UK flooding again

[ez8004]

The flood risk should be pointed out every time a house is newly rented or sold. I do have sympathy for many, because these were exceptional floods caused by record rainfall.

 

The flood risk is pointed out every time a house is sold. That is what conveyancing is there for.

[Nagel]

The flood risk is pointed out every time a house is sold. That is what conveyancing is there for.

 

Is the flood risk really pointed out? I sold a house that had been flooded in 2007 and feared that the buyer would find out and the sale would fall through.

 

However everything went through OK and in the days after completion I had phone calls from the buyer as she couldn't get insurance on the property because the insurance companies knew it had been flooded.

 

I thought it was strange that the buyer hadn't been advised by her solicitor to arrange insurance on exchanging contracts and before completion.

[Solomon1]

I thought it was strange that the buyer hadn't been advised by her solicitor to arrange insurance on exchanging contracts and before completion

 

Me too

 

I thought that's why it takes so long

 

And why they charge an arm and a leg!

 

To do all their 'checks'

[unbeliever]

Me too

 

I thought that's why it takes so long

 

And why they charge an arm and a leg!

 

To do all their 'checks'

 

I was given a flood risk assessment on the last 2 houses I bought, probably the other as well but I can't recall. The current one is low and the previous one was moderate.

Lenders will not I think give a mortgage on properties which cannot be insured, and they get a copy of the flood risk assessment as well.

A property which is flooded once can surely not be completely unviable.

Might it be the case the the insurance is unaffordable to the owner, or a subset of insurers refuse to cover it but not all?

[DnAuK]

The houses are still standing so don't need rebuilding, in the short term they just need fixing and in the long term they need demolishing and not replacing.

It's not environmentally friendly to dredge a river.

 

It was you that mentioned rebuilds. And tell that to the owners of the 200 year old pub that collapsed.

 

http://www.express.co.uk/pictures/galleries/3718/Storm-Desmond-flooding-winter-weather-pictures/The-Waterside-pub-in-Summerseat-Lancashire-which-partially-collapsed-due-to-flooding-in-the-River-Irwell-90910

[carlbadboy]

Is the flood risk really pointed out? I sold a house that had been flooded in 2007 and feared that the buyer would find out and the sale would fall through.

 

However everything went through OK and in the days after completion I had phone calls from the buyer as she couldn't get insurance on the property because the insurance companies knew it had been flooded.

 

I thought it was strange that the buyer hadn't been advised by her solicitor to arrange insurance on exchanging contracts and before completion.

 

Selllers should infom the buyer about anything that might affect their decision buy, not doing so can result in you being sued.

 

 

Following a six-year legal battle, former owners John and Norma Bradshaw face a £150,000 bill after a court ruled they should have told the Basantas when they bought the house in November 2007 that the garden had flooded in the past.

[DnAuK]

Do we accept this sort of thing is going to happen and prepare for it better? I recall a tv show where a guy was building or renovating a house on the north Essex coast - a place that knows a thing or two about flooding. Rather than waiting for the government to try and turn the sea away in bad weather he effectivly made the ground floor waterproof - tiled everywhere that sort of thing. So when the water did start rushing in it was far easier for the whole thing to dry out.

 

I'll see if I can track it down - it was late 90s so ahead of its time really.

 

That's pretty much what the Kings Head pub in York does. The entire ground floor is just flags and stone and all furniture can be removed and stored upstairs when it floods.

 

The problem with doing this in the home are electrics. In many home the water has risen to above the height of the average socket, which is of course gonna blow the electricity to the house, and that's not an easy fix. So unless we start having electrical points 6ft off the ground throughout then there's not a lot you can go. Plus you're still going to have to replace most of your appliances such as washers, fridges etc. Unless you can completely redesign your house to house them elsewhere.

[carlbadboy]

It was you that mentioned rebuilds. And tell that to the owners of the 200 year old pub that collapsed.

 

http://www.express.co.uk/pictures/galleries/3718/Storm-Desmond-flooding-winter-weather-pictures/The-Waterside-pub-in-Summerseat-Lancashire-which-partially-collapsed-due-to-flooding-in-the-River-Irwell-90910

 

I said homes can be rebuilt, that doesn't mean the entire house would need rebuilding.

 

Rivers are far more important than a pub.

[DnAuK]

I said homes can be rebuilt, that doesn't mean the entire house would need rebuilding.

 

Rivers are far more important than a pub.

 

I'm not sure you would feel the same if it was your property. In my opinion, sod the bloody river! Who cares about a few perch and some mayflies? We lose thousands of species every year and I bet you hardly notice.

[carlbadboy]

I'm not sure you would feel the same if it was your property. In my opinion, sod the bloody river! Who cares about a few perch and some mayflies? We lose thousands of species every year and I bet you hardly notice.

 

 

 

I would be saying the same because the environment is far more important than we are. Hopefully people like you will change their stance before the planet can no longer sustain us.