No one can predict precise weather patterns and especially the intensity of rainfall. The upshot is that as climate change kicks in and the seasons merge, a large percentage of UK property owners, both domestic and commercial, will potentially be at risk in multiple ways.

Some need flood insurance under strict contract, lease, or occupational license terms. Others who have been flooded before will need ongoing insurance both for their peace of mind and to ensure that the value of their castle does not diminish. Those of us who are simply cautious will have to understand what has happened, what could happen, and decide what stance they will take next when they start thinking about their next home investment.

Home values ​​could easily fall if an effective and credible solution is not negotiated quickly now. If the solution is vague in the details and fails to allay buyers’ suspicions, the sale prices will fall and the physical investment of many people will be shattered. The value will go down the drain, not just the rainwater.

So we come full circle and need to start helping ourselves and not relying on good luck and sometimes generic risk analysis reports. Such help starts with using our own eyes, but it should get a bit more sophisticated compared to now.

The government has not yet released the details of the post-June 2013 response to the current severe flooding dilemma, but it appears they are proposing something like this: setting up an insurance group to pay claim sums over a level sum agreed superior; This can only apply to domestic housing and can be financed by a levy on all insurance premiums; any claim on the amount of the common reserve would be satisfied by the Government.

Self-help would start with potential buyers thinking twice before deciding which homes to consider buying. Frankly, it is unacceptable for developers to continue to build new homes in known floodplain areas unless substantive flood defense work is scheduled to finish very soon (by June 2013).

Second, surveyors and appraisers, who advise home buyers, must distinguish between floodplain and flood risks, on the one hand, fairly well documented and generally tabulated in local environmental hazard analysis reports completed in each mode of transport, and a visual risk assessment for the other.

The latter would better define whether exceptionally high rains could cause a flash flood risk. Questions like (1) is the road system on a higher level than the house plot? (2) is rainwater removed from the area or stored locally or in sinks? (3) Can storm drains be seen around the farm / district? (4) Is the subject at home in a depression or low point in the terrain? (5) Is the house in question designed / built in such a way as to reduce the risk of flash floods or not? etc …

The Surveying and Appraisal industry needs to work together to establish a clear set of common sense visual appraisal issues that need careful interpretation from the Surveyor OR Appraisers will simply assume the worst and reduce the value of the home as adequate loan collateral. This would be catastrophic for Sellers who could see their investments fall in value or become virtually impossible to sell.

Personally, I am designing my own self defense policies and protocols to use on behalf of my own clients, but my Industrial Regulator, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the insurance industry in general will help me, or not. Look at this space but above all HELP YOURSELF thinking about the floods and not just the nice wallpaper and the walls are cracked.