The insurance industry has published three “flood risk” symbols it would like estate agents in England and Wales to put on their property particulars, alongside EPC ratings.
The Association of British Insurers is proposing traffic light symbols in red, amber and green, to warn buyers about the flood dangers.
Around one in six properties would be labelled as either amber or red.
The ABI says the symbols would prompt buyers to investigate flood risks properly and that if agents do not take up the signage of flood risk voluntarily, it would seek to make it mandatory.
It claims that at the moment, house-hunters are more likely to ask about parking provision than flooding.
James Dalton, director of general insurance at the ABI, said: “As the floods of last winter reminded us, being flooded is horribly traumatic and can leave people out of their home or business for months.
“Anyone whose property is at flood risk needs to be aware of that, so they can take steps to protect themselves.”
However, estate agents seem unlikely to take up the idea of putting flood risk ‘traffic lights’ into their particulars.
They point out that, under the Consumer Protection Regulations, they are already obliged to tell buyers of any material concerns about a property, including the risk of flooding and having such prominent warning symbols would put most buyers off, they say.
Mark Hayward, managing director of the NAEA, said: “If you see a red, you wouldn’t bother to look at it. You’d say, I’m not going to visit.”
Henry Pryor said: “You would make a huge proportion of homes unsalable and unmortgageable.”
He said having just three symbols would also be an over-simplification of many different degrees of flood risk.
Greg Bryce, managing Director of SearchFlow, property intelligence specialists, said: “There has been a growing focus within the industry to improve the transparency and quality of information for homebuyers prior to their purchase. With so few investigating flood risk when buying a home, the call from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) for more upfront information on flooding is welcomed.
“However, the information proposed by the ABI should not be construed as a definitive risk assessment or unnecessarily deter people from purchasing a property. Regardless of whether flood risk information is made available on property details from the outset, it is recommended that conveyancers conduct specific searches for flood risk, and to arrange for an in-depth assessment by a technical expert if there is any flood risk to the property.
“Home buyers informed of a potential flood risk will be very wary of purchasing a property in a flood risk area. But for many, despite searches revealing there is a risk, it may not happen. Home buyers need to be informed of any risk so they can ensure they are properly protected – just in case.”
What an excellent way of ensuring the already starved supply to the market becomes even greater by adding “unsaleable and unmortgageable” homes into the mix…
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The way this is going, one day I’ll write a set of details that says, “An attractive property that cleverly hides the underpininng caused by subsidence when the drains collapsed from tree root damage. The spacious accommodation has a large extension to the rear which the owner says has a completion certificate because ‘my builder organised it’ and a loft conversion which ‘wont need planning or building regs’. The double-glazing has no FENSA certificate, houses are likely to be built on the field at the back sometime in the next 100 years, and the neighbour’s dog barks all day while they’re out at work. The house is offered with no forward chain as the previous owner hanged himself when it was pointed out he lived within 200 miles of a flood plain which would only get worse once the polar ice caps start to melt. We would recommend a viewing but why waste your time and ours.”
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Superb comedic writing Paulfromromsey87. You missed your vocation!
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When Storm Desmond hung over us with 24 hours of heavy rain (and that’s not an exaggeration) an area that is not near the sea, a river or a stream flooded. The build up of surface water ingressed to some of the properties there. It’s never happened before in living memory. Is any property there a future flood risk? Surely only Mystic Meg is qualified to add that to our property particulars.
This reminds me of the traffic light system proposed for Home Condition Reports for HIPS. No surveyor would ever give a property the ‘green light’ because there’s a potential defect to EVERY building. So make this mandatory for all sales particulars and every one will carry an amber warning because every house MIGHT flood one day.
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Well for those comments above clearly it depends on what the red amber and green represent – if it provided a statistical probability of flood risk – red being regular (50% flood risk each year – ultimately there are homes that flood on a regular basis that should never have been built) – Amber occasional (10% flood risk each year) and Green rare (1% flood risk each year) all based on historical evidence I dont see how this would be an issue.
between the environment agency and insurance companies the information should be available
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No. I can think of 2 occasions in Morecambe where I had to #facepalm on behalf of the Environment Agency flood map information available.
In the first case, a purchaser rang to say that the property had come back as being in the potential sea flood map zone in the searches. Now the subject property is 1 mile from the sea front and on a hill. The sort of storm surge required to reach it would require a terrifying tsunami. So once again into the ANY property COULD be hit by a big enough tsunami ANYWHERE in the world. Pretty sure the planet was covered by one wiping out the dinosaurs.
Secondly, the environment agency were years late in updating their flood risk map of Morecambe, where millions of pounds had been spent on sea defences. An out-of-town surveyor (Local Property Experts who aren’t local warning!!!) did a survey for the purchase of a hotel there and used said EA map to declare that there were… no flood defences… instead of using… you know… his eyes!!!
So, no I cannot get excited about using EA stuff.
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I think this is a good idea, but I think red amber green a rather naïve approach, particularly as some areas may flood regularly other areas only flood when something happens that has a knock on effect (such as storm drains being blocked due to council workers leaving recently cut branches there, as happened on my patch 10 years ago).
Needs more work but I don’t think it’s a bad idea.
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A quick Google search found me these Government websites:
https://www.gov.uk/check-flood-risk > https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk
I have not set eyes on one, but you can also email the Environment Agency to get a ‘flooding report’ based on their records; they are free “unless it takes more than 18 hours to put together”. Maybe this report is something agents in high flood risk areas routinely request themselves at instruction. Surely that is enough information for prospective buyers, besides anything the vendors are obliged to confess?
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Im struggling to hide my indifference but wont the solicitor pick up any such risk from the environmental search?
Jonnie
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