New Practice Note from The Law Society to recommend flood searches

After the dramatic flood events of 2007, an extensive review was lead by Sir Michael Pitt on flooding and its consequences in England and Wales. The review and conclusions were published in 2008, in the report "Learning from the 2007 floods".

The Pitt Review issued 15 recommendations, one of which was that flood searches should be made part of the already compulsory searches in property transactions.

As a direct consequence of the Review, The Law Society is now about to release a new practice note covering flood risk assessment in property transactions, recognising the necessity to carry out specific flood searches.

The current Statement of Principles between the government and the insurance industry which sets out the provision of flood risk insurance in England and Wales, only binds insurers to cover properties located in areas where flood risk is lower than a 1 in 75 year event. The agreement does not cover properties built after 1999, which leaves a great many property owners either without flood insurance or having to pay very high insurance premiums.

Increasingly, Lenders are considering the existence of flood risks in their decision to provide mortgage lending. The practice note will advise solicitors to ensure they know the requirements of the lender with regards to flood risk.

GroundSure has been providing fully combined contaminated land and flood searches since 2009 and clearly welcomes this move. 

Combined searches provide a fully informed picture, thus not slowing down the transaction and ensuring a more cost-effective solution than separate searches.

 

     

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