Solicitors face flood risk claims

McGrigors lawyer Suzanne Gill has warned solicitors doing conveyancy could be sued for failing to flag up flooding risks that will become uninsurable, The Law Society Gazette reports.

She said: “Because of the increased likelihood of it occurring, flooding could become the next uninsurable risk. But because uninsurable risks are often seen as a theoretical possibility, practitioners aren’t turning their minds to them.

“Solicitors need to be aware of this change now and address it. For example, if you’re negotiating a lease in a flood risk area and that lease expires after 2013, you need to consider how the lease deals with uninsurable risk.

“If solicitors don’t obtain this information, they could be leaving themselves open to liability.”