How much does a flood search cost in the UK? The prices, measured

A flood search is one of the optional searches a conveyancing solicitor can order when you buy a house. The price depends on who runs it and how deep it goes. These are the prices as they were published on the day we read them. Prices change, so check the date beside each one.

The prices, as read on 7 October 2026

• Free. The government's long term flood risk service for England. The area band, no document.
• £12.99. FloodCheck UK, this site. One English postcode, on screen at once and as a dated PDF. Flood Zone, rivers and sea likelihood with defences, surface water, storage areas, warning areas, the five nearest gauges, Flood Re checklist.
• £19. FloodRadar, an instant postcode report that adds recorded flood history and storm overflows and lets you pick the exact building on a map.
• £24.99. HouseCheckup Complete, a wider property report with a flood section inside it.
• About £23 to £112. A professional conveyancing flood search from a search provider such as Groundsure, Landmark or Future Climate Info, ordered through your solicitor, usually back within 48 hours.
• £195 and up. A specialist flood consultant's report, for a property with a real problem to solve.

Which one do you need

If you only want to know the area band before you view, use the free service. If you are about to make an offer and want something dated to show a broker or a solicitor, an instant report does that for the price of a coffee and a sandwich. If the property is in Zone 3, has flooded before, or the lender has asked a question, let your solicitor order a professional search, because that is the document the lender's own process expects.

The instant reports and the professional searches read the same Environment Agency records. The professional search adds a trained reader's opinion, insurability comments and sometimes a longer flood history. You pay for the opinion, not for different data.

What none of them can tell you

None of these, at any price, is a survey of one building. They all describe the risk of an area from the Agency's models. A surveyor on site, and an insurer's quote, are the only two things that speak about the actual house.

Why this site charges at all when the records are free

Because finding the six records, reading each one at the right spot, checking that a quiet data service has not been mistaken for good news, and writing it all into one dated PDF with a source under every line is work, and £12.99 is what we think that work is worth. Every record is linked so you can check us.