Do You Have to Declare Flooding When Selling a House?

Selling a house can be difficult at the best of times. The long slog to reach completion day can seem like it takes forever.  It can take considerably longer though if you haven’t declared everything you are meant to of.

Flooding is one such issue you must declare when selling a house. A failure to declare flooding when selling a house could see you face huge legal costs and even be forced into buying back the home you sold. Let’s take a look at what you need to know should you be looking to sell your house fast, when it could be a flood risk.

Does a seller have to disclose flooding?

Yes, without fail. As you may have seen in our intro, a failure to declare flooding could see you facing extremely costly penalties. Upon accepting an offer, in your role as seller, you must complete the TA6 form. Also known as the Property Information Form, it requires you to give full information about many aspects of the property and land.

The form specifically asks about incidents of flooding and requires you to declare whether any incidents of flooding have happened in the building, surrounding garden or land. If you answer yes, you need to say when it happened and show where it happened. You’ll also have the chance to show whether the council has installed any flood defences and whether you have done anything to the home to help protect it from flooding.

You must be fully transparent in this declaration; The Misrepresentation Act 1967 means that the onus is not on the buyer to prove you lied on the TA6 form but it’s rather for you to prove you didn’t.

What will be defined as house flooding?

Many insurers classify a flood as an incident where external water enters the home/land. Commonly caused by rainfall, burst riverbanks or water mains, flooding will normally affect multiple properties. This is somewhat different from a leak or escape of water where a pipe in the home may be leaking or a hole in the roof may let water in.

How common is flooding in the UK?

Environment Agency data suggests that approximately 1 in 6 properties in England are at risk of flooding. This means that around 2.4 million homes are at risk of sea or river flooding, 3 million may be at risk of surface water flooding and 600,000 homes are at risk of all types of flooding. Unfortunately, this figure could rise if climate change is not tackled sufficiently.

Where are homes in England most likely to flood?

Many areas throughout the country are prone to flooding. Coastal towns, an abundance of rivers and some poor infrastructure mean that a host of towns and villages can find themselves succumbing to flooding. Cornwall, Kent and Sussex are prone to tidal flooding whilst river flooding can often be found occurring throughout certain areas of Essex, Kent, Sussex, Somerset and Yorkshire. Live flood warnings are available via the environment agency to help keep homeowners up to date. A 2023 report showed that East Anglia, the Northwest and Yorkshire see approximately 13-18% of properties at risk of flooding.

How much does flooding devalue a house?

Flooding can see a huge chunk of the value wiped off your home, but much depends on the current flood risk, the level of flooding your home encountered and when it happened. If for example, the last incident was over 20 years ago, the decrease in value will be smaller than the decrease from a more recent flood event.

Conveyancing firm A.V.Rillo looked at data provided by Bayes Business School and found that residential properties with flood risk sell for just over 8% less than those with no risk. Should properties be considered to have a very high flood risk, this loss of value leaps to a huge 31.3%.

To put this into monetary terms, we’ve picked a few of the locations prone to flooding and shown the value you could lose against the average house price for the area when they are seen as having either a flood risk or a high flood risk.

As you can see, the amount you could lose is quite substantial.

Can I sell a house with a history of flooding?

You can but you’ll still need to declare that flooding has occurred. You should look at having a flood risk assessment or other suitable expert attend the home and present you with a flood risk report. This can show any remedial work that has been completed and what measures are in place to reduce flood risk.

You could find that the value is still significantly reduced and that the potential pool of buyers is much less. Mortgages can be hard to acquire on flood-damaged homes, leaving you with not many opportunities to secure a sale. This is why many homeowners with flood-damaged properties opt for cash house buyers. That way the house will sell regardless and there is no concern of a chain break or failed mortgage application.

Declaring flooding is essential when you try and sell a house. Whether it’s historic or recent, you have a moral and legal duty to inform those looking to buy the home that flooding has occurred. The penalties can be costly. From fines that could set back your own property plans to an enforced order to buy back the home you sold; it isn’t worth the risk. You can find an easy route to sale with Bettermove as we buy any home. We make it possible to sell your unsellable house fast, with a cash offer and no fees. Contact us today and have your home sold in a timeframe that suits you.