How do I check the flood risk for a rental property?

On the property’s Compliance tab, under Insurance, Flood risk for the area gives the Environment Agency’s flood zone and its risk bands for rivers, the sea and surface water at the postcode’s central point, each with its data date. Every plan, in your own account and in an agency workspace, for England.

What the card shows

The zone on the Flood Map for Planning, 1, 2 or 3, which ignores flood defences
The risk of flooding from rivers and the sea, allowing for defences: High, Medium, Low or Very low, or no risk mapped
The risk of flooding from surface water, the same way
Links to GOV.UK’s long-term flood risk service and its flood warnings sign-up, and to Property alerts

The postcode point, not the building

Each answer comes from the Environment Agency’s maps at the postcode’s central point, from the ONS postcode directory, so it describes the area around it and is not a survey of the building. The Environment Agency says its flood zones are not suitable for showing whether an individual property is at risk. When the maps cannot be read, the card says so and gives the links only.

Flood Zone 3 and the insurance renewal reminder

When the renewal reminder for a buildings or contents policy that covers one property is emailed, and that property’s postcode point is in Flood Zone 3, the email adds two lines: that the area is mapped in Flood Zone 3, and a note on who Flood Re’s rules ask to live in the home, with a prompt to ask your insurer how flood is covered before you renew.

Outside England

The Environment Agency’s maps cover England only, so for a property in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland the card gives the GOV.UK links instead. Flood warnings for a property are a separate feature, in Property alerts.