House flooded!

[Harrison]

The house I mentioned fell through. The landlord preferred to take someone wanting a long term let. We also looked at another house that was really nice, but that also fell through as another housing agent had already let it the same day without telling the agent we were using.

So tomorrow it is more house hunting.

[Tiago]

Damn, been away for a couple of days and didn't see this before now. Can only say I feel for you and yours, must be feeling like you're in your own personal hell right now. No fun.

Same with me, just reading this now, sorry to hear that Harrison, hope you get it right soon

[Harrison]

We are still looking for a house. We have been to see some but they were either all gone, or the landlord came back saying they wanted a long term lease.

And loads of other houses we found, the landlords refused because they didn't want babies! How mad is that!

But mostly nearly every house in the whole Chichester area has been let because there are so many flood victims, so our options are getting smaller and smaller by the day. We just hope some new properties come up for rent in the next few days. So far we have been sticking to places around £900-1000 per month, but there are now none available in that range. So now we are having to look at properties more towards the £1400-1500 per month and hope the insurance risk assessor will agree.

[DonAmiga]

Is there no chance of moving in with family? I was only thinking of it being less stressful and as its for a short time

[Harrison]

I wouldn't say 6 months is a short time. I wouldn't want to live with my wife's parents, and she wouldn't with mine. My parents also live an hour away, and my wife's 2 hours.

We need to be fairly close to the house for meeting those repairing the house, and also other things like Thomas' doctor and other appointments. Not a great time to have a 5 week old baby!

There is also the issue of looters. With houses empty due to flooding, robbers have already been finding out houses are sitting empty and they break in and steal what they can. And they are not just stealing furniture and personal belongings, but also stripping houses of things like kitchen appliances and central heating systems (boils and radiators), so we would prefer to stay close to the house if we can.

[DonAmiga]

You make some good points there hope you find something and all works out well for you

[Kin Hell]

Jeepers Dave. What a can of crap this appears to be evolving into. Perhaps your belongings into storage & guest house/small hotel is another immediate option for you? Again though, more hassle.

Little wonder Insurance premiums are so high based on risk situations like this. Is there a Salvation Army help line for your area?

[Stephen Coates]

Good luck with the house hunting.

Its good that the insurance company will be making a contribution.

When parts of Rotherham got flooded about 5 years ago (), a lot of people didn't have insurance, but for those that did, either the cost went up considerably, or they weren't able to get it at all.

Lets hope they can improve the drainage or something.

[Harrison]

My wife has the insurance with a special Teachers only insurance company, and it seems to be really good cover. We also hope the flooding doesn't really badly effect the insurance prices. It has been stated as a unique act of God, so you never know.

We are definitely going to be looking to see how the drainage can be improved to attempt to protect against this ever happening again. I'm tempted to hire a small digger and completely dig out my front and back gardens and install a huge soak away. Although in s drought we would then not be able to hold any moisture and the lawn would die.

[Kin Hell]

"unique act of God"? - PMSL! Is that another bs expression for it fookin pissed down & the drainage is fookin cr4p??


There would be very little point making your garden the only soak away on your strip. Everyone else would still flood & the volume of water would probably engulf you again. At the very least, you would need to have the whole garden up & at least 15-25 feet down. The entire plot would then be filled with those metal cages containing hadrcore & then covered with normal landfill. Again though, the expense of this would be huge & could be to no avail because you would be making your garden the soak away for the whole strip where you live. - As a matter of interest, how old is your development & how long have you been there?