Environmental Risk: What Smart Buyers Check Before They Commit

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Over the years, we’ve come across some really savvy buyers, people who understand that environmental risk is a very real issue for property in certain areas and who want to understand the extent of that risk before they commit to buying.

I remember a buyer back in 2020 who knew exactly where they wanted to live but were also fully aware that the area came with a high flood-risk potential. Instead of viewing every property in their search area and letting their heart drive the decision, they took a very different approach.

They paid for a flood report on every property that caught their interest, purely to double-check the risk profile before viewing. That allowed them to walk away from some properties immediately, build a much shorter shortlist that worked for them on paper, and only book viewings on the homes that best matched their risk tolerance.

This was a rare client, and a true early adopter of our services. It was also one of the defining moments when I realised that we were genuinely delivering something of real value to home movers.

I often look at news reports when major flooding events occur and ask myself the same question: did those homeowners truly understand the risks when they bought, or did they make those purchases blindly, completely unaware of the heartache, inconvenience, and expense that lay ahead?

I’d like to think no one looks forward to being flooded or temporarily displaced from their home, but it happens far more often than people realise.

So what should buyers be doing to avoid these risks?

When we first launched it, and I’ll be honest, we upset large parts of the search industry, our free-to-use postcode Hazard Checker quickly became one of the most visited pages on our website.

Historically, alerts like these were only ever seen by conveyancers when they ordered searches several weeks into a transaction. Even then, the information often wasn’t shared with the buyer until much later, far too late, given that the commitment to buy had already been made.

To me, that has always seemed completely ludicrous. This is critical decision-making information, yet it’s hidden from buyers for weeks. Many conveyancers won’t even order searches until they have a draft contract and a mortgage offer, by which point buyers have often already paid for surveys and mortgage fees.

What I advise all buyers to do is simple: use our free hazard alerts system at propertysearchesdirect.co.uk and have open conversations with sellers and estate agents at the point of viewing about any risks that show up.

But here’s something important to remember: just because a property has never flooded does not mean it never will. Risk profiles change. Climate change, new developments, changes to infrastructure, landscaping, and overwhelmed flood defences all affect how water behaves, and properties that were once considered safe can become vulnerable.

If you want to properly understand environmental risk, we offer a range of reports that show exactly what you could be living with, and, just as importantly, how those risks could impact the future value of your home.

With growing pressure on sellers to disclose more information upfront, which I see as a huge win for buyers, we’re likely to see just how much environmental factors can influence property values.

So make better, more informed decisions on your next move.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Moving Home, Uncovered. If you found this useful, subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes, and head over to propertysearchesdirect.co.uk/podcast to send me your questions. I’ll cover them in future episodes to help make moving home a smoother, less stressful experience for everyone.