Map that may alter your insurance

A new map could radically alter your house price.

It is the most accurate flood map of London ever produced - to 50 centimetres - and can zoom in on individual houses to see exactly how likely they are to be flooded.

It could even soon be able to tell you how likely you are to be burgled.

Insurance company More Th>n, which is developing the map, has already begun using it to calculate premiums and today warned it could lead to price changes for many customers.

"Previous maps have worked on a postcode level, whereby if a house in one part of the street is at risk, the whole street subsidises that," said the company's David Pitt. "Now, we can finally calculate premiums based only on your house. It's a big step forward."

It comes as the Environment Agency submits its strategy for managing the Thames region, along with the rest of Britain, to the EU. New rules state that by 2015, all waterways need to be clean and ecologically sound.

The agency admits the pressure of expanding housing in the South-East is likely to affect the Thames area heavily, and that flood risks of new developments need to be taken into account.

The new threedimensional maps are created from ordnance survey data. Details such as local flood defences are then entered, and maps are analysed to see exactly which areas are most at risk.

Experts today said the maps could radically alter not only insurance premiums but also house prices. Mr Pitt said: "A lot of people will see their

insurance costs drop, but there will also be increases. We'd advise those people to stay with their current insurers."

Parts of London at risk include areas around Greenwich, parts of Westminster and most low-lying areas close to the Thames.

The company said it is already working on the next version of the map, which will include information on arson and crime levels.

"We will be using publicly available data, but the idea is obviously to include all the variables that can affect insurance premiums into a single, easy-toread map," said Mr Pitt.