Flood insurance and Flood Re

How flood risk affects your premium

In the UK, flood cover is normally included in standard buildings and contents insurance rather than sold separately. When you ask for a quote, the insurer looks up your address in its own flood risk model. That model draws on Environment Agency data and other sources, and it looks at river, sea and surface water risk, the height of the property, its flood history and whether you have made claims before. The result feeds into the price of your policy, the excess you must pay and sometimes whether flood cover is offered at all.

Two neighbours can therefore get different quotes, and the official flood zone is only part of the picture. Our guide to flood maps explains why a zone and a risk band can differ. Being in Flood Zone 3 does not guarantee a high premium, and being in zone 1 does not guarantee a low one, particularly if surface water is a concern.

What Flood Re is

Flood Re is a joint initiative between the Government and insurers. It exists to make the flood part of home insurance more affordable for homes at higher risk of flooding. It works behind the scenes: you do not buy a Flood Re policy. Instead your ordinary insurer can pass the flood risk of an eligible home to Flood Re, which charges the insurer a set price linked to the council tax band of the property. According to Flood Re, a flood claim on a policy passed to the scheme carries a fixed excess of £250 per claim. Whether to use the scheme for a particular policy remains the insurer’s decision, so it is worth asking about it directly.

GOV.UK describes the scheme as currently scheduled to end in 2039, with the aim that by then the market will be able to price flood risk without it. Check flood-re.co.uk for the latest position.

Which homes are eligible

Flood Re lists criteria that all need to be met. In summary, the home must:

• be insured by an individual, and lived in by the policyholder or immediate family, or be unoccupied;
• have a domestic council tax band from A to H (or equivalent) and be used for private residential purposes;
• be a single home or a building of up to three residential units;
• have been built before 1 January 2009 (a home demolished and rebuilt after that date stays eligible);
• be in the UK, excluding the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Flood Re says some other properties are normally eligible, including holiday and second homes, farmhouses and cottages, and residential buy-to-let properties that meet the core criteria. Some properties are not eligible for buildings cover: blocks with more than three flats, company-owned homes, housing association and social housing (contents cover can still be eligible), commercial and multi-use properties. Tenants and leaseholders in a block that does not qualify may still be able to use Flood Re for contents cover.

Newer homes built after 2008 are outside Flood Re. If you are buying a new-build in a flood risk area, ask about insurance before you exchange contracts.

What Flood Re does not do

• It does not cover businesses or most commercial landlords with property portfolios.
• It does not guarantee cover or a particular price. It caps the cost of the flood element passed to it, and the insurer still sets the whole premium and may add excesses.
• It does not stop an insurer declining a policy for other reasons.
• It does not pay to prevent floods. Flood Re has a separate Build Back Better scheme, which GOV.UK says allows households to install flood resilience measures worth up to £10,000 during a flood repair, so ask your insurer if it applies.

If your premium is very high or you are refused

• Use a broker or comparison route that tells you the insurer can use Flood Re. Not all insurers handle flood risk in the same way, and a broker may reach specialist insurers.
• Check your facts. Make sure the insurer has the right address, the correct floor level, and the right flood history. Wrong answers can raise your price or invalidate a claim.
• Ask what has changed. New flood defences, resilience work or a change of flood status may support a lower quote. Our flood resilience guide lists measures to discuss.
• Be honest about previous floods. Failing to disclose a claim or a flood can lead to a claim being refused later.
• Complain if you think treatment is unfair. You can use the insurer’s complaints process, and then the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Before you buy

Get insurance quotes before you exchange contracts, not after. Lenders usually require buildings insurance from completion, and your solicitor or conveyancer will want to know cover is arranged. See buying a house in a flood zone for the full checklist. This guide is general information, not financial advice. A broker or your insurer can tell you what applies to your policy.

Check your own postcode

See the flood bands insurers are likely to start from for any English postcode, free of charge.

Check a postcode