Property with creek

georgep31, May 6, 9:54pm
Looking at purchasing a bush property with a small creek running through the front.
According to the owner (only ever 1 owner), in the 40 years they have owned it, there has only ever been 2 times where it rose significantly - but even then, didn't reach the house (house is probably 5meters higher )(even with recent king tides, it was fine apparently) .
I felt reassured hearing this - and seeing the creek after raining, it was still very low
Love the property, but after seeing the creek on the lim report - I'm feeling very apprehensive.
Any advice? (other than just "keep away" !)
TIA
trade4us2, May 7, 9:22am
Look at the catchment area of the creek using Google or similar. If it's very large that could be a problem in heavy rain.
Maybe you could generate some power from the creek!
snork28, May 7, 9:30am
we have all seen people on tv shovelling all the mud out of their homes after a storm, ask yourself if you would like to be in the same situation as them then do what ever your answer is.
budgel, May 7, 10:37am
trade4us2 has got it. Also, a google search of floods in that area. If there has been significant flooding in the past, the local council, and Insurance companies may be aware of it.
Does the property have a culvert or bridge over the creek?
amasser, May 7, 12:14pm
Talk to Council staff, preferably ones who have been there longest. Also, expect one-in-hundred-years floods to be more common.
wembley1, May 7, 12:14pm
And any Council concerns should be noted in their LIM report.
rednicnz, May 7, 5:28pm
You could ask your insurance company? Their quote or non-quote will show their level of concern.
samanya, May 7, 7:38pm
this.
I bought a bach within 200m from a major river & the info re flooding was all available from the local council.
After due diligence, I'd go for it, I'd love a natural stream at the bottom of my garden.
rohoman, May 7, 8:48pm
Raise the house up on poles (if it isn't already) and install a hydro generator and have free power (presuming there's sufficient head of water for good generation).
thistle4, May 8, 10:43am
We have a creek in our garden and I never ever thought about it flooding the garden. We do however keep it cleared out so that it doesn't become shallow. Something to think about as it's a tedious job every Spring.
max.headroom, May 16, 8:13am
How lucky do you feel
sooby, May 21, 10:41pm
This + asking council for records are excellent advice!
rose-murray, May 22, 10:52am
When we bought our property 22 years ago we were told by the RE agent that the stream that ran around the whole property didn't flood. Unfortunately the insurance company didn't see it that way because 10 years earlier in 1986 the property was subject to a flash flood when debris built up under the bridge that went across SH1 and it spilled over into our place. During that event the whole of South Canterbury was under water. We were not familiar with any of this as we were moving down from Nelson. However, after that event they remedied the problem by replacing the old bridge with a modern structure and moved the road. We actually asked all the neighbours about that event and managed to get insurance by pointing out that it wasn't a common occurrence and that that particular problem had been remedied. So in the 10 years after that and in the 22 years we have lived here we have never been under threat from floods. Ask immediate neighbours if it has ever flooded.
tegretol, May 22, 11:10am
And you believed them? Surely not!
rose-murray, May 22, 11:20am
It was only the second house we had bought and obviously very naive. Of course if an agent claimed that now, he would be sued.
bassmo1, May 22, 3:27pm
I've always avoided buying houses with creeks near them, or ones at the bottom of a dip in the road. There are plenty of other houses to chose from.
karrie3, May 24, 10:19am
Interesting to me because atm I’m looking at selling this place because the garden is too big and buying a unit with a lovely small garden with a little creek running at the bottom. It’s only 2o-30 cm deep and the current owner said he’s put 25 trailer loads of pebbles in to make it shallow. It looks clean & tidy now but I’m not able to get in and clear out weeds and debris later on. And re flooding, it’s only about 10m from the house and say 2-3m downhill. I’ll do a. Council check today, but how much ongoing work is needed? It’s edged with trees.
budgel, May 25, 9:41am
Each situation has specific needs. The overall fall of the creek has a lot to do with it, as steeper falls remove water quicker.
Have a look at the creek beyond the place you are looking at. If the land falls markedly the water is unlikely to back up to any large extent.
arabelle, May 25, 6:38pm
I looked for good drainage when I bought my place, and for that one needs a creek, but go look where it drains into does that river then widen and look 'slow' . How far away from the house is it,
What is draining into the creek above, is it bush land or cleared. giving you an idea of flash flooding possibilities.
My house is about 4M higher or the land is and house is elevated by nearly a metre, and that creek then drains into a fast flowing stream that has deep walls but not narrow and then into a river that does flood over farmland further down which by then would be a good 20M lower than me if not more. so only if say 5 trees fell over the stream etc would I be worried and then hundreds of acres would flood before it got to my garden. Maybe 500 ml in 3-4 days with major storm damage.
So do some googling to follow the creek, and go from there,
karrie3, May 25, 11:20pm
Thanks, all good advice. I didn’t even consider the creek until reading this thread, so there’s some research ahead:-)
elect70, May 26, 2:48pm
F ing LIM reports are always OTT regards risk councils scared of litigation if wrong so cover their arse . Dont be put off by it .Owners know best & 40 years its never risen to house level go for it .
strathview, May 27, 8:05am
karrie3 wrote:
Interesting to me because atm I’m looking at selling this place because the garden is too big and buying a unit with a lovely small garden with a little creek running at the bottom. It’s only 2o-30 cm deep and the current owner said he’s put 25 trailer loads of pebbles in to make it shallow. It looks clean & tidy now but I’m not able to get in and clear out weeds and debris later on. And re flooding, it’s only about 10m from the house and say 2-3m downhill. I’ll do a. Council check today, but how much ongoing work is needed? It’s edged with trees. [/quote
Check out those pebbles that have been put in the creek to make it shallow. They would have needed resource consent to do that. Go and ask at local environment council to see if they got one. No consent equals don't touch.
C
colin433, Nov 6, 2:55pm
culverts further down are the thing to look for.
I once looked at properties in a subdivision and chose a block of land with a stream at the bottom, with the owner saying he thought the stream would be included in 'my' block, but in case it wasn't I took an option on another block, waiting for titles to come through and marker pegs to indicate which property the creek was in.
sadly it was on the property opposite, so I took up the option of the smaller, cheaper block, BUT, the land agent had been going through some stress at the time, due to the slump we experienced about thirty years ago, and he put me down for the wrong block, one number out on the map made a huge difference.
I said I wanted the block I 'thought' I had the option on. NO GO, it had been bought and paid for.
I went to inspect the new block that I had never considered previously, and discovered that at the bottom of the property, there was the creek, a few hundred yards further on, and infinitely less accessible. I ended up buying it, and discovered there WAS flooding due to a culvert that backed up the water, but it was a quick event that did no harm as the property was quite steep and handled the extra water with ease.
Pity, I'd had visions of digging a pond and diverting some of the water into it, fish, waterlilies and the rest. It didn't happen