Flood Risk Surveys

Flood risk affects insurability, mortgageability and value, and the headline flood map is a
poor guide to any of the three. The Environment Agency maps show risk at a catchment scale; they
do not know that the property sits half a metre above the road, that the airbricks were raised in
2015, or that the surface water problem in the street is a blocked highway gully rather than a
rising river. A property-specific assessment answers the question the buyer, the lender and the
insurer are actually asking.

The four sources of flood risk

• Fluvial — rivers overtopping or breaching. In east Kent that means the Stour
  and its tributaries above all.
• Tidal and coastal — relevant along the north Kent coast, Whitstable, Herne
  Bay, Seasalter and the Thanet frontage, and increasingly modelled with sea-level allowances that
  push properties into higher categories over the life of a mortgage.
• Surface water — the most common cause of property flooding in the UK and the
  least well mapped. Driven by drainage capacity, topography and paved-over front gardens.
• Groundwater — significant on the chalk of the North Downs, where a wet winter
  raises the water table and cellars and ground floors flood without any watercourse being involved.

What our assessment covers

We combine the published mapping with a site inspection: relative ground levels, the height of
the finished floor above the surrounding land, drainage and gully condition, evidence of previous
water ingress, existing resilience measures, and the practical routes water would take in an
extreme event. The report sets out the risk from each source, whether any resilience work is
warranted, and what the property’s position is likely to mean for insurance.

Flood Re and insurance

Flood Re helps householders in England obtain affordable flood cover, but it excludes homes
built after 1 January 2009, most leasehold blocks of more than three units and commercial
property. Where Flood Re does not apply, an evidenced assessment showing floor levels and
resilience measures can be the difference between a quotable and an unquotable risk.

Property flood resilience measures

Where risk is real but manageable, the practical measures are well established: flood doors and
barriers, non-return valves on drainage, raised electrical sockets and consumer units, solid
floors in place of suspended timber, and lime plaster or resilient linings that dry out rather
than requiring replacement. We can specify these and set out the likely cost.

Indicative fees

Ranges below are typical UK market fees for the work described, shown so you can budget. They are not a quotation. We give a fixed, written fee for your specific property before any work starts.

Service	Typical fee
Desktop flood risk screening	£90 – £180
Property-specific flood risk assessment	£400 – £800
Resilience survey with specification	£600 – £1,200

Flood risk surveys across Kent

We assess flood risk for buyers, owners and lenders across Canterbury, the Stour valley, the
north Kent coast, Thanet, Ashford and the Medway towns.

Frequently asked questions

Will a flood risk survey stop my mortgage being refused?

It cannot guarantee an outcome, but where the mapped risk overstates the actual position a property-specific report gives the lender and insurer evidence they can act on.

Is flood risk covered in a normal house survey?

A Level 2 or Level 3 survey will flag visible evidence and recommend further enquiry. It is not a flood risk assessment.

Does a previous flood always make a house uninsurable?

No. Flood Re exists for exactly this situation on qualifying homes, and documented resilience work improves the terms available.