Hi,

Can anybody advise on ways to check if a property is liable to flooding before I go buying a house in a swamp!
Here's what I have so far, please suggest others:
1. Ask the neighbours.
2. Google, and search the Irish Times, Independent, etc. for mentions of the address.
3. look at the house, sheds, garden fences, walls, etc. for signs of high-water marks.

How do I find out what rivers run nearby?

I think there was a similar thread before where some people posted some useful links
Here is a start anyway

http://floodmaps.ie/

That is useful but not foolproof. There are houses in my neighbourhood that have been flooded multiple times over a thirty plus year period but do not show as flood risk on that site.

Check the topology of the area as well.

Ask the vendor and gthe estate agent- if they lie to you they have a liability.

ring the top 2-3 insurance companies

http://www.myplan.ie has a Flood layer.

Find your house, turn on the appropriate layer. Is your house covered by a layer of blue?

The Flood data gets turned off if you zoom in too close, most likely to prevent people doing exactly what you're doing, but you should be able to make out if you house sits in a flood plain or not.

It is a smidgen out of date too. There was an, ahem, widely reported flood in an area of Dublin 4 last year that wrote off 400 cars in one apartment complex, but it is not in their database.

I think what would be useful is a guide to sussing out an area before you buy, how to check for:

• flooding
• built on landfill or other pollution
• Known issues with the development/builder
• scumbags
• Indian burial ground etc.

In the interim, I suggest mentioning the locality on the PropertyPin e.g. Sell, Buy or Rent, and the appropriate sub-forum on AskAboutMoney (they have one for this where people give the lowdown on an area or street).

This seems to be the most common answer to this question. The insurance companies seem to have better data than the various mapping sites.