Home insurance in the UK is rising with the tide

Simon Read in the Independent (UK): The cost of decent cover for your home is set to soar, as climate change pushes up the twin risks of flooding and subsidence. But, even more frighteningly, around 200,000 homes in Britain could be left uninsurable within the next three months as an agreement that ensures flood-prone properties can continue to be insured comes to an end.

In fact the agreement – made between the insurance industry and the Government – expires at the end of June 2013. But with no sign of a new agreement to replace it, some insurers have warned that homeowners in flood-prone property might not be able to renew their cover later this year, because their new policy will then extend beyond June next year.

The current agreement says that insurers must include flood cover as standard for properties built before 1 January 2009, where the risk of flooding is low. But companies also agreed to cover at-risk households who already have flood cover to renew automatically with the same insurer, as long as flood defences are planned to be in place within five years.

It's confusion about Government investment in flood defences that is putting so many homeowners at risk. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) warned last week that the clock is ticking on the need to secure a new approach to flood insurance, but it needs Government commitment on flood defences. James Dalton, the ABI's head of property insurance, said: "We are running out of time to ensure that people in high flood-risk areas can continue to get affordable insurance. The current industry agreement with the Government is unsustainable, has thwarted choice for consumers, and is past its 'best by' date."...

The flood defence wall at Mucking Flats with the River Thames at high tide. The arable farmland to the left is at least a metre lower than the water level, shot by Nigel Cox, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license