Do I Have to Disclose Flooding When Selling a House in Florida?

Last updated: August 2026

Yes. Since October 1, 2024, Florida law has required the seller of residential real property to complete and provide a written flood disclosure to the buyer at or before the time the sales contract is executed. The requirement is section 689.302, Florida Statutes, created by HB 1049 in 2024 and amended by CS/CS/SB 948 in 2025, with the amended version effective October 1, 2025 [1][2]. The statute writes the disclosure language itself rather than leaving the wording to the parties. It asks three things: whether the seller has knowledge of flooding that damaged the property during the seller's ownership, whether the seller has filed a flood damage claim with an insurance provider including the National Flood Insurance Program, and whether the seller has received assistance for flood damage including from FEMA [1]. This article explains what the statute says. It is not legal advice and it does not tell any individual seller what to disclose. Completing the form for a specific property is a matter for the seller's own real estate attorney or the broker's approved form.

Do I have to disclose flooding when selling my house in Florida?

The statute reaches a sale of residential real property and ties delivery to execution of the sales contract, not to the inspection period and not to closing [1]. The flood disclosure is a standalone document rather than a paragraph inside the purchase contract. Florida Realtors' published guidance states that the seller fills out the disclosure and that licensees should not complete it for them [10].

Separate from the statute, Florida's general disclosure doctrine has applied to residential sellers since Johnson v. Davis, 480 So. 2d 625 (Fla. 1985), where the Florida Supreme Court held that a seller of a home who knows of facts materially affecting the value of the property that are not readily observable and are not known to the buyer has a duty to disclose them [5]. The statutory form and the common-law doctrine are separate sources of obligation. How either applies to a particular property is a question for a Florida real estate attorney.

What is Florida's flood disclosure law for home sellers?

Section 689.302 is titled Disclosure of flood risks to prospective purchaser. It was created by section 1, chapter 2024-215, Laws of Florida (HB 1049), effective October 1, 2024, and amended by section 2, chapter 2025-166, Laws of Florida (CS/CS/SB 948), effective October 1, 2025 [1][2].

What changed on October 1, 2025

The 2024 form asked two questions, about insurance claims and about federal assistance [3]. The enrolled text of CS/CS/SB 948 shows two coded changes inside 689.302. A new item on the seller's knowledge of flooding was added as item (1), and in the assistance item, renumbered from (2) to (3), the word "federal" is struck [2]. The codified 2025 text confirms it: the item now reads "received assistance for flood damage," with FEMA named as an example rather than a limit [1].

The same act created section 83.512 for residential rental agreements of one year or longer and amended sections 718.503, 719.503, and 723.011 for condominium developers, cooperative developers, and mobile home park owners [2].

What exactly do I have to disclose about past flood damage or insurance claims?

The statute prescribes the text. The operative items of section 689.302 (2025) read:

> (1) Seller has ___ has no ___ knowledge of any flooding that has damaged the property during Seller's ownership of the property. > > (2) Seller has ___ has not ___ filed a claim with an insurance provider relating to flood damage on the property, including, but not limited to, a claim with the National Flood Insurance Program. > > (3) Seller has ___ has not ___ received assistance for flood damage to the property, including, but not limited to, assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. [1]

The form also carries a notice stating that homeowners' insurance policies do not include coverage for damage resulting from floods and that the buyer is encouraged to discuss the need to purchase separate flood insurance coverage with the buyer's insurance agent [1]. Which boxes apply to a given property turns on facts that only the seller and the seller's attorney can evaluate.

How the statute defines flooding

Subsection (4) supplies the definition:

> For the purposes of this disclosure, the term "flooding" means a general or temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of the property caused by any of the following: (a) The overflow of inland or tidal waters. (b) The unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff or surface waters from any established water source, such as a river, stream, or drainage ditch. (c) Sustained periods of standing water resulting from rainfall. [1]

The definition is not limited to named storms or storm surge. Subparagraph (c) reaches sustained standing water resulting from rainfall.

What the prescribed form does not ask for

The form contains no question about the property's FEMA flood zone, no elevation certificate requirement, no base flood elevation, and no private flood risk score [1]. Item (1) is written in terms of the seller's own ownership period. The form records stated facts rather than warranting anything about future flooding, and the statute does not direct a seller to order an inspection, survey, or engineering report.

Which form is current

Florida Realtors published Flood Disclosure FD-2 (Rev 9/25), which replaced FD-1 (Rev 10/24) and reproduces the amended statutory language, along with a line recording the date and method by which a copy was provided to the buyer [4][10]. Sellers can ask their broker which approved form the brokerage uses and review the completed disclosure with their own attorney before it enters the listing file.

The disclosure is not the real property disclosure paragraph of the FloridaRealtors/FloridaBar residential contract, and it is not the general Seller's Property Disclosure form, though a residential file commonly contains all three.

Where the records behind the three items come from

Items (2) and (3) reference insurance claims and assistance, both documented outside the property itself. In Miami-Dade, several related records are publicly accessible.

FEMA's Flood Map Service Center is the official public source for flood hazard information produced in support of the NFIP, searchable by address, with downloadable Flood Insurance Rate Map panels [6].
Miami-Dade County publishes an address-level flood zone lookup, staffs a flood zone hotline that confirms designations, and maintains elevation certificates on file for many properties [7].
Permit and inspection history for drainage work, regrading, elevated mechanical equipment, flood openings, and floodproofing is a public record at the county or municipal building department.
Loss history and NFIP claim records sit with the insurer or NFIP carrier and are requested through the policyholder's insurance agent. Assistance records include FEMA Individual Assistance award letters and SBA disaster loan documents.

Documented claim and mitigation history is one input a listing valuation accounts for. Whether any particular record answers a particular item on the statutory form is a question for the seller's attorney.

What buyers typically do after receiving the disclosure

Zone verification. Buyers commonly pull the FEMA map panel for the address rather than relying on a listing remark [6].

Insurance quote timing. Florida's Department of Financial Services states that a new flood policy is normally subject to a 30-day waiting period, and that there is no waiting period when the initial purchase is made in connection with a loan and the application and premium are presented at or prior to loan closing [9]. Financed buyers generally fall within that exception. Cash buyers do not.

Community Rating System discount. Miami-Dade County improved from Class 5 to Class 3 in FEMA's Community Rating System, producing a 35 percent discount on qualifying NFIP policies in the unincorporated municipal service area for policies issued or renewed on or after April 1, 2024 [8]. Incorporated municipalities carry their own class ratings, so the discount is address-specific.

Inspection scope. Elevated mechanical equipment, water lines on storage-area walls, drywall replaced at a uniform height, and regraded landscaping are items an inspector can be asked to examine. A buyer consultation is where the insurance quote gets sequenced against the inspection deadline.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if a seller doesn't disclose flooding?

Section 689.302 prescribes the content and the timing of the disclosure, and its text stops there. It states no penalty and creates no private remedy [1]. That asymmetry is the point worth understanding: the consequences of nondisclosure are not found in the flood statute but in Florida's general disclosure doctrine under Johnson v. Davis, 480 So. 2d 625 (Fla. 1985), which addresses a seller's knowledge of facts materially affecting the value of the property that are not readily observable and are not known to the buyer [5]. A seller who has not delivered the disclosure, or who is unsure whether past events fall within the statute or the doctrine, should speak with a Florida real estate attorney. This article does not describe outcomes, and nothing here substitutes for that consultation.

Does the flood disclosure requirement apply to condos?

Section 689.302 applies to a purchaser of residential real property, which includes an individual owner's resale of a condominium unit. CS/CS/SB 948 separately amended section 718.503 for condominium developers and section 719.503 for cooperative developers, requiring the specified information at or before the time the sales contract is executed [1][2]. Association-owned units, bulk sales, and other structures are questions for counsel.

Do I have to disclose the property's flood zone?

The prescribed form includes no flood zone question [1]. Zone designation typically enters a transaction through the lender's flood determination and insurance underwriting rather than through this form.

What if the house flooded before I owned it?

Item (1) is written in terms of flooding during the seller's ownership [1]. Whether other knowledge a seller holds falls within Florida's general disclosure doctrine is a fact-specific question for a real estate attorney [5].

Does signing the flood disclosure mean the property has a flood problem?

No. The disclosure is delivered in every residential sale the statute covers. On a property with no flooding, no claims, and no assistance during the seller's ownership, the boxes reflect that.

Gabriel

Sources

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Gabriel A. Moyers, PA. eXp Realty. Florida License #3407280. Equal Housing Opportunity. This article is general information as of August 2026 and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Verify current figures against authoritative sources before acting.