How to protect your home from flooding with Flood Insurance

Flood Insurance for UK homes can be included in your Home Insurance policy, but it’s worth discussing with us exactly what is covered and how you’re covered. While Flood Insurance won’t stop your home from flooding (an increasing concern given the wetter weather in the UK and some homes located in high-risk flood areas), it can potentially meet costs incurred from the aftermath.

Does home insurance cover flooding?

Yes. Home Insurance through Naturesave can financially protect the physical structure of your property: roof, windows, walls, and immovable fixtures following a flash flood, overflowing rivers, elevated rainfall and high water levels.

For your contents, such as personal belongings, tech, furniture and valuables (anything that will fall out of your house if you were to tip it upside down), you’ll need Contents Insurance to cover possessions damaged by flood water.

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When you’re looking for Home Insurance, whether it’s for an eco-home, non-standard construction, or standard construction, check your cover limits and flood excesses as these can differ from insurer to insurer. The team at Naturesave can help you understand the nuances of your Home Insurance coverage and tailor your policy to cover your location, type, size, and any vulnerabilities your home may have.

What is Flood Re and how can it help you?

Flood Re is a joint initiative between the UK government and insurance industry, launched in 2016 and designed to make Flood Insurance affordable for homes at high risk of flood.

We work with a range of insurers who offer the Flood Re scheme as part of your insurance coverage. This means your Home Insurance could be more affordable if you live in a flood risk area.

Flood Re works as a reinsurance scheme where participating insurers can pass on the flood risk portion of a Home Insurance policy to Flood Re in exchange for a set levy, capping what they need to charge the homeowner. This lets insurers potentially offer affordable premiums while Flood Re absorbs the flood-related cost, funded by levies on the insurance industry.

What is Build Back Better?

Build Back Better is an add-on to Flood Re, that lets homeowners claim up to £10,000¹extra on top of standard flood repair costs to install ‘property flood resilience’ (PFR) measures.

After a flood claim, instead of just restoring a home to its previous state, insurers can fund improvements like raised electrical sockets, non-return valves, or air brick covers, reducing damage and disruption from future floods.

How can I reduce the risk of flood damage?

Firstly, check whether your property is in a flood risk area. You can visit the following websites which will tell you the long term and short-term flood risks when you input a post code or area in the search function.

Check your flood risk:

England: https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/

Scotland: https://map.sepa.org.uk/floodmap/map.htm

Wales: https://naturalresources.wales/flooding/check-flood-warnings/?lang=en

Secondly, be aware it is unlikely that you can completely flood-proof your home. You can, however, reduce potential damage by taking these actions:

Cover air bricks with special covers or build your house with flood-proof air bricks.
Install flood-proof temporary or permanent barriers at doors and windows.
Prevent sewage from building up by fitting non-return valves to drains and pipes.
Use sandbags or alternatives such as self-inflating or gel bags which expand when exposed to water.
Landscape your driveway and garden to channel rainwater or flood water away from your home.
Use waterproof sealant to close gaps in exterior walls.

When flood water in your home is unavoidable

If deep, regular, or long-lasting floods affect your property’s interior, take these actions:

Use tiled floors with rugs that can be taken up and stored, instead of carpets
Move electrical sockets and wiring to at least 1.5 metres above the floor
Install synthetic doors
Elevate kitchen appliances, TVs and boilers above average water level
Install water-resistant bathroom and kitchen units
Use water-resistant boards

What flood protection measures do insurers look for?

When insurers assess a property at flood risk they generally look for two categories of measures: those that keep water out of the building, and those that limit the damage if water gets in anyway. The above pointers regarding flood-proofing your home and limiting water damage can stand you in good stead with your insurer and can help us, as your broker, secure more favourable terms for you in relation to Home Insurance.

Insurers also weigh up the level of flood resistance in your home:

How close the property is to a river, the sea, or a known surface water flow path
Strength of local flood defences
Your property’s claims history
Its official flood risk rating from bodies like the Environment Agency

Can flood resilience reduce future damage?

Flood resilience measures are designed to reduce the cost, disruption, and recovery time of future flood events, even though they can’t stop a flood from happening in the first place.

A home fitted with resilient flooring can often be cleaned, dried, and reoccupied within days or weeks, compared with the many months it can take to strip out and replace carpet, chipboard, and flooring after a conventional flood.

Resilience measures can also reduce repair costs each time a property floods. This is because subsequent flood events can cause less structural and material damage than they would in an unadapted home. Over time, and across repeated flood events, this can make a significant difference to both the homeowner’s disruption and the insurer’s overall claims costs, which is part of why schemes like Build Back Better exist.

What doesn’t Flood Insurance cover?

Flood Insurance policies tend not to provide protection for poorly maintained properties or gradual damage often caused by groundwater that seeps in over time. ‘Wear and tear’ isn’t usually included either, especially if you have neglected to keep your property and outside space in good condition. If you’re unclear about what your policy does and doesn’t cover, feel free to check with us.

For Home Insurance that includes flood protection, talk to the Naturesave team today. Our insurance experts can help you insure your home to the standard it needs to be covered.