plain, and I have to say I am astounded every year when the residence of the new developments are outraged that their houses are prone to flooding with prolonged rainfall - perhaps the developer could have done something technical to prevent it, but the reality is that the flood plain is there for a reason.

didn't mean to rain on your parade but i wouldn't buy on a flood plain unless you have no choice.

What class of risk is it?

If you go on the NRA website you can find out.

www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/default.aspx

Some insurers wont touch you. Others are fine and do it specifically on property address.

I lived in a 16th Century cottage on a flood plain. It had not flooded in 100 years ( the old man across the road was just over 100 and it had not flooded in his life time). However the road did flood every 3 years or so and some of the houses in the lane did flood regularly. So being on the flood plain doesn't mean you will flood. I live in a flood postcode again because theres a mill built at river level on the same postcode that has a tendancy to flood. I'm 30ft above water level though so at pretty low risk.

Cleaning up after a flood is a nightmare - just think raw sewage on your furnishings and walls because thats what gets washed up.

So I'd check out what the actual property risk is and whether the roads flood so you can still get access to it.

I think from the map that it's on the edge of a risky area, protected by flood walls - hasn't flooded for 100 years but could.

Shall I go and buy emergency sandbags and an inflatable lifeboat?

Doesn't sound like the risk is high. It'd be worth doing a postcode insurance check as a final measure.

I live in a c17th farmhouse on the edge of a flood plain (according to the NRA) - there is a river about 800m away. It has not flooded within living memory. If the risk is low then I wouldn't let it worry me.

Our last house was on a flood plain. It was a few metres from a (very small) river that occasionally flooded. In fact, the houses on our side of the road hadn't flooded in living memory, but it was a problem for houses across the road every 3 or 4 years. We had no problem getting insurance but had to do it by phone (rather than online) and answer a few extra questions.

[Waves to Porridge and the PorridgeBoys]

Yes, but I think the advantage of living in a C17 farmhouse is that the C17 farmers had a large choice of land to put their houses on, and put them on the land which didn't flood. I think that as ANTagony says, the problem is that you can't tell which house will and won't flood without seeing a particular flood in action.

We do, but one that is only at risk of flood every 100 years.

Insurance went up when we moved here 3.5 years ago, but not horribly massively.

When we moved into our house we were on the edge of a flood plain. A few years later, the map was redrawn and we were on it. When I rang around insurers I was being given an average quote of £1k for a 4 bed semi. Purely because it was on a flood plain. Our house and indeed the houses in our road have never ever flooded.

We got our insurance through Tesco in the end as what they were concerned with was whether it had flooded in the last 10 years. Was about £450.

\Sorry hijack - how's the primrose heron?

If it is a new build rather than something that has withstood centries, I would not buy it without a great deal of enquiry/ suspicion. Bear in mind that Developers are greedy and planners are not up to much in allowing them so much licence, imo. "The Ancients", as they say, knew a thing or too and recognised flood plains as having a purpose. You can do a basic bit of research yourselves, get a OSM and go from there.

All top tips, thank you for your responses!