Flood risk
The England flood map shades the street and the surveyor found no tide mark in the house. Why are those two records about different things?
Those two records are about different things. The England flood map shades an area, including this street, for long-term flood risk. The surveyor found no tide mark in the house, which is a statement about what was visible inside on the day. A dry wall does not rewrite the map, and the map does not invent a watermark the surveyor did not see. The survey has not measured a past flood depth and has not certified the house as never having flooded. One product is an area check. The other is an inspection with no tide mark found.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Flood maps are built from models and recorded risk for places, not from a walk through your hallway. They can shade a street where a particular house still showed no stain. They can also miss the mark of a flood that was cleaned up before the visit. The surveyor reports the absence of a tide mark as an absence of that mark, not as a history. GOV.UK's long-term flood check remains the area tool. The home survey remains a condition look. Mixing them into one sentence loses both meanings.
Keep the map extract and the survey sentence side by side for the solicitor and, if a lender or insurer asks, produce each for what it is. Ask the seller, in the questionnaire, about flooding, and treat the answer as their account. Do not ask the surveyor to delete the map because the skirtings looked clean, or to add a depth they did not measure. No tide mark is useful. It is not an all-clear for the shaded street, and the shade is not a stain on the plaster.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you find any tide mark, silt or repaired line, or truly none?
- Are you describing the map as an area record rather than as something you measured?
- What should stay in the report even though the internal walls looked dry?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the flood-map shade and the no-tide-mark note as two records.
- Do not convert a dry inspection into a flood history.
- Pass both documents on if an insurer or lender asks about flooding.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the garden fence has a stain, does that become the house tide mark?
Not by itself. A stain on a fence is outside. The surveyor's point was that no tide mark was found in the house. Describe the fence separately if it was seen, and do not relocate it onto the internal walls.
Does a raised threshold prove the map is wrong?
No. A step at the door is a detail of the entrance. It does not correct the England flood map, and it does not record a flood depth the survey never measured on the floors inside the house at all.