The quickest way to check a house’s flood risk in England is the free GOV.UK flood risk checker, which shows the long-term risk from rivers and the sea, surface water, reservoirs and groundwater. That’s only the start, though. The map describes the area, not the house, so you also need the conveyancing searches, the seller’s answers about past flooding, an insurance quote and a careful look at the property itself.
Here’s how to put those pieces together before you commit.
Step 1: use the GOV.UK flood risk checker
The Environment Agency’s Check the long term flood risk for an area in England service is free and takes a couple of minutes. Enter a postcode, pick the property on the map, and it shows the risk from each source separately:
- Rivers and the sea — water overtopping river banks or coming in from the coast. This takes account of flood defences and their condition.
- Surface water — heavy rain that can’t drain away fast enough and runs across the ground or collects in low spots. It often catches people out because there’s no river in sight.
- Reservoirs — the area that could be affected if a large reservoir failed. Reservoir failure is very unlikely; this map is a worst-case planning scenario.
- Groundwater — water rising up from underground, typically in chalk and limestone areas, shown where data is available.
Look at all of them, not just the headline result. A house can be at very low risk from rivers but high risk from surface water.
What do high, medium, low and very low flood risk mean?
The risk bands describe the chance of flooding in any given year:
| Risk band | Chance of flooding each year | In other words |
|---|---|---|
| High | More than 3.3% | More than 1 in 30 |
| Medium | Between 1% and 3.3% | Between 1 in 100 and 1 in 30 |
| Low | Between 0.1% and 1% | Between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 100 |
| Very low | Less than 0.1% | Less than 1 in 1,000 |
Two things are worth remembering. First, a “1 in 100” chance applies every year, so over a 25-year mortgage the odds of at least one flood add up. Second, the maps work at the scale of the area and the model, not your front door. A house raised on a bank can be safer than the map suggests, and one with a basement or a sunken garden could be worse.
You may also hear about flood zones. These are a separate set of maps used mainly for planning decisions, so don’t confuse a planning flood zone with the long-term risk band.
Step 2: the environmental and flood searches
Your conveyancer will normally order an environmental search, and often a dedicated flood search, from a commercial provider. These pull together Environment Agency data with other datasets and records of past flooding, and give an overall risk rating. The free online maps are a starting point, not the full picture.
If the search flags a moderate or higher risk, ask your solicitor what it’s based on and whether it affects insurance or the lender.
Step 3: ask the seller about flooding
The seller completes the Law Society’s TA6 Property Information Form, which includes questions on flooding and on insurance. In the form, flooding means any time land not normally covered by water becomes covered by water. Read the answers carefully, and ask follow-up questions through your solicitor:
- Has the property, garden or garage ever flooded? When, how deep, and from what source?
- Was an insurance claim made, and was the work done under that claim?
- Are there any flood defences, barriers or flood doors, and do they come with the house?
- Has a flood risk report been done?
- Has the seller had difficulty getting insurance, or is the current policy backed by Flood Re?
A seller who has to answer the TA6 must do so truthfully and as completely as they can from their own knowledge, so evasive or blank answers are worth pressing.
Step 4: get an insurance quote early
Before you exchange, get a buildings insurance quote for the actual address. If a property is hard or expensive to insure, you want to know before you’re committed, and your lender will require buildings cover from exchange or completion.
Does Flood Re cover the house?
Flood Re is a joint scheme between government and insurers that makes the flood part of home insurance more affordable in high-risk areas. Your insurer passes the flood element of the policy to Flood Re behind the scenes, and you buy the policy as normal. Key points:
- It only applies to homes built before 1 January 2009. Homes completed after that date aren’t eligible. Not sure when a house was built? Our how old is my house guide helps you narrow it down.
- It applies to private residential homes in a domestic council tax band (A to H), with further conditions about who holds the policy and who lives there.
- It’s a transitional scheme due to end in 2039, after which insurers are expected to price flood risk directly.
Flood Re helps with the price of cover. It doesn’t reduce the risk of the house flooding.
Step 5: look for signs of past flooding on a viewing
Some clues to look for when you visit, especially on the ground floor and in cellars:
- New plaster or fresh decoration at low level throughout the ground floor, often to a consistent height.
- Tide marks on walls, in cupboards, on doors or in the garage.
- Electrical sockets raised high up the walls, or a consumer unit mounted high.
- Slots or brackets on door frames for flood boards, or covers on air bricks.
- Tiled or new hard flooring throughout the ground floor where you’d expect carpet or timber.
- A damp, musty smell, water staining in a cellar, or silt in a cellar or under floors.
- The setting: a watercourse, culvert or beck nearby; a low point at the bottom of a slope; road gullies that look overwhelmed; a garden lower than the road.
Our house viewing checklist includes flood and damp checks you can run through on the day.
Flood risk in Yorkshire’s valleys
The Pennine valleys show why this matters. Towns along the Calder, such as Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Todmorden and Sowerby Bridge, grew up around mills on the river, with terraces built on the valley floor. On Boxing Day 2015, after an exceptionally wet December, Calderdale was among the worst-affected areas in the country, with thousands of homes and businesses flooded. Further east, the Ouse through York has a long flood history of its own.
Hillside towns have their own risk: heavy rain on steep, paved or saturated ground can turn streets into streams, so surface water risk deserves as much attention as the river map. Many older stone houses in these valleys also have cellars, which are the first place water reaches.
None of this means avoiding the valleys. It means understanding what you’re buying, what defences protect the street, and what the house itself has been through.
What is flood resilience, and does it help?
Property flood resilience (PFR) is the term for measures that either keep water out or limit the damage when it gets in:
- Resistance measures slow or stop water entering: flood doors, demountable door barriers, self-closing or covered air bricks, non-return valves on drains, and sealed service entries.
- Recoverability measures make clean-up quicker and cheaper: tiled or concrete floors, raised electrics and boilers, water-resistant wall finishes, and kitchens that can be removed and refitted.
A house that has already been fitted with well-installed PFR measures may be a better prospect than its neighbours. Ask for details of who installed them and how they are maintained. Some insurers will also fund resilience measures as part of the repairs after a flood claim.
How a survey helps
A surveyor won’t produce a flood risk assessment, but a Home Survey Level 2 or Level 3 will note the setting, signs of past flooding, damp at low level, cellar conditions and drainage, and tell you what to raise with your solicitor and insurer. Flood-affected houses often show damp at low level, so the survey helps separate old flood damage from an ongoing problem. Our guides to questions to ask before you offer and using your survey to negotiate cover what to do with what you find.
We cover Calderdale, Kirklees and the wider Yorkshire area. Get in touch for a fixed-fee quote, or try our survey cost calculator.
Sources and further reading
- Check the long term flood risk for an area in England — GOV.UK / Environment Agency
- Risk of flooding from surface water: understanding and using the map — GOV.UK
- Flood Re eligibility criteria — Flood Re
- TA6 Property information form (6th edition) — The Law Society
- Flooding — Calderdale Council