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Flood risk

Check whether a UK location is inside a flood risk zone. Backed by 144,000+ flood zone polygons stored as PostGIS geometries, sourced from the Environment Agency flood map (England & Wales) and SEPA (Scotland). Required scope: planning:read Cost: 1 request per call Available on: Starter, Professional, Business

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Check by coordinates

GET /api/v1/flood-risk/coordinates?lat={lat}&lon={lon}
PostGIS ST_Contains check against the flood_zones table. If the point falls inside multiple overlapping zones, returns the highest-risk match.

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Request

curl "https://api.propaideals.co.uk/api/v1/flood-risk/coordinates?lat=53.4808&lon=-2.2426" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer paid_..."

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.propaideals.co.uk/api/v1/flood-risk/coordinates",
    params={"lat": 53.4808, "lon": -2.2426},
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"},
)
risk = res.json()["data"]
if risk["in_flood_zone"]:
    print(f"At risk: {risk['risk_level']} ({risk['zone_category']})")
else:
    print("Outside any flood zone")

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Response (in zone)

{
  "data": {
    "lat": 53.4808,
    "lon": -2.2426,
    "in_flood_zone": true,
    "risk_level": "high",
    "zone_category": "3a",
    "zone_type": "rivers",
    "source": "ea_flood_map"
  }
}

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Response (no risk)

{
  "data": {
    "lat": 53.4808,
    "lon": -2.2426,
    "in_flood_zone": false,
    "risk_level": null,
    "zone_category": null,
    "zone_type": null,
    "source": null
  }
}
The endpoint returns 200 even when the point isn’t in any zone — in_flood_zone: false is the signal.

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Check by property ID

GET /api/v1/flood-risk/property/{property_id}
Looks up the property’s stored coordinates and runs the same check. Honours the precomputed is_flood_zone flag if it’s already set on the property row, falling back to the spatial query otherwise. 
curl "https://api.propaideals.co.uk/api/v1/flood-risk/property/5fa1b2c3-d4e5-6f78-9012-3456789abcde" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer paid_..."
Returns the same FloodRiskResponse shape.

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Risk levels

LevelZone categoryAnnual probabilityWhat it means
high3a, 3b> 1.0% (rivers/sea)Significant flood risk — insurance premiums materially higher, lender restrictions possible
medium20.1–1.0%Moderate risk — disclose on conveyancing
low1< 0.1%Low risk
(none)——Not in any mapped zone

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Use cases

  • Conveyancing checks — Pre-flag flood risk before instructing a search
  • Mortgage underwriting — Lenders can decline or surcharge high-risk properties
  • Insurance scoring — Quote adjustments based on flood zone overlap
  • Investor due diligence — Filter portfolio acquisitions by flood risk
  • Refurb planning — Avoid putting flood-vulnerable improvements in zone 3 properties

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Coverage

RegionCoverageSource
EnglandAll flood zones 2 + 3EA flood map
WalesAll flood zonesNRW flood map
ScotlandAll categoriesSEPA flood maps
Northern IrelandLimitedDfI Rivers
Total: 144,237 polygon records across all UK home nations.
  • Heritage status — Listed building & conservation area data (often correlated with flood risk)
  • Properties — Use the is_flood_zone=false filter to exclude flood-risk listings entirely
  • Spatial search — Combine viewport queries with flood-risk filtering