The Importance of Doing a Flood Report

The recent and extensive flooding across many parts of the country has highlighted the increasing risk of properties being flooded.

The flooding of your property is a devastating and traumatic event. Your possessions are destroyed, interior decoration ruined and months of inconvenience follow. It is something to avoid if at all possible.

The Environment Agency works to maintain and build new flood defences but it simply does not have the resources to defend all areas at risk. There is also a real risk of surface water flooding where the drainage system cannot cope with the volume of water. Over half the properties recently at flood risk in England & Wales were at risk from surface water (or flash) flooding. The traditional Environmental Agency defences do not address this type of flooding.

In 2007 insurers had to pay out a total of £3 billion for flood claims and this has led to insurers taking a much closer look at a property’s flood risk when setting the premium and excess. It is therefore very important to assess the flood risk of a property before you commit to buy it.

As part of our house buying service, we offer the chance to purchase a Flood Search from Landmark Environmental. These searches assess the flood risk from all sources (river, coastal, surface and groundwater) and give an indication of whether, on current insurance benchmarks, the property is likely to be insurable at standard terms. This is more comprehensive than a search of the Environment Agency flood map as it contains data on surface water flood risk which the flood map does not.

This search is only £24.00 and the results normally are returned within one working day.  Nobody wants to purchase a house that is at risk of flooding. This search is a simple and effective way of providing you with the information you need to make the right decision for you.

If you have problems with flooding in your region and are in need of legal advice, please feel free to get in touch.

Article Disclaimer

This article is for general information only and does not constitute specific advice. You should not rely on the information in this article. Fiona Bruce Solicitors recommends that you seek our specific advice if you wish to rely on the any part of this article. Whilst Fiona Bruce Solicitors makes every effort to ensure that the article is accurate, Fiona Bruce Solicitors excludes all liability for claim, loss, demands or damages of any kind whatsoever (whether such claims, loss, demands or damages were foreseeable, known or otherwise) arising out of or in connection with the use of this article or any other information contained on this website. Any information provided only applies to England and Wales.