Flood Risk and Home Insurance: What UK Buyers Need to Know

UK home beside shallow residential floodwater

Yes, you can usually still get home insurance with flood cover in a flood-risk area of the UK, but the price, the excess and the choice of insurers depend on the individual property. For many homes built before 2009, the Flood Re scheme exists to keep that cover affordable. The time to find out where you stand is before you make an offer, not after exchange of contracts.

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Key points

Buildings and contents policies normally include flood damage, but you must check the policy wording and the excess, because cover varies.
Flood Re helps insurers price flood cover on eligible homes built before 1 January 2009. It does not cover newer builds or many leasehold flats.
A general flood map is a starting point only. Neighbouring properties can get very different quotes.
Get a flood-inclusive quote, ideally from a specialist broker, before you offer on a property in a risky area, and use any flood risk as negotiation evidence.
If you flood, photograph everything, keep damaged items until the insurer has seen them and get written approval before permanent repairs.

Is flood damage covered by UK home insurance?
What is Flood Re and how does it work?
Which properties does Flood Re cover, and which does it not?
How do you check a property’s flood risk before you offer?
Should flood risk change what you offer?
What should you tell insurers about past flooding?
How do you bring the cost down?
What if you are a landlord or investor?
What should you do if a property you own floods?
What do we think about flood risk and buying a home?
Are you an estate agent who gets asked about flooding?
FAQ
Sources

Is flood damage covered by UK home insurance?

In most cases, yes. Buildings and contents policies usually include storm and flood damage, but policies vary, and a cheap policy found on a comparison site is not proof that flooding is properly covered. Confirm that flood is included, read the excess (the amount you pay towards any claim) and check whether the policy has special conditions for flood claims.

Buildings insurance covers the structure: walls, roof, floors, fixtures such as the kitchen and bathroom. Contents insurance covers what you would take with you if you moved. If you are buying with a mortgage, your lender will require buildings cover from the day you exchange, so you need a quote that includes flood before that point, not a policy you arrange in a hurry afterwards.

Price comparison sites are fine for many households, but they can struggle with non-standard risks. The ABI advises that comparison sites are not always the best place to buy flood insurance, and suggests contacting insurers directly or speaking to an insurance broker. A specialist broker can be found through the British Insurance Brokers’ Association’s find-insurance service, and GOV.UK also points homeowners to brokers that specialise in properties at risk of flooding.

Is flood damage covered by UK home insurance? — overview diagram

What is Flood Re and how does it work?

Flood Re is a reinsurance scheme, not an insurer. You never buy a policy from it. Instead, your insurer sells you a normal home policy, then can pass the flood risk on that home to Flood Re for a set premium. According to the ABI, it is a not-for-profit fund owned and managed by the insurance industry, and its purpose is to let insurers offer more affordable cover to households at higher flood risk. It launched in April 2016.

The scheme’s own annual report for 2025-26 says that over 742,000 properties have been ceded to Flood Re since 2016, with about 353,000 policies estimated to be active. The same report puts the average quote for a householder with a flood claim at around £1,316, against around £4,400 before the scheme began. Treat these as averages: your own quote depends on your property, its claims history and the insurer.

Three practical points for buyers:

You do not apply to Flood Re. Ask your insurer or broker whether the policy can be ceded to it.
Flood Re covers the flood element of the premium. The rest of the policy is priced as normal.
It is temporary. The scheme is due to end in 2039, with the aim of moving the market to risk-reflective pricing by then. If you are buying a home you may own for 15 years or more, assume that flood cover will become more closely priced to the property’s real risk over that time.

Which properties does Flood Re cover, and which does it not?

Eligibility is narrow, and it is where buyers most often get caught out. Flood Re states that a property must meet all of its criteria, including:

a domestic council tax band from A to H (or equivalent);
private residential use;
a single home, or a building of two or three residential units;
insurance on an individual basis, or with an individual premium;
construction before 1 January 2009 (a home demolished and rebuilt on the same plot after that date is still eligible); and
a location in the UK.

In practice, that means the following are usually left out:

Property type	Covered by Flood Re?
House built before 1 January 2009	Generally yes, if the other criteria are met
New-build completed after 1 January 2009	No
Flat in a leasehold block of four or more homes	No, as the ABI sets out
Home built in 2008 but banded for council tax in 2009	Possibly, if you can show it was lived in before 2009; a utility bill may help

If you are buying a new-build in an area that sits on a flood map, do not assume the developer’s drainage design solves the insurance question. Ask insurers directly. For flats in larger blocks, the building is normally insured by the freeholder or management company, so ask the seller’s solicitor for the buildings insurance schedule and recent premium history, as rising premiums feed straight into your service charge.

How do you check a property’s flood risk before you offer?

Start with the official service, then go further. The government’s long-term flood risk checker for England shows the baseline risk for an area and how climate change might affect it. It is not designed to assess an individual property, and it does not account for things like blocked private drains or burst pipes. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own national flood maps, so use the one for the nation where the home sits.

Then build the picture:

Check all the sources of flooding. Rivers and the sea get the attention, but surface water, groundwater and sewer flooding drive many claims. A property outside a river flood zone can still sit in a surface water hotspot.
Ask the seller directly. The seller’s property information form asks about past flooding. If the answer is vague, ask your solicitor to follow it up in writing.
Get a property-specific environmental search. One council source notes that general postcode-level maps can miss localised surface water issues and structures such as culverts, and recommends using a conveyancing solicitor who performs property-specific environmental data searches.
Look at the ground. Check where the road slopes, where the nearest watercourse runs, and whether neighbours have flood boards or sandbags by the door. If you visit after heavy rain, so much the better.
Get a real insurance quote. Insurers use a mix of Environment Agency data, their own claims history and commercial risk models, so neighbouring homes can get very different quotes. A quote with flood included, and the excess stated, tells you more than any map.

For a wider view of how people assess flood zones in other countries, this Austin guide to checking flood zones shows the same principle at work: official maps are a starting point and need local checking. The rules, schemes and insurers it mentions are American, so do not apply them to a UK purchase.

The ABI also publishes a house hunter’s guide to flood risk information, which is worth reading before you view anything in an area you do not know. It is a 2015 publication, so check the current position with your solicitor and insurer.

Should flood risk change what you offer?

Often it should, but only if you can show why. Negotiation works on evidence, and flood risk gives you three types:

A confirmed insurance cost. If your quote for buildings cover with flood is much higher than for comparable homes, or the excess is large, that is a running cost the seller has to account for.
A flood history. A home that has flooded before may have a smaller pool of buyers, and a buyer who needs a mortgage may find lenders more cautious.
Remedial work. If a survey or search points to drainage problems or damp, the cost of fixing them is a legitimate reason to adjust your price.

A lower offer is not automatically a good idea. If the risk is high and insurance is hard to obtain at a sensible price, the right answer may be to walk away. Check with your mortgage adviser too, as lenders have their own requirements on buildings cover and a home you cannot insure may be a home you cannot borrow against.

This is where comparing sold prices on the same road helps. If similar homes nearby have sold at a discount or a premium, that tells you how the local market is pricing the risk. The Offer Smart buyer report pulls together recent local sales, including the same road, alongside flood risk data for the address, so you can see both in one place. It is a data-led guide to what to offer, not a RICS valuation, survey or financial advice, and it does not replace a flood-inclusive insurance quote or a solicitor’s search.

What should you tell insurers about past flooding?

Be accurate. Citizens Advice stresses that you have a legal duty to answer insurers’ questions accurately. If you are unsure whether a property has flooded before, say in writing that your answer is an estimate to the best of your knowledge. An answer given carelessly can lead to a rejected claim later on.

When you buy, ask the seller (through solicitors) for:

dates of any flooding, and which part of the property was affected;
any insurance claims made and their outcome;
the repair work done, with invoices or guarantees; and
any flood resilience measures installed, such as non-return valves on drains, waterproof plaster or flood doors.

Documented resilience measures can help when you ask for quotes. GOV.UK also notes that if your insurer takes part in the Build Back Better scheme, you may be entitled to up to £10,000 to fit resilience measures as part of the repair after a flood claim. Ask your insurer whether it participates before you need it.

How do you bring the cost down?

If the quotes you receive are high, there are legitimate ways to improve them:

Use a specialist broker rather than relying on a comparison site alone.
Compare excesses and flood-specific conditions, not only the headline premium. A lower premium with a much higher flood excess may cost more when it matters.
Install and document flood resilience measures, and give the insurer the details.
Ask about Flood Re eligibility if the home was built before 2009.
Get independent advice. GOV.UK points homeowners to the National Flood Forum and MoneyHelper for insurance advice.

Set the insurance cost alongside the other running costs, such as council tax, energy and maintenance, when you work out what a home really costs per month. A home with a lower asking price and a high flood premium can end up costing more than a pricier home with ordinary cover.

What if you are a landlord or investor?

The same checks apply, with a few extra points. Landlord buildings insurance is a different product from owner-occupier cover, so a quote for one does not tell you the price of the other. Ask the broker specifically whether the policy is for a let property and whether it covers flood. Flood Re’s eligibility rules refer to private residential use, so confirm with your broker how a let property is treated before you rely on the scheme in your numbers.

For yield calculations, build in the insurance premium and excess, plus the risk of void periods if a property floods and tenants have to leave. If you are weighing several addresses, the Unlimited Homebuyer Membership at £39.99 per month lets you run reports on as many as you need while you compare them, which can be cheaper than buying single reports if you are viewing many properties.

What should you do if a property you own floods?

Safety comes first: if water is entering your home, keep away from electrics and follow the advice of the fire and rescue service and the local authority. For the claim itself, the guidance from Citizens Advice on making an insurance claim and from insurers points the same way:

Contact your insurer promptly and ask what they need from you.
Photograph the damage and mark water lines on walls.
Keep damaged items until the insurer has had the chance to inspect them, unless they are a health hazard.
Get written approval from your insurer before starting any permanent repairs.
Keep every receipt for emergency costs and temporary accommodation, and ask whether your policy covers them.

The Environment Agency also runs a free flood warning service, and its page on preparing for, responding to and recovering from flooding explains how to sign up. If you live in or are buying in England, register before you move in.

What do we think about flood risk and buying a home?

We built Offer Smart because buyers make the biggest purchase of their lives with information scattered across a dozen websites. Flood risk is a clear example. The national map says one thing, the insurer’s quote says another, and the price on the listing reflects neither.

Our view is simple. Treat flood risk as a pricing question, not only a yes-or-no one. A home with a known risk and affordable, confirmed cover can still be a sound purchase at the right price, while a home with a low map rating and no insurance quote is an unknown. The sensible order is: check the area, check the property, get the insurance quote, then decide your offer, using sold prices on the same road as your comparable evidence.

We also think buyers should be wary of anyone, including us, who suggests a single tool can settle the question. Our reports give you data to ask better questions of the seller, your solicitor and your insurer. They are a guide to what to offer, not a valuation, survey or financial advice.

— Rhys Hedges

Are you an estate agent who gets asked about flooding?

Buyers and tenants ask agents about flood risk, schools, broadband and bills at the first viewing. Our estate agent plans, from Estate Agent Starter at £49.99 per month per branch, through Growth at £69.99 to Professional at £89.99, produce branded property and area guides you can hand over, so the answers are ready and consistent.

FAQ

Can you claim on house insurance for flood damage?

Usually yes, as flood damage is normally covered by buildings and contents policies. Always check your own policy for the flood wording, the excess and any special conditions. If you are not sure, ask your insurer or broker before you need to claim.

Will I be refused insurance if my home is in a flood zone?

Not necessarily. Some insurers may decline or charge more, but there are routes to cover, including specialist brokers and, for eligible homes, Flood Re. Shop around, and give accurate answers about past flooding.

Is a new-build covered by Flood Re?

No. Flood Re only applies to properties built before 1 January 2009, and it also excludes flats in leasehold blocks of four or more homes. Ask insurers directly for a quote with flood cover before you commit to buying.

Does the Environment Agency flood map tell me what my insurance will cost?

No. It shows long-term flood risk for an area, but insurers use a mix of Environment Agency data, their own claims history and commercial risk models. Two neighbouring homes can receive very different quotes, so you need a quote for the specific address.

Do I need to tell my insurer about flood resilience measures?

Yes, it is worth doing. Keep records of measures such as non-return valves, waterproof plaster or flood doors and share them when you ask for quotes. They can help your case with an insurer.