Flood Risk Home Insurance

There may be exclusions stated in your policy and it’s very important that you read and understand these exclusions. Examples of things that may not be covered are basements and their contents, as well as items such as money, precious metal and important paperwork kept in the house.  

It is worth knowing if you live in a flood risk area in order to make an informed decision about flood risk home insurance and how much cover you need. You can find this information free and instantly online, by entering your property’s postcode into the Government’s flood risk assessment page.  

A full flood risk assessment is only worth paying for if you are thinking of developing your property. If you are entering a planning application for your property and live in a flood risk zone, you need to complete a flood risk assessment as part of your application. These kinds of assessments explore the probability of a flood at a specific location, the possible causes of floods in the area and advice on managing flood risk.  

For homes in England, this can be done instantly and for free simply by entering property’s postcode and house number on the Government’s long term flood risk assessment page which also includes links to flood risk information and maps for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This tells you how likely it is that the specific location is to flood in the future, and the factors that could cause or contribute to flooding there, as well as where to get information on preparing for a flood and how to sign up for flood warnings.  

The Government portal also provides a map where you can enter your postcode to see a map showing the flood risk from rivers or the sea, or the flood risk from surface water. Use it’s ‘detailed view’ option to see depth, flow speed and flow direction estimates. 

Flood Re is a flood risk home insurance scheme, designed to make flood cover more affordable for UK homeowners which has been in place since 4 April 2016.  

The Flood Re scheme enables insurers to take on more customers at risk of flooding because the consequences of large claims are shared between insurers. This happens behind the scenes, so customers can compare and purchase home insurance as they would normally.  

Visit the Flood Re website for further details.  

• Properties must be located within the UK mainland.  
• Properties must have a Council Tax band A to H.  
• Properties must be built before 1st January 2009. Note: If a property has been demolished and rebuilt before this date, then the new building is still eligible for Flood Re.  
• Properties must be used for residential purposes.  
• Properties must have an individual premium.  
• Leasehold flats with three or less fewer units are eligible.  
• The policyholder or their immediate family must live in the home for some or all of the time, or the property must be unoccupied.  
• The insurance contract must be in the name of one or more individuals, not companies.  

You can find the full eligibility criteria on the Flood Re website.  

• Bed and breakfast premises that are paying business rates.  
• Contingent buildings policies, such as those held by banks.  
• Farm outbuildings.  
• Freeholders/leaseholders deriving commercial income by insuring large numbers of properties for a portfolio.  
• Housing association’s residential properties.  
• Multi-use properties under commercial or private ownership.  
• Residential ‘buy to let’ properties that do not meet the criteria specified above.  
• Static caravan site owners when they are being used for commercial gain.  
• In the case of blocks of residential flats, company houses/flats, and social housing contents only can be covered.  

The good news is that the actual transfer of the flood risk element of your policy to Flood Re is done in the background by your insurer. When it comes to working out your eligibility for the scheme, Homeprotect will calculate this for you automatically.  

We want to make this process as hassle-free as possible, so we’ll return an individual quote that is specific to your property and we will identify whether you are eligible for Flood Re in a matter of minutes.

There are several online resources which you can visit to get more information on flood risk in your area, namely:  

• Flood Free Homes wants all UK houses to be free of risk by 2025.  
• National Flood Forum provides support and advice to communities or individuals that have been flooded.  
• Know Your Flood Risk works to raise awareness of the risk of flooding from all sources, not just a visible water course such as rivers and seas.  

This depends on a large number of factors including how widespread the flood was, how severe the damage caused was, and how many properties were affected is the first variable. After a major flood event, insurance companies often take on additional loss adjusters, but even so the time it can take for you to be visited by one can be longer than you’d like.

Cleaning and drying operations can take many weeks or months depending on the availability of services and how greatly your property has been affected, as well as what your home is made of.

Finally, reinstatement works themselves are also time-consuming. The process of choosing replacement furniture, decoration and fitted units (which you may have originally selected over the course of years) takes time, especially if you are working and have little time to shop around, and then you need to wait for delivery and fitting.