Floods.

LoL - my French tutor would have fainted dead away had she heard that kind of expression, amongst the young men of Empire ?


OMS

I'm always amazed at why anyone would buy a house that sits on a flood plain anyway? Just like I can't understand why people buy houses backing onto motorways or railway lines and then complain because it's noisy? 


Surely anyone with any common sense knows that if you buy a house close to a river then there's a pretty good chance that you may experience a flood at some stage?

Lisa Miles:

I'm always amazed at why anyone would buy a house that sits on a flood plain anyway? Just like I can't understand why people buy houses backing onto motorways or railway lines and then complain because it's noisy? 


Surely anyone with any common sense knows that if you buy a house close to a river then there's a pretty good chance that you may experience a flood at some stage? 

That does however, somewhat assume you have the advantage of time, money (ideally both) and the luxury of choice when it comes to purchasing a house.


There's a new estate going up near me, on a former brownfield site, that is literally on an estuarine river bank - plenty of local folk remember the old factory site flooding occasionally during high tides and heavy rain. There is almost a scrum going on with the rush to purchase due to a lack of available housing locally. Regardless of the history, it's easy to see the predicted level of a 1:100 year return event flood based on the underside of the beam and block floors  - in order to minimise height, they are insulated exactly at that level with EPS. The only bits raised up on the whole site is one section of access road (so people could theoretically escape the flood). Given the huge reduction in permeable area, it isn't difficult to see how the place would resemble Venice on a good day flood - and lots of wet feet on a bad day flood.


Lots of people buy houses based on the assumption that no one would be so daft as to build them on a flood zone - Caveat Emptor, as many housebuilders are playing snake and mongoose with the planners as I alluded to above.


Regards


OMS

 

People also buy because it is what they can afford and they get more house for their money by taking on some of the risk - not that they necessarily recognise that at the time.

Twenty years ago when looking for a larger house (which we eventually achieved through extending) we found several houses which were within our budget but they all had a reason for being cheap. One such had a smallish back garden and the other side of the garden fence was a road called the M25, another boasted unimpeded views over the Sussex countryside, which it no doubt still has since no houses have been built on the runway at Gatwick Airport.

Caveat Emptor is not just an empty phrase - if something seems a bargain then ask yourself "Why?"

Alasdair

Location, location, location!

OMS:

That does however, somewhat assume you have the advantage of time, money (ideally both) and the luxury of choice when it comes to purchasing a house.

There's a new housing development near me where all the houses are large detached 4+ bedrooms with a price tag of £500,000+ (some are even priced at £700,000+) 


The development is right next to the mainline railway which has constant high speed trains running along it until the early hours of the morning. If the wind is blowing in the right direction it can sound as if the trains are coming right through my house and I'm over 1/2 mile away so God only knows how loud they are for the residents of the new development! As there's 3 pedestrian crossings on that stretch too, the trains have to blast their horns when they're near each of the crossings (and they are LOUD)  which again is right next to the new development... ? 


If I had that kind of money to spend on a house I would not choose to be living right next to a busy railway line...  

But think of the commuting possibilities Lisa Miles‍! ?

A friend/colleague of mine looked at a house and on stepping out into the garden was thinking how nice it was to have a small embankment at the end of the garden to provide privacy - at which point the Gatwick Express thundered by on the top of the said embankment........and rather than stopping in the early hours of the morning I think that doesn't stop until Xmas.

He didn't buy the house.