What is Flood Re and does your property qualify?

How Flood Re works

Flood Re is a reinsurance pool, not an insurer you deal with directly. Here's the mechanism:

1. You buy home insurance from a standard insurer in the normal way
2. That insurer assesses whether your property qualifies for Flood Re
3. If it does, the insurer can “cede” (pass) the flood risk element of your policy to the Flood Re pool
4. This allows the insurer to offer affordable flood cover even on high-risk properties
5. Flood Re is funded by a levy on all home insurance policies in the UK — every household contributes, including those with no flood risk

The practical result: if your property qualifies, you can usually get flood cover at a price that reflects your council tax band rather than your flood risk — a significant subsidy for high-risk properties.

Who qualifies

Flood Re covers household insurance policies for properties that meet all of the following:

• Used as a private residence — your home, not a commercial property
• Located in England, Scotland, or Wales — Northern Ireland has a separate arrangement
• Built before 1 January 2009 — this is the most important exclusion (see below)
• Not a leasehold property where buildings insurance is arranged by the freeholder — block policies arranged by freeholders for blocks of flats typically can't access Flood Re
• Not a small business — commercial and mixed-use properties are excluded
• Has buildings insurance in the standard insurance market — specialist policies from non-participating insurers may not access Flood Re

The post-2009 exclusion — and why it matters

Properties built on or after 1 January 2009 are excluded from Flood Re. This exclusion was deliberate — the scheme was designed to avoid incentivising new development in flood risk areas. If a developer builds homes in a flood plain after 2009, those homes cannot access subsidised insurance.

In practice, this means:

• New build properties in flood risk areas have no access to Flood Re — ever
• Some modern developments near rivers or in regeneration areas are specifically affected
• Insurance for post-2009 flood risk properties is available from specialist insurers, but at market rates — which can be significantly higher

If you're buying a new build or a property built after 2008 in a flood risk area, check the build date and factor in the higher insurance cost before committing.

Leasehold flats and Flood Re

This catches many buyers by surprise. If you're buying a leasehold flat, the buildings insurance is usually arranged by the freeholder for the whole building — not by individual leaseholders. Because Flood Re only covers policies arranged by the household, not block policies arranged by freeholders, most leasehold flats cannot access Flood Re.

Before buying a leasehold flat in a flood risk area, ask to see the current buildings insurance policy and confirm whether flood damage is covered, at what excess, and at what cost. You will typically have limited ability to change this as a leaseholder.

How to access Flood Re

You don't apply to Flood Re directly — you just buy home insurance from a participating insurer. Most major UK insurers participate in the scheme. When you get quotes, tell the insurer the property is in a flood risk area and ask specifically whether they can offer cover through Flood Re.

Not all insurers will cede every eligible property to Flood Re — they have discretion. If one insurer refuses or quotes very high, try another. A specialist flood risk broker (search BIBA's directory) can often access better terms than going direct.

When does Flood Re end?

Flood Re is currently funded until 2039. After that, the intention is that the insurance market should be able to price flood risk accurately without the subsidy — partly because more properties will have flood resilience measures installed, and partly because flood mapping and mitigation will have improved.

In practice, what happens after 2039 is uncertain. If you're buying a high flood risk property today with a 25-year mortgage, the second half of your mortgage term falls outside the current Flood Re programme. Factor this into your long-term assessment of the property.