The purpose of the Property Flood Resilience (PFR) repair grant scheme is to assist home and business owners to improve the flood resilience of their individual properties. It is not simply compensation for having been flooded. The outcome from this funding should be that if flooding were to reoccur, damage levels would be considerably lower, and property owners and businesses could return to their properties much more quickly.
Up to £5,000 (including VAT) is available per property to refund homes and businesses for works undertaken to make them more flood resilient or recover more quickly from future flooding.
- the grant is available to improve the flood resilience of a property;
- it is not compensation for flood damage, nor is it to be used for speculative work.
- it is for improvements to a property to reduce future flood damage.
- Grants will only be made when works have been fully completed that are proven, by an independent surveyor, to improve the flood resilience of a property.
- Evidence of the independent survey and completion of works will be required before considering payment of this grant. However, anyone who plans to undertake resilience work should submit an application now to register an expression of interest for this funding.
Eligibility
Your property must have been internally damaged by flooding between Tuesday 2 January 2024 and Friday 12 January 2024 as a result of Storm Henk.
Flooding must have been caused by heavy rainfall, a river or watercourse overflowing, or by groundwater.
Please be aware that as part of the Expression of Interest stage, you will need to provide evidence that your property flooded, for example photographs or insurance claims.
Only the property owner can apply for the grant.
The grant is only available to:
- residential properties - where habitable internal areas of the property have been damaged by flooding during this event (this includes static caravans where this is the primary residence)
- businesses/social enterprises and charities - where internal areas of the premise which are critical to the day to day operations (not storage sheds or warehouses) have been damaged by flooding during this event
- holiday lets that are operated as a business and where non-domestic rates are paid
- a bed and breakfast property where:
- i. the owner lives on site and said property is their principal residence, and
- ii. they may pay both domestic and non-domestic rates
The grant is only available to people where the habitable living or business area of the properties have been damaged by entry of flood water, necessitating drying out and/or repairs to the fabric of the building.
Properties not eligible include:
- properties that flooded from sewerage system (unless wholly or partly caused by an increase in the volume of rainwater entering or otherwise affecting the system or from a burst water main
- garages, outhouses, storage areas, basements and cellars not used as part of the habitable or business area of the property
- second or empty homes
- properties should be covered by insurance or product guarantees (for example: repair of previously installed resilience measures or the costs of drying out)
Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) should be considered 'one front door' except where they are separate for council tax purposes, in which case, each individual council taxpayer will be eligible. Blocks of flats should be treated under the same principles as HMOs.
Only properties, or parts thereof, directly impacted by the flood within multi-occupancy buildings are eligible for the scheme.
Premises occupied through leasehold are eligible. The freehold owner of a flooded building is eligible for a grant from the scheme to contribute towards the cost of making recoverable repairs to the shared spaces of a building impacted by flooding, especially where this complements work being carried out to individual properties through the scheme.
Properties that have received the following previous grants are not eligible:
- previous PFR Grants from the schemes that were put in place in 2013/14, 2015/16, November 2019, February 2020.
However, where a survey suggests that extra resilience measures should be installed over and above what was previously installed under a PFR Grant Scheme and these are not insurable, the Local Authority can consider eligibility on a case-by-case basis.
The survey in such cases would be carried out at the risk of the occupier by a suitably qualified professional and the cost redeemed as part of the Grant if the application is successful. Decision is at Local Authority discretion and should be in exceptional cases only and represent good value for money.
Properties that have previously had resistance measures installed (through a Flood Defence Grant in Aid (GiA) scheme, for example) and which have since experienced internal flooding, are eligible for this scheme. However, this grant should only be used for new recoverable adaptations (such as the additional cost of replacing drywall with resilient alternatives) that were not eligible for the GiA scheme. It cannot be used to replace any damaged measures installed under the terms of the GiA scheme.
Uninsured domestic properties and businesses are also eligible.
Many insurers are now offering 'Build Back Better' (BBB) payments. This means that households can claim an additional amount as part of their flood claim, which will fund measures which will improve the flood resilience of the property.
This can include carrying out surveys to understand the flood risk and potential mitigation, the addition of flood resistance measures such as flood doors, and flood resilience measures such as the replacement of damaged parts of the home with more flood resilient materials such as hard floors.
People who have BBB as part of their insurance claim can apply to have a PFR grant but it is recommended that customers engage with their insurers in the first instance where they are eligible for BBB.