Expert Eye: Lesley Purveur of Larken & Co Solicitors, Newark, explains your legal rights after flooding

Recently, Storm Babet left the country battered and bruised, devastating many areas with torrential rain, gale force winds, and extreme flooding.

The scale of destruction has impacted on homes and businesses, leaving them at the mercy of loss adjusters and insurance claims. It is advisable to be aware of your legal rights should your home or place of work be affected by flooding.

Lesley Purveur, of Larken & Co Solicitors in Newark, looks at typical questions that arise:

What should I do if my property is affected by flooding?

Contact your insurers as soon as practically possible.

Insurance companies keep records of customers, so you should still be able to make a claim even if your policy documents have been damaged, or you are unable to locate them. It is useful, however, to always keep insurance documents in a safe place, preferably in a waterproof folder.

Your insurers should take care of any necessary repair work and make arrangements to replace items.

Keep a clear written record of anyone you speak to about the claim, prepare an inventory of all items damaged, and take photographic evidence.

Where a property is too severely damaged to continue living in while repairs take place, your insurance company should relocate you to alternative local accommodation, depending on the terms of the policy.

I rent my property from a private landlord – what rights do I have?

Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a landlord is legally responsible for certain repairs and must:

Keep the structure and exterior in a good standard of repair, even if it was in a poor state of repair when the tenancy began.

repair the property when damage has been reported.

ensure the supply of utilities is in working order.

You should contact your landlord and/or letting agent as soon as possible and ask them to come to the property to inspect the level of damage and take photographs.

If your landlord fails to carry out their obligations, you may be able to take action for breach of contract.

If you have to leave due to the severity of damage you can ask your landlord to terminate the tenancy or suspend the rent until it is safe to move back.

Do rights differ for a council/housing association tenant?

No. Councils, housing associations, and registered social landlords all have a legal duty to repair damage and disrepair to your property and provide suitable alternate accommodation if necessary.

My home is flooded, what should I do about work?

Employees are not automatically entitled to be paid if they need to take time off work to deal with damage caused by flooding. It is an employer’s discretion. It may be that your employer allows you to make the time up at a later date,or you may be asked to take the time as paid annual leave but this must be with your agreement.

My workplace has closed because of flooding – do I still get paid?

If a business has to close its place of work due to flooding or flood conditions, employees are generally entitled to be paid. Your employer can request you work from home if you are able to. If you are on a zero hours contract, or your employer has a contractual right to decline to offer you work at short notice, they may not have to pay you.

It is difficult for me to get to work because of flooding – will I still get paid?

Employees are expected to make every reasonable effort to attend work despite any severe transport disruption or road closures, but without compromising their health and safety.

Generally, there is no legal right entitling an employee to be paid if they are unable to attend work because of flooding, and the employer is entitled to regard such absence as unauthorised.

Adopting a flexible approach is likely to be the most effective way of dealing with flooding and any resulting disruption to travel.

Employers may want to check they have in place a policy to cover adverse weather, especially as the UK is likely to see more of this.