June 2023, Buckinghamshire — no river, no floodplain, no flood warning
Built from direct experience — twice flooded, two years displaced, and determined that no other homeowner should face this process without independent knowledge in their corner.
A home in Buckinghamshire flooded on 12 June 2023. The full extent was not discovered until 28 July — mould and mildew on furniture, carpet, and the children's belongings. The property was declared uninhabitable. On 1 September 2023, Sebastian, his partner, and their two daughters moved out.
The accommodation company appointed by the insurer never presented a single property. Sebastian found the rental himself. Every contract, every utility bill fell directly to the family. The £50,000 accommodation limit was not £50,000 for rent — it covered council tax, gas, electric, water, removal costs, and storage. A reality the insurer never mentioned on day one.
The builders' errors set the project back more than half a year. The builders ultimately bore those additional costs — though had the errors not been made, that burden would have fallen to the family.
"I trusted the system the first time. Twelve months later I moved back in. Five weeks after that, I flooded again — because the contractor the insurer sent had cut the damp proof membrane during the first rebuild."
Sebastian O'Connell, Founder, RISE Flood Recovery ConsultancyThe family moved back in on 17 August 2024. Five weeks later, on 26 September 2024, the house was inundated again — the second time in fourteen months. The family moved out the following morning.
The second time, Sebastian trusted nobody but himself. His own surveyor. His own contractors under a JCT600 contract, seven days a week throughout. The specification followed BS 85500:2015 and Ciria C790. Sustained engagement with Buckinghamshire Council using Section 19 investigation evidence secured the diversion and replacement of the culvert system beneath and around the property. Council expenditure: over £2 million.
Rebuild cost: £425,000. The family moved back home on 7 November 2025. Final accounts and snagging are due for completion by the end of June 2026 — the claim remains open.
Over that process, ten formal complaints were raised with the Financial Ombudsman Service. Each was upheld. Each resulted in compensation paid by the insurer. Not one was found against the homeowner.
Sebastian brings a career spanning international property sales, development land acquisition, and property restoration across multiple markets.
That commercial and structural understanding of how properties are valued, acquired, and rebuilt means Sebastian sees what an insurer-led recovery is doing to a property's value and structural integrity in ways that most flood victims — and most advisers — simply cannot.
Most flood victims have the experience of flooding but not the professional property knowledge. Most property professionals have the knowledge but have never been through the flood recovery system from the inside.
RISE has both.
See what RISE offers"That combination — 26 years of professional property experience and two years of fighting a flood recovery system that was never designed to work in your favour — means Sebastian understands both what your property is worth and exactly what is being done to undermine that value."
No obligation. No jargon. By the end of the call you will know exactly where you stand — whether you engage RISE or not.
Available 24 hours, 365 days · No callback · Sebastian O'Connell directly
