01 March 2023

I’m not eligible for flood cover with Flood Re - what can I do?

2 minutes

Did you know that around one in six homes in England is at risks of flooding? And as the climate gets wetter and warmer, the Environment Agency predicts that the number of “at risk” homes is set to increase1. The risk of flooding inevitably impacts home insurance, making it challenging to find while also increasing the cost.  To combat this, the government launched the Flood Re scheme in 2017 to make flood insurance more accessible to homeowners.  However, whilst the scheme assists many people across the UK, there remains a great swathe of properties that are not eligible for cover.

There are several reasons a property may not be eligible for the Flood Re scheme, with the most common reason being the year it was built.  Any homes built after 1st January 2009 are not eligible to join the scheme and obtaining suitable insurance will be more challenging.

If you find yourself in a position where you aren’t eligible for Flood Re, we suggest following these tips.

Implement resilience and resistance measures

If your home has been flooded in the past, or is at risk of flooding, you may wish to consider increasing property flood resistance and resilience measures.  Resistance refers to the measures you can take to reduce the risk of water getting into your property, such as:

  • flood barriers for doors and windows
  • air brick covers
  • non-return valves.

Resilience refers to measures you can take to minimise the level of damage to your property if water does get in, such as:

  • raising electrics
  • using water resilient materials for floors, walls, and insulation
  • installing a cavity drainage membrane for extra waterproofing

Remember, the more resistance and resilience measures you have in place, the better the chance of sourcing a suitable insurance policy.

Shop around

If your property has never been flooded, some insurers may not consider it to be at risk of future flooding and may be able to offer you standard flood cover. When making an assessment, insurers will review their own claims data, flood mapping tools and any additional information you can provide. They will also consider the following:

  • History – is it located in an area that has flooded before?
  • Locality – is it near to the coast/watercourse?
  • Features – does it have a basement?
  • Resilience and resistance features

Insurers will then allocate a flood score to your home which will determine whether they can provide you with the insurance cover you need.

Speak to a specialist broker

Set yourself up for protection by talking to the specialists at Howden. We’ll shop around on your behalf and negotiate with insurers to find the right solution for you. and take into consideration any flood mitigation measures you have already implemented, before we discuss the options available to you. 

Sources:

  1. The Environment Agency