What is a Flood Risk Report?

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 Download Example

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.

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.

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.