There has been a major rise in the number of people who think that flood risk has become a more important consideration when buying a home compared to a year ago, according to a survey out today.
The YouGov poll for GroundSure, the country’s leading provider of property data, found that 78% of UK adults thought flood risk assessment has become more important than it was a year ago. Interestingly, it is women who feel particularly strongly about this issue — with 55% of women saying they think it “much more important” compared to 42% of men.
However, the majority of people (56%) would not know how to assess flood risk themselves if they were buying a new property, with most expecting lawyers to offer this service when providing conveyancing advice on a new home purchase.
The survey found that, after being made aware that lawyers can have flood risk assessments carried out by an external company prior to a property purchase, 61% of respondents would be likely to ask a lawyer to assess flood risk. They also took a dim view of those lawyers who would advise against a flood risk assessment: 31% per cent described a lawyer giving such advice as “unprofessional”, and 26% describing them as “careless”.
Lawyers who advise against flood risk assessment also face a potential deluge of litigation: 64% of respondents said they would be likely to take legal action against a lawyer who had advised against an assessment if the home was subsequently flooded.
“The recent extreme flooding has clearly caused people to think very carefully about such risks when buying a home. And those potential home buyers are also sending a very clear message to the lawyers who might help them with their purchase: we want you to provide flood risk as part of your service — a message that is also endorsed by the Law Society,” said GroundSure Managing Director, Dan Montagnani.
GroundSure is the market-leader in the provision of data to allow solicitors, consumers, business and surveyors make a more informed decision when buying property. This data includes environmental reports such as flood risk, ground stability, contamination and planning issues.
