Flooding – A risk to property that cannot be ignored!

The Association of British Insurers highlight the financial cost of flooding in the UK: ‘Since 2000 insurers have paid out £4.5 billion to customers whose homes or businesses have been hit by flooding. This is up 200% on the £1.5 billion paid in the previous decade in real terms’

Meriden, West Midlands 2012 - Source: Own

Over recent years flooding in the UK is something that has become a regular news event and something that seems to be happening on a much more frequent basis.  In fact even at the time of writing this article (7^th January 2013), we are experiencing prolonged periods on heavy wind and rain, resulting in flooding in many parts of the UK.The disruption caused is often extremely stressful, expensive to rectify and sometimes even life threatening.  The facts and figures below (Environment Agency, Defra and Parliament UK cited in http://www.aquobex.com) provide a stark reality of the impact of flooding, some of which my raise a few eyebrows: 

1. Around 5 million people live in flood risk areas in England and Wales.
2. One in six homes in England is at risk of flooding.
3. Total rainfall in the UK during 2012 was 1,330.7mm, just 6.6mm short of the record set in 2000.
4. 2012 was the UK’s wettest year on record.
5. Annual flood damage costs are in the region of £1.1 billion across England.
6. 5.2 million properties are now at risk of flooding in England
7. Flash floods can bring walls of water from 10 to 20 feet high.
8. 25% of flooding occurs outside areas formally designated as being flood prone.
9. 40% of businesses do not reopen after suffering a catastrophic loss.

The Association of British Insurers highlight the financial cost of flooding in the UK: ‘Since 2000 insurers have paid out £4.5 billion to customers whose homes or businesses have been hit by flooding. This is up 200% on the £1.5 billion paid in the previous decade in real terms’. Insurance cover is provided for flooding by a range of insurers however as with any insurance, premiums will reflect the level of risk to the insurance company. This could result in significant rises in premiums or indeed insurance cover being refused.  In order to try to ensure that flood insurance remains widely available and at ‘affordable’ levels a new Government backed scheme is currently being formalised in the Water Bill which is in the process of going through Parliament: ‘An insurance deal that links flood insurance premiums to the size and value of your home, based on council tax bands, comes into force in 2015. Under the plans, a non-profit-making insurance company called Flood Re will be set up to provide insurance cover to 500,000 households in the worst affected parts of Britain. It will be funded by a contribution of £10.50 from every household across the country, resulting in an estimated income of £180m a year, which will be used to pay for repairs’

Meriden, West Midlands 2012 - Source: Own

If flood insurance cover were to be refused it would significantly reduce the value of a property as well as resulting in a property being virtually impossible to sell. Avoiding this scenario is undoubtedly the main drivers behind the proposed new government scheme.  In any event, due to the amount of publicity that flooding has received in recent years, purchasers have become much more wary of the possibility of flooding during the conveyance process, with Solicitors advising their Clients of the importance of undertaking a flood risk assessment. There are however a number of things that a prospective purchaser can do to help establish if flooding is a possibility, before Solicitors are instructed.  A visit to the Environment Agency Website, provides access to their flood map, which details information relating to flooding around rivers and the sea, by simply inputting a postcode. This information is free to access and can provide an indication of whether flooding may be an issue, and if so can then lead to more extensive investigations. Given the disruption, cost implications and difficulties with insuring properties at risk of flooding, this is a simple way of making an initial assessment at a very early stage.

During the purchase of my current home, approximately eighteen months ago, my Solicitor advised me that a flood risk assessment was necessary.  After reviewing the environment agency flood map, I established that my property was not within two miles of a river or flood plain and that the risk of flooding was negligible/unlikely. I advised my Solicitor of this and informed them that I would not require this ‘search’, saving myself £75 in the process. 

If you are not confident with or do not want to rely on the free information from the Environment Agency Flood Map you can undertake a further on-line search with Land Registry ‘Find a Property’ (Link).  This search will cost you £9 currently and provides a little more detail than the Environment Agency Flood Map and also includes an indication of the likelihood of flooding.  I am not a Solicitor however I would suspect that this is where a ‘Solicitor’s search’ takes place. The Law Society recognise that conveyance Solicitors ‘are not qualified to give advice on flood risk or interpret technical flood reports’ However, the Law Society ‘do consider that conveyance Solicitors can at least pass on information to help clients who are purchasing property’. This begs the question therefore of why a person would pay a Solicitor in the order £75 for something that they can easily obtain for £9 themselves, bearing in mind that the Solicitor will not provide any interpretation or guidance from the search.

Buildings located near watercourses are often perceived as desirable places to live due to the views that are often provided.  Whilst this may be true for the large majority of the time, it only takes a period of adverse weather, sometimes occurring many miles away that can change a small stream into a raging torrent, raising river levels, bursting banks and causing flooding. The risk of flooding is unlikely to be visually obvious at most times of the year, so it is imperative to take the time to assess the risk of flooding to establish whether this may become an issue.  Simple, free or cheap research, as described above, which almost anyone can undertake provides a simple effective way of finding this information.

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and colleagues who you think would be interested

Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.

Property/Land Development - Do Your Homework! - The Value of Desktop Studies

In the very early stages of a project, whether acquisition or development, a great deal of freely available information can be obtained to help to decide whether or not it would be worthwhile progressing to the next stage.



Source: http://www.the-self-build-guide.co.uk/

The internet is an invaluable resource for property and construction professionals and there is a great deal of information that is freely available to anyone who knows where to look.  If you are buying or selling property or giving advice to a client in respect of a particular building or indeed any construction project, there is a whole host of free ‘desktop’ information that can be attained without leaving the comfort of your office, or your home.
Over the last month we have had unprecedented rainfall in the UK making the hosepipe bans issued by numerous water authorities a few months ago seem ridiculous.  The result of all this rain however, is rivers bursting their bank and the Environment Agency issuing flood warning and alerts up and down the country.  A visit to the Environment Agency Website, provides access to their flood map, which details information relating to flooding around rivers and the sea, by simply inputting a postcode.  This information is free to access and can provide an indication of whether flooding may be an issue, and if so lead to more extensive investigations. Given the disruption, cost implications and difficulties with insuring properties at risk of flooding, this is a simple way of making an initial assessment at a very early stage.

When inspecting a building or a site it is also fundamentally important to investigate what is going on around the site and in the immediate vicinity, and to not just focus on the building or site itself.   Imagine a scenario where you complete an inspection and you fail to identify that that the neighbouring land, with the unspoilt, idyllic rural views has planning permission for a new housing estate, or your neighbour is about to start construction of a side and rear extension which will abut your boundary.  Nowadays, most local authorities publish planning applications on line, which are freely accessible by anyone.  There is also the opportunity for comments on individual applications during the consultation period. This type of investigation followed up by a phone call to the planning officer if necessary, can uncover important information that could be the determining factor on whether a client may which to proceed or not. Failing to establish this information could result in a potential negligence claim if the client can prove that they have acted on your advice and subsequently suffered a loss!  The local authority will also provide you with advice on historic planning and building regulations applications if requested.

Another useful tool that has become prominent over the last few years is on line mapping. Google Maps, is an exceptionally powerful free on line resource.  Prior to undertaking an inspection of a building I would use Google maps as a navigator (to find find out where I was going), as a locator (you can use satellite view to zoom in and out to see what is in the surrounding areas including neighbouring land and buildings and to look at roof configurations), and also as walk through (using street view allows you to 'take a walk' outside and around the building where you can see neighbouring buildings, roads, and other  interesting details and information.  This simple and free method of on line research can be used for example by house hunters to decide if they want to view a potential home, or indeed not waste there time and focus on others.  This is particularly useful for those looking for houses in areas that may be some distance from their current abode. A note of caution however, is that Google Maps is not 'real time'.  The images that you view may be a number of years old, however, as long as you appreciate this, you can still obtain some really useful information.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) provide a free on line map which indicates concentration levels of radon throughout the UK. Radon is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, naturally occurring, radioactive noble gas and is considered to be a health hazard if HPA threshold levels of 200 becquerels per cubic metre of air in homes is exceeded. It would therefore make sense to make use of this free online resource to establish if radon is something that may require further consideration.

Professional advisors will undertake thorough investigations when advising clients and will utilise some of the free resources discussed above in addition to other investigations such as location of services, land registration searches, mining history, ecological surveys, and numerous others that will demand a small fee.  In the very early stages of a project, whether acquisition or development, a great deal of freely available information can be obtained to help to decide whether or not it would be worthwhile progressing to the next stage, and at what point it is necessary to appoint professional advisors.  You will require professional advisers to find and interpret all sorts of other information as an acquisition or project progresses, however you do not need to be professionally qualified to access this free information, it is just knowing where to look.

I am sure that readers of this article from outside the UK will be able to find similar freely available information in their country of origin, by undertaking a small amount of Internet based research.

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and colleagues who you think would be interested

Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.