Insurance cover relief for owners of flood risk properties

Posted on April 8, 2016

Flood Re – a new flood insurance scheme for private homeowners

A new government scheme has been set up to provide affordable flood insurance to private homeowners with homes built before January 2009. The scheme, called Flood Re, launched this April 2016.

While 35,000 houses are expected to benefit from the Flood Re scheme, the following types of property will be excluded:

many leasehold flats
small and medium-sized businesses
buy-to-let properties; and
all properties built after 1 January 2009.

If you live in an area of high flood risk, you should ask your insurer or insurance broker for details of the flood insurance policies and whether they are available for your property.

Checking for flood risks before you buy a property

Ahead of the introduction of Flood Re, the Law Society issued guidance in the form of a practice note, to help solicitors protect their clients from flood risk when buying property.

The Law Society practice note recommends that solicitors check whether there are flood risks when carrying out conveyancing services for purchasers. The solicitor can then consider whether the risks merit a mention to their clients and whether any specialist surveys might be needed. Insurance options can then be considered before the client decides whether to accept the flood risk and go ahead with the purchase.

While there is no legal requirement to carry out a flood search before buying a property, Pearson Solicitors carry out such searches as standard if the property is in a flood risk area to protect not only our clients but also the lenders.

How can we help

If you are concerned about flood risks during the conveyancing process, speak to your solicitor.

Buying a house is one of the biggest lifetime decisions people make. Our conveyancing team can explain the risks of buying a house in an area prone to flooding. To talk about the issues, get in touch with us.

Further reading

For more information on FloodRe visit the website or the Law Society practice note on flood risk.

Please note that the information and opinions contained in this article are not intended to be comprehensive, nor to provide legal advice. No responsibility for its accuracy or correctness is assumed by Pearson Solicitors and Financial Advisers Ltd or any of its members or employees. Professional legal advice should be obtained before taking, or refraining from taking, any action as a result of this article.

This blog was posted some time ago and its contents may now be out of date. For the latest legal position relating to these issues, get in touch with the author - or make an enquiry now.