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[Ju Ju]

Always check insurance details when it comes up for renewal. We would be seriously out of pocket if we didn't.

We are fortunate to own a house that we rent out. It's by a river, in fact near a marina. Lovely location. There is no record of the area of ever being flooded. The insurance went up by £800 pounds this year! Added to that, they wouldn't be held liable to the first £10,000 of any flood damage. Get the feeling they don't want our business?!! DH rang to check that there wasn't any mistake. They said they are reassessing all properties close to water due to global warming. So DH rang other companies we deal with. The first one wouldn't give a quote. The second provided insurance at a lower premium than we paid last year, same cover. So ok for this coming year, but next year? Is this way things are going? How have other people living near water fared? Tempting to sell up now, but we feel a responsibility towards our tenants who have been there for years and love it. But if insurance goes up like this, we would have no choice, but to put the rent up by a substantial amount.

[Taz2]

We had to answer lots of questions on renewal this year. When we queried why when we've lived here for over thirty years the brokers we used said that there are now far more detailed assessments of areas near water. We are near what is a balancing pond for the local small brook. The houses lower down the village were prone to flooding so sluice gates were installed and if rainfall is too heavy the gates close and the water comes over the walls of the brook (it's like a culvert) and the water overflows into the grassy area making a somewhat lovely lake for a few days. Our premium went up by £50 due to the brook but we had never been asked about it before.

Taz x

[CLKD]

I shouldn't laugh but it's due to that supposed 'global' warming that's upon us.  In the Fens - which theoretically cannot nor never will flood: a friend tried to sell his property 10 years ago and the sale fell through due to a foreigner getting information from the Solicitor saying that due to the river outside the property there was a risk of flooding.  Well to start with, it's a canal  and 2nd, hasn't flooded in over 1,0000 years in that area.  Someone more local purchased eventually.

Insuranrs don't take into account the history of places.  Environment Agency has to put a flood risk document forwards to all proposed new builds which are promptly ignored by the LA and Plans passed with eventual flooding difficulties, because they keep building on Flood Planes 

[Ju Ju]

At least in our own home, flood cover is automatically included. We live up a hill, 300' above sea level. The village below gets flooded, partly due to in building on boggy land, which was left undeveloped in the past. If we were flooded then things would be dire.

[Taz2]

Flood risk has also changed due to new developments which include roads and paths. Rain water which would have taken days to filter through to rivers now arrives within hours leading to flooding.

Taz x

[CLKD]

Yep.  Both our properties have been on a hill 

[Scampi]

I knew someone who less than quarter of a mile from a river, horizontally .... and over 500ft above it vertically.  She had quite a job finding an insurer that didn't draw an arbitrary line a set distance from a river and hike up the premiums for all inside that line due to 'flood risk', without taking any account of the actual landscape.  As she said at the time - if she ever got flooded, watch out for Noah!!

[CLKD]

Yep, similar here, we would begin building the Ark and still have time to guide them in, 2 x 2 - but not any Planners ;-)