Posts Tagged ‘Banks’

Worried about how flooding may affect your home?

FOR THE LATEST ADVICE BROCHURE FROM THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF CHARTERED SURVEYORS READ THIS FILE – “FLOOD ADVICE“

Flooding is not a new concept but is something that is increasing for three main reasons – (1) we are building more and more estates on flood plains (2) climate change, (3) the ignorance of home owners and occupiers.

In the good old days when it rained the surface water was carried away. When it rained the ground could cope with saturation. Home occupiers knew of the risks of flooding and had local solutions designed to cope with the extremes of the weather.

Nowadays we are not in control of these same factors to anything like the same degree. This means that we experience far higher risks of flooding.

Before I go on let’s bury one myth. If you check out the web for Environmental Risks it will grade your Post Code / Area according to historic data of actual flooding. But, flooding from what? The answer is flooding by waterways and the sea. These website databases do not analysis surface water risks other than from waterways and the sea.

If you live near the sea or a waterway this makes sense: occasionally banks burst and the resultant overflow floods the district as we see frequently on the media News to dramatic effect.

What is more difficult to understand is non-sea and non-waterways reasons for flooding.

THE BEGINNING – ASSESS THE MAIN RISKS – See the Environmental Agency Flood Maps and Advice data at
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods

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Football in the sun: but the clouds are gathering.

AN EXAMPLE:-

Picture the scene: one house in a very large field. The house is high up away from the sea or any waterways and lakes etc…… No flooding has been known to have occurred but the land was very wet at times.

Over the years one house became two became a thousand, became a city. The flood plain area used to soak up severe storm water and just about cope with the extremes. All the land soaked up a small amount of water.

Over the years the proportion of non-developed land got smaller and smaller until today hardly any land is free of development in some shape or form.

The result? In heavy rainfall conditions the storm sewers cannot cope and those small areas of free land cannot soak-up the excesses. The consequence is surge flows over previously “dry land” and “severe ponding” behind obstructions to those flows.

If your home is located within those areas “behind obstructions” then you will experience flooding. This can happen nearly anywhere.

In the south of Hampshire (my own County) we were (pre-Credit-Crunch) scheduled to build 80,000 homes before 2026. As much of the land earmarked for these homes is of clay form or within flood-plain district it is highly predictable that seasonal flooding will increase.

How should you react to these observations? This is difficult to outline unless I personalise my responses to specific homes. However, the answer is to either (1) ensure you have cast-iron Buildings Insurance that includes such risks and that an excessive “policy excess” sums for such damage do not exist OR (2) to not buy homes built in flood-plains, OR (3) make sure you invest in a range of anti-flood devices such as flood gates, one-way-drainage-valves, etc…

Insurance companies can be very mercenary nowadays and if they suddenly revoke your insurance cover you will have great difficultly in finding any company to accept your risks. On the other hand you may not have the choice to buy a home outside of the flood-plain districts.

Many people will not be able to exercise a choice and will have to live with the risks. Therefore the question becomes one of “what can I do to reduce flood risk?”.

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The following is taken from an article I put together a couple of years ago (2008) and is helpful here:-

Did you know (data taken from various internet sources)-

• 11% of English homes are at risk of some form of flooding (and with climate change this number is increasing daily).
• We are still building homes in natural flood plain districts.
• Insurance statistics show us that half a metre of flood-water causes £15,000 of damage in the average semi-detached home and £9,000 of that sum is uninsurable!
• The current normal range of Insurance payout cost for flood remediation works is £15 – £30,000 per home.
• Government policy is to build 3m new homes by 2020 and 1/3 of these will be within floodplains.

The new buzz words are “resistance” and “resilience” – in other words, reducing the amount of water that gets into your home and also reducing the damage that water causes.

What can you do to protect yourself? This depends on many factors, typically…….

1. Where are you buying?
2. What is the precise construction of that home?
3. How old is that home and when was it extended?
4. Proximity to sea, lakes and rivers plus altitude and topography?
5. What protects that home – how exposed is it?
6. Was it designed with flooding in mind?
7. Have multiple soft/permeable ground surfaces been hard landscaped?
8. Does it have a flooding history – have you asked?

When you are thinking of buying a home make enquiries, ask questions, drive around the district to pick up clues about water levels. Visit the Local Authority Planning and Building Control Departments and ask about your dream home.

When you have purchased “have a plan of self protection measures”! Sandbags, water diversion means/materials, how/who/went to transport of possessions/valuables to other out of town and higher altitude secure buildings, etc…..  However, initially we need to start designing with flooding in mind: so why aren’t we?

The slightly better news is that Government and the Insurance industry have at last signed up to a new protocol that ensures that flood damage insurance cover will not be withdrawn or otherwise not offered, BUT, only for homes built BEFORE 2009. If you are buying after this date then you need to clearly verify exactly how your Developer/Seller have minimised the potential of flood risk and how they have designed out much of the traditional potential damage that could be caused by water – this is up to you to activate and achieve and is not the duty of your solicitors, the seller or mortgage Valuer.

Longer term typical self-protection measures in existing housing could include:-

• Raising the height of power sockets
• Exterior Flood doors and lightweight, easily removable interior doors
• Stone or Ceramic tile ground floor form within a professional “tanking” system
• Waterproof cement plaster to lower areas
• Flood locking wall-base airbricks
• Marine varnish (multiple coats) skirtingboards on all faces and edges before fixing in place.
• Install screw-down (and well greased) drain inspection chamber covers.

On a more practical note – when you buy a home ask your Private Surveyor to comment on flood, ponding and surface water flow risks in relation to the land and building local characteristics.

Don’t forget that water damage can come in many differing forms: here is a selection of real problems diagnosed during real surveys completed by PROinspect:-

• Poor run-off design down a minor slope can cause havoc if the flood is directed into your garage!
• The lack of driveway edge kerbstones caused rainwater to enter wall-base airbricks and flood the underfloor void and eventually cause widespread floor decay!
• Conservatory added? About 30% of Builders forget to install rainwater outfall drains therefore massively increasing the risk of subsidence to both conservatory and main building.
• The removal of a front gate step (to insert a disabled person ramp access) caused road rainwater run-off to enter the house basement and flood two complete rooms!
• Over-extension of home: original rear rainwater downpipe redirected over an extensions flat roof from which a downpipe was redirected over a single storey extension flat roof that discharged over a conservatory roof – all into one normal capacity single downpipe!. Result, overfilling gutters ever time it rains, all made worse by the fact that the new conservatory downpipe was simply “stuck into the ground” without any drain outfall system attached.

One client said to us that his solicitor had commissioned an Environmental Risk Impact Report and that no flood risk had been identified. When we reported that his intended purchase was a poor flood risk he was confused and very angry! Why? Because he had not thought that flood damage can occur anywhere and is not restricted to floodplains in close proximity to the coast and rivers.

Have you noted the common strand running through these examples? Lack of knowledge; incompetent Contractors; ill-considered seller/occupier/landlord DIY.

Think about water flows, design for them, clearly monitor and then well maintain all aspects of drainage systems. Never underplay the power of water and running water.

Short term protection on your next purchase is to make sure you are not buying something that is in poor repair or has been improperly considered. Consider the impact of matters such as soft and damaged wall pointing, poor joinery paintwork, window and door frame edge gaps that are left open, the lack of water resistant wall paint systems applied up to 500mm over the potential flood water line, fixings used that are not of corrosion resistant materials (not mild steel) especially in relation to seawater flood risk areas, plasterboard wall linings and chipboard lower floorings not replaced with timber panels using WBP-bonded plywood and perhaps existing softwood floors that have not been preservative treated.

For services consider being proactive and …. raise the lower electrical ring main cabling to the upper floor level, use plaster conduits rather that burying cables within the wall plaster, use pipe insulation materials of the “closed cell” type that are not liable to water absorption, for drainage systems install non-return-valves and raise the height of all communication cables and equipment, etc…..

STOP – THINK – COMMISSION A PRIVATE SURVEY, or

at the very least, if you are involved in housing within the area covered by PROinspect, use the CONTACT FORM and ask my opinion now. I know the “bad” areas from experience and that knowledge might just prevent you form making a costly mistake.

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And finally …….

As each new district is afflicted with climate-flooding (a new term for non-sea and non-waterways flooding?) house values will be adversely affected as Insurers revoke cover and Mortgage Loan Companies restrict loan ratios: values will fall as demand falls and even if your home has not flooded.

Today I am involved with a home close to my home Town. This house is a detached Period structure that has never suffered from flooding in any capacity, shape or form. Suddenly the water table has risen significantly and since a £20,000 flood insurance claim last year their land has flooded several times but they have managed to keep water out of their home. At times the only method they could adopt was to illegally pump surface water into a roadside public gully.

My commission is to get the Insurers to cooperate and to pay for defence works before the house subsides: as it will do very soon as the high water table leaches fine material from under the house. In some respects my clients home is a crisis in the making.

Questions they will have to consider are:-

If they sold the home – what must they declare and what effect on value will those statements have on potential buyers.

If Insurers withdraw cover could they get any new cover? If not then what happens?: is the home un-buyable as Loan Companies will demand insurance!

“Between a rock and hard place” springs to mind!

Effect of Flooding on your home Value? – Read this research document from the RICS Foundation.

Firstly, let’s dispel a myth: if you ask an Estate Agent to give you a Valuation what do you get? They call them a Free Market Appraisal and some might not put that opinion in writing. Why? Because what you get is simply an opinion: it is not a professionally binding opinion and liability does not stem from that opinion (you cannot sue them).

Secondly, let’s dispel another myth: if you request a Loan Company mortgage Valuation what do you get? One – the valuation is prepared for loan purposes and the sum quoted may be lower than market value for in-house Loan Company reasons unrelated to your needs. Two – if you are buying a brand New Home the chances are that in this post-recession world the loan company will have instructed their Panel Valuer to down-value your purchase because the security offered (the new home) is in its re-sale value when it is not “new”.

Football in the sun: before the rain.

Valuations can be needed for Court purposes eg: divorce settlements, Probate and Capital Gains tax purposes, Tax Planning purposes, to advise of whether alterations may be wise and economic, for sale or purchase etc……. The circumstances that surround the request may lead us to consider other market and property aspects that alter our opinions of worth.

So, what is the definition of market value?

The only way to get a professional opinion of value, one where you can sue the Valuer if he/she is wrong, is if you request that report yourself. The wise purchaser does this via either a request for a private valuation or asks for a private survey that includes an opinion of market value. The most popular form of survey product can fits this description is the R.I.C.S. Homebuyer Report (for details see elsewhere on this site).

PROinspect can provide Market Valuations. We would need to inspect the property and complete market research, including a analysis of price-paid data (that is historic) and take into consideration the market and the property.

Why would you need a professional opinion of value? This depends on why you need advice and whether you agree that independent opinion is of worth. Some might say that a Loan Company valuer can provide an impartial opinion – conversely, the credit-crunch has told us that millions of mortgagees are out of pocket because of the Banks and of home buyers had taken advice from professionals outside of the Estate Agency and Loan Company then perhaps the hole they are now in wouldn’t have been so deep.

If you believe that a Sellers’ Estate Agent and your own Loan Company place your best interests over their own then you do not need PROinspect.

If you don’t believe this then use the CONTACT FORM to ask for help and advice once you believe the time is right for you. Initial advice is free so what have you got to lose?

NEED ADVICE?

Try the SEARCH Box facility (below, left), click on an Article Heading (below, left) or simply read on….

• BUILDING SURVEYS with or without VALUATION advice
• HOME VALUATIONS by an RICS Registered Valuer
  
• HOMEBUYER REPORTS or SELLER SURVEYS
• AUCTION or QUICK-WALK-THROUGH Appraisals
  
• Update your BUILDING INSURANCE SUM INSURED
• Is DAMP REALLY DAMP or actually CONDENSATION as a result of your lifestyle?
• Is that CRACK the beginnings of SUBSIDENCE?
• Divorce or Negligence Court-Compliant EXPERT WITNESS Reports/Valuations.

Hello, I’m Stuart Parrett. I am a truly independent, knowledgeable and experienced Chartered Surveyor and housing specialist. I am in the PEOPLE and HOMES Business where Information Discovery is all important.

I survey homes for faults and worth/value but it is not what I do but HOW that separates PROinspect from competitor surveyors.

THE HOUSE DOCTOR IS IN:

HOW CAN I HELP YOU?

SOMETHING of VALUE for you —-

1-  Do you have a SEPTIC TANK DRAINAGE system?

NEW Environmental Permitting Regulations cover even old septic tanks, which may previously have escaped regulation, but are now controlled and must be formally registered with the Environment Agency by 1^st January 2012. Failure to register is a criminal offense. Click this link PrivateDrainageChanges2012 for an Environment Agency Brochure that explains all.

2-  CONDENSATION SEASON IS UPON US – have you looked in the back of the wardrobe recently or in “that corner”?

Cold = drop in dew point = cold surfaces will attract condensate: Quick Fix – create airflows and reduce the amount of vapour in the air. Longer Term Fix = Raise the wall temperature by lining it with XXXX; properly kill off mould spores; introduce sensors that apply venting or temperature changes to the environment. Simple.

What often works is opening the window for as long as possible during and after sleeping/baths/showers/cooking (this removes water vapour that then cannot condense on your clothes and walls). You loose heat during this process and so you need to learn how to achieve these goals intelligently without icicles forming on your nose.

For more information on me, my CV etc… – click here and scroll down. Alternatively, look me in the eye by watching a short VIDEO – CLICK HERE. TheHouseSurveyor at YouTube will also deliver several important messages for those looking to purchase or those you wish to become Residential Surveyors and/or Valuers.

Those who have kindly provided testimonials for me say that I can be considered a safe pair of hands, somebody who is a real communicator and a provider of detailed and robust opinions.

Good reasons for using me in the central south coast area include that I take the time to listen to you and then help you make the right choice of survey product and have it completed at the right time. After this I genuinely communicate with you and don’t simply mail a report to you and that is it. No, I am always available for questions and meetings because you need to be re-assured your purchase is both a wise investment and you are not buying a problem.

I protect the biggest investment you’ll ever make in your life – your home – and I work with you every step of the way…..

I’ve brought together a lot of valuable information to help you organise property problems, alterations, private surveys and other services surrounding ownership, maintenance, sales, purchases and Expert Witness Reports.

CALL ME for a free chat and advice on 078 3636 3040 —

• THE GOLDEN RULES OF SELF-PROTECTION DURING HOME BUYING =

1. When your “offer” has been accepted make sure you already have a loan deal secured in principle
2. Make sure you DO NOT agree to a combined Loan Valuation and Private Survey
3. Actually speak to a Surveyor (PROinspect down south) – do not accept an Assistant or a Secretary
4. Find out your Survey Product options, fee costs and the manner in dealing with any special concerns you have
5. Do not fall for quick deals or “linked” services often packaged by costly middlemen Agencies.

STUART PARRETT

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Browse the site and when you’re ready to ask for advice give me a call or fill in the Form on the right. To get the best out of us you need to be briefed as to your options, survey costs and a lot more. As a starting point be as specific as you can as to what you need from us – use the CONTACT FORM (top right on your screen): EG: Detached house – perhaps 50 years old – £400,000 agreed – Building Survey with Valuation needed – being sold by XXX Estate Agents.

PROinspect are led by Stuart Parrett who has an unrivalled pedigree as a specialist Home Surveyor of over 35 years Hampshire experience.

If you wish to read even more of my views on a host of house and survey matters go to ezinearticles.com by clicking of the above icon. Or follow me at Twitter (@SurveyAuthority).