Order a Flood Risk Report today
Get a flood risk check for your property to confirm if you are at risk and if you will have an issue getting building insurance for a fixed fee of £64 INC VAT. Report emailed within 2 working hours*.

The flood risk checks: Overall flood risk, river and sea, surface water, groundwater, historic flooding, flood storage and dam breaks. We also offer a manual review for mortgage lenders called a Flood Appraisal. Please ask for more details and pricing.

What is a Flood Risk Report?

13/10/2022
(Last Updated: 25/10/2023)
8,352
6 min read
Key Takeaways
  • If you want to get home insurance, you will need to let the insurer know if your property has a high flood risk.
  • A flood risk search is based on historical data from the Environment Agency and the Natural Resources Wales. You can read an example report below.
  • The Flood Risk Report costs £64 INC VAT** and its turnaround time is 2 working hours*.

What is a flood risk report?

A Flood Risk Report is an assessment of how likely it is that the property you intend to purchase will suffer from flooding at some point in the future, based on floods from the past.

  • Overall Flood Risk (Pass, Pass with Considerations or Further Action)
  • River and Sea Flood Risk
  • Surface Water Flood Risk
  • Groundwater Flooding
  • JBA Floodability Rating
  • Historic Flooding
  • Flood Storage
  • Dam Break
Example Flood Risk Report from FC


How do I get the right flood risk report for my property?

There are two types of flood risk reports you can get:

    1
    FCI Flood Risk Report. You get this report if you don't have an environmental report flagging you have an issue. The flood risk assessment cost is £64 INC VAT**.
    2
    FCI Flood Risk Appraisal Report. You get this report if you have an environmental or flood report that is flagging Further Action required. It is a manual assessment of the property, required for your mortgage lender. This costs £264 INC VAT.

The Flood Risk Report isn't based on a physical inspection but on historical data from the Environment Agency and the Natural Resources Wales agency which report providers use.


How do I find out about my flood risk?

Are you a cash buyer, wanting to check if your property is at risk? Get an overall flood risk assessment and check the:
  • river, sea, surface & ground water
  • historic flooding
  • flood storage and dam breaks
£64 INC VAT | Report within 2 working hours*
Flood Risk
Have your searches revealed a flood risk? You can get a further assessment from an expert with the Flood Appraisal.
  • property specific
  • fully manually assessed report
  • detailed analysis of the flood risk
£264 INC VAT | Report within 10-20 working days


Should I get a flood report?

Mortgage Lenders do not normally require you to book a flood risk report - it is not among their stipulated property searches - but you will need to inform your Building Insurers if the property has flooded or is in a high-risk flood area.

Building Insurance flood risk

If you fail to inform your building insurer and your home is flooded, you may be at risk of not being insured for losses due to flooding.

What is in a Flood Risk Report?

Section
What's included
River and Sea Flood Risk
The JBA Floodability index considers river, coastal, surface water and chalk aquifer groundwater elements, the risk of flooding at the location so is likely to be less than that reported by the Environment Agency.

Surface Water Flood Risk
Surface water flooding occurs when heavy rainfall overwhelms the drainage capacity of an area. In these instances, the rainwater does not drain away through the normal drainage systems or soak into the ground, but lies on or flows over the ground instead.

Groundwater Flooding
The result of the flood risk assessment in this report is based on the best available national flood models using the best available data sources, from the leading authorities, no site visit will be made.

Lawful Development Certificates
JBA Floodability data is derived from their high-resolution UK flood hazard maps, used by most insurers when assessing flood risk. Where a higher rating is indicated further investigation into flood risk is usually advisable. For locations rating Black 1 (High) and Black 2 (Very High) there is more likely to be a correlation between JBA Floodability and a residential property being included within Flood Re by a participating insurer. However, please note that not all residential properties are eligible to benefit from Flood Re.

Please always check that your building insurance policy covers Flood Damage, as the terms of any mortgage (if required) may require all risks to be covered to meet the lender's requirements.

Historic Flooding
Data provided by the Environment Agency will indicate if the property is within 250 metres of an area that has flooded in the past. This includes all types of flooding, including Groundwater.

Flood Storage
Data provided by the Environment Agency will indicate if the property is located within 25 metres of a Flood Storage Area (land designed and operated to store flood water).

Dam Break
Data provided by JBA identifies areas of England and Wales that are most likely to suffer damage to property following the sudden and catastrophic failure of a large reservoir embankment or dam. This is a worst-case scenario, it’s unlikely that any actual flood would be this large. The flooding is predicted using advanced modelling techniques to ascertain if a property or site is potentially at risk in such an event, although not all dams were modelled.


How much does a flood risk report cost?

Flood Risk Reports cost £64 INC VAT** and normally take 2 working hours* to be emailed through to you.

 
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Andrew Boast of Sam Conveyancing
Written by:
Andrew started his career in 2000 working within conveyancing solicitor firms and grew hands on knowledge of a wide variety of conveyancing challenges and solutions. After helping in excess of 50,000 clients in his career, he uses all this experience within his article writing for SAM, mainstream media and his self published book How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone.
Caragh Bailey, Digital Marketing
Reviewed by:
Caragh is an excellent writer in her own right as well as an accomplished copy editor for both fiction and non-fiction books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey and mortgage related articles.
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