With changing climates and increased rainfall, one in six properties are at risk of flooding in the UK.
This includes more than 2.4 million properties that are at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, one million of which are also at risk of surface water flooding, according to the latest government research.
If you’re planning to sell a property in the UK, there is a high chance that you might be within a flood zone. The good news is that selling a house in a flood zone is perfectly legal and, for the most part, follows the same process as any other property sale.
However, there are important aspects you need to be aware of, including what effect flood zones have on property value and what you need to declare when selling a home. All of which we’ll go into during this in-depth guide.
Ready? Let’s dive in.
Flood zones have different levels of risk
There are different grades of flood zones, depending on how much risk your property is of flooding again. These zones are graded by the government, and are classed in one of the following ways:
- High – These are the areas with the most severe chance of flooding, with a 3.3% chance of flooding each year.
- Medium – These areas have a 1-3.3% chance of flooding every year.
- Low – Low-risk zones have a 0.1% to 1% chance of flooding each year.
- Very Low – This risk level is given to those UK areas with less than a 0.1% chance of flooding each year.
Each of these classifications already takes into account any food defences in the area.
There are also different types of flooding that a property can be at risk for, including coastal, rivers, surface water, or sewers, depending on its location.
For example, properties by the coast may only be concerned with coastal flooding. Meanwhile, properties farther inland may suffer from surface water flooding.
Knowing as much information as possible about your flooding zone and type can be helpful for selling your house. If you live in a river flooding zone where several flooding prevention works have been carried out, you can decrease the risk for your buyer and make it easier for your property to get off the market.
You can check yourself if your property is in a flood risk zone using the Government websites for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
The effect of flood zones on house value
If your house is located in a flood zone, you can expect an average value decrease of anywhere from £10,000 to £30,000 – depending on the flood zone risk that you currently fall into. Properties with a higher risk will lose the most value, as new buyers are taking on the most risk with the sale.
Properties in low-risk zones won’t lose as much value but can also be affected by insurance policies. Insurance companies are generally reluctant to offer buildings and contents cover for homes that are in a flood zone.
If the buyer is applying for a mortgage, having this cover in place is an essential requirement for the mortgage, which might limit your pool of potential buyers.
It’s not impossible to insure a home in a flood-risk zone. Back in 2016, Flood Re was created as a not-for-profit system of levies and caps to create a fund to cover homes in flood zones built before 2009. If eligible, insurers can use this scheme to create home and contents policies for prospective buyers.
You can find out more about what factors can affect house values here.
When to reveal a property is in a flood zone
As part of the selling process, you will need to complete a property information form (TA6), which is used to provide information about your home. Within this form, you’ll come across this question:
“Has any part of the property (whether buildings or surrounding garden or land) ever been flooded?”
For this question, we recommend being completely honest and including all information about historic flooding, your flood zone risk, and what prevention measures are in place to decrease future risk (more detail on this below).
Honesty is the best policy here, as the buyer’s solicitor will most likely make an environmental search – which will reveal all flood data and a flood risk assessment specific to your property anyway.
You can’t sweep it under the rug, so you should use this opportunity to get on top of the situation and take away as much risk for the buyer as possible.
How being in a flood zone affects the conveyancing process
The conveyancing process for selling a home in a flood zone is predominantly the same, except there can be a few hiccups which can cause the process to take a little longer than normal.
Firstly, the buyer’s solicitor can order an additional conveyancing search called a flood risk report.
This is not a mandatory process. Even so, the buyer can request it to get more details about the risk – particularly if they are trying to get a mortgage approved.
Secondly, delays can be caused by potential insurance issues.
As we mentioned before, it can be difficult to get building and contents insurance for properties within flood zones. If the buyer is reliant on this for their mortgage applications, the conveyancing process might be delayed until a policy is approved.
Any problems or issues caused by the above could also lead to more negotiations about the property’s value and price.
Although it can be harder to sell a property in a flood-risk area, it’s not impossible. It’s all about being upfront with information and sharing all that you can to negate the risks involved for potential buyers.
Flood prevention details are gold for selling properties
The less risk of flooding, the easier your property will be to sell. To help avoid that risk for buyers, you should discover and detail all the types of flood prevention in place within your area – particularly since the last time it was flooded.
You should also include any upcoming plans for further defences. For example, in February 2024, the government approved £25 million funding for 40 natural flood management projects in the UK.
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In addition, you might want to give details about any floodproofing or home improvements that you have carried out or put into place to prevent flood damage in your property. These can be anything from:
- Installing spare sandbags or air brick covers on ventilation bricks
- Using non-returnable values on drains and pipes (trust us, you don’t want what goes out to come back in)
- Install storage high up to avoid item damage, as well as raise home appliances such as your TV and equipment off the ground
- Moving electrical socks 1.5 meters from the ground to prevent electrical failures and the risk of re-wiring
- Using damp-proof flooring, such as concrete, resin, or tiles.
- Installing quick-release internal doors that can be removed and moved out of the way – or doors that are raised
The higher the flood risk, the more valuable these defences will be to your home (and the more attractive your property will look!). If you’re in high-risk areas, you may also want to consider more aggressive defences, such as barriers.
To successfully sell a house in a flood zone, potential buyers must be shown that preventative measures have been taken to mitigate the risk of flooding.
The difference between being in a flood zone and past flooding
There are properties that have flooded in the past but aren’t in a flood risk zone. The difference here is about the risk of your property being flooded again in the future.
If you’re in a flood zone, there is a chance that your house could flood every year. Even if a property has flooded in the past, there could be next to no chance of it flooding again. This is significant to note if major works had been carried out in the area to prevent this from happening again.
We’ve summed up the differences in this table:
| Property in a flood zone | Property that has been previously flooded | |
| Risk level for buyers | Depends on the flood zone that it’s classified at | Very low risk |
| Potenial to flood again | Potential for it to flood again | Happened in the past, no indication that it will flood again |
| Impact on conveyancing | Affects insurance and price negotiations | May affect price negotiations |
| Does the seller have to disclose flooding information? | Yes | Yes |
Remember, though, you will still need to disclose all flooding information on your TA6, no matter which category your property falls into.
Our first home wasn’t in a flood zone, but one year, when we had a lot of rain, our garage flooded. Thankfully, our house was elevated, so was safe. However, our neighbours’ house came within an inch of being flooded.
We found out later that a new housing development further up our road was to blame. The drain network, which wasn’t upgraded, just couldn’t handle the extra properties.
When we came to sell the house, we were upfront about it. And because the water company had since upgraded the pipe work, we could show potential buyers that it’s unlikely that flooding would occur again.
Selling a house in a flood zone
If you are trying to start selling a house in a flood zone, you might encounter some hiccups and delays in the process. However, by being upfront about the flooding information and disclosing as much detail about the flood prevention measures as possible, you will be able to find the right buyer.
For more information and help on selling your property, sing up to our free step-by-step platform to help you navigate the moving process. Sign up for free here, or discover our range of guides for selling a home here.
