Do You Know Your Flood Risk? Free downloadable ‘Homeowners Guide to Flood Resilience’ Launched.‏

With the Government this week announcing an additional £51 million to support households and businesses affected by last weekend’s devastating floods in Cumbria and Lancashire, the Know Your Flood Risk campaign has launched a new ‘Homeowners’ Guide to Flood Resilience’.

"The Homeowners Guide To Flood Resilience"

The free guide provides advice on how to determine your flood risk, how to plan against flooding, as well as offer guidance on flood resistance measures, appropriate property level flood products and community-based measures.

Know Your Flood Risk is a campaign raising awareness of the risk of flooding from all sources - not just from the river, sea, or a visible water course. The majority of flood insurance claims are for surface water flooding where there is no obvious water to alert a homeowner to the potential risk.

The campaign provides essential practical guidance to enable homeowners and property professionals mitigate against and prepare for the risk of being flooded.

This guide, which is written especially with the homeowner in mind, hopes to reduce the worry about what property level flood products to use, and illustrates the variety of ways a home can become resilient to being flooded.

The campaign also supplies a property-specific flood report for £24 which can be used by homeowners to help identify the potential risk, as well as confirm whether they will be able to obtain insurance at standard terms.

Mary Dhonau OBE HonRICS HonDSc, Chief Executive of the Know Your Flood Risk campaign said: “This time exactly 15 years ago, I had flood water in my home – the second flood in only just a few weeks – so I know exactly how dreadful being flooded is, and to be flooded at Christmas time makes it all the more appalling.

With the announcement of grants for those newly flooded, this guide will be an excellent resource for those thinking about trying to reduce their risk. The prospect of trying to reduce flood risk to your home can be a baffling one, with many people not knowing how to go about this other than resort to the humble and extremely inefficient sandbag. This Homeowners’ Guide is here to help. In addition, for those thinking about installing flood resilient repair, we have an excellent case study, which details the types of interventions that can be made.”

Concludes Mary: “Sadly, flooding is set to get worse and it is essential that we not only know our own flood risk, but prepare in advance and take moves to make our homes more resilient to being flooded. We hope that by launching the new guide it will help inform homeowners as to what can be done to reduce the impact a flood can have and in turn reduce the misery that being flooded brings with it.”

The Know Your Flood Risk Campaign’s mission is to raise awareness of the risk of flooding from all sources. It is one of the UK’s leading online resources for helping people find out the flood risk related to their current or future homes.

To download a copy of its free guide click HERE.

A free-to-download Flood Risk mobile app is also available to quickly assess whether a postcode is considered to be at risk of flooding.

To download the app from iTunes, click on: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id941612469.

For more information, visit www.knowyourfloodrisk.co.uk or follow the Know Your Flood Risk campaign on Twitter.

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Do You Have What It Takes To Become A Landlord?

So, you’re thinking of becoming a landlord. It isn’t easy. You might think that all you need to do is get a buy to let mortgage and you can start seeing that extra income in your account each month, but that isn’t the case. If you want to become a landlord, a lot more thought needs to go into it. Here are some tips you can use and valuable advice:

Choose a Reliable Company to Help You

A reliable company will always make your experience as a landlord that much easier. It’s up to you whether you want to do this or not; you might not think it’s necessary when you only have one property to handle. While this is true, you need to bear in mind that it’ll be up to you to handle emergency calls in the dead of the night. If you find a reliable company to help you, they’ll sort any issues out as fast as possible and all you need to do is pay. They can help you with lots of different things, so it’s a case of discussing your needs and setting something up that suits your budget.

Don’t Assume Your Property Will Always Be Occupied

So, you think the money is just going to keep rolling in every month? That’s highly unlikely. There will be times your property is not occupied, whether that’s for a few weeks or a few months. You should have money in reserve in preparation for this, so you don’t end up left in the lurch. It all depends on how long it takes to get somebody living there again - a company could help you with that too.

Ensure Your Property Meets the Standards Expected and is Safe

You can’t just rent out any old property. If you’re going to do this legally, you need to make sure your property meets the standards expected and that it’s safe for the occupants. If not, you could get in big trouble. You’ll need to arrange for it to be checked over as often as required and make the repairs necessary. You may need to arrange something small like communal dish installation, or something more complicated like an appliance replacement. Whatever it is, you need to make sure it gets done in a timely fashion.  

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Go Out of Your Way to Be a Good Landlord

Not only do you need to be a good landlord by following the rules and making sure everything is legit; you need to make sure you’re a good landlord to your tenants. Keep them informed on things they need to know about, wish them a merry christmas. Buy them some wine when they move in. When they like you, they’ll be more likely to respect your property and give you lots of notice if they decide to move out. You should get your rent on time too!

So, do you still think you have what it takes to become a landlord? It can be a lucrative opportunity but only if you do it right!

*PR collaboration

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