For decades a Florida seller could stay silent about a flooded garage. Since October 2024 the statute requires a written flood disclosure at or before the contract, and the questions are specific.
- Since October 1, 2024, Florida sellers must give buyers a written flood disclosure at or before signing the contract.
- It asks whether the seller has flood insurance, has filed a flood claim, or has received federal flood assistance for the property.
- The 2025 amendments extended disclosure duties to landlords and to new-construction sellers.
- The form is a disclosure, not a warranty. Buyers should still pull the FEMA zone, the claims history and an elevation certificate.
What changed in October 2024
Florida had long required sellers to disclose known material defects that a buyer could not readily observe, a duty that comes from the 1985 Johnson v. Davis decision rather than a statute. Flooding fell into a grey area: sellers disclosed what they chose to characterize as a defect, and many characterized nothing. House Bill 1049, signed in 2024 and effective October 1, 2024, ended that by creating section 689.302 of the Florida Statutes, a specific flood disclosure requirement for residential sales.
The statute applies to every seller of residential real property, with or without an agent, and the disclosure must be delivered at or before the time the sales contract is executed. Delivering it at closing is too late. Florida Realtors publishes a standard form, and most brokerages attach it to the seller's disclosure package.
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What the seller must disclose
The form is short and the questions are yes-or-no. The seller must state whether they have flood insurance on the property, whether they have filed a claim with any insurer for flood damage, and whether they have received federal assistance for flood damage, including FEMA assistance. It also defines flooding broadly: a general or temporary condition of partial or complete inundation caused by overflow of inland or tidal waters, unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff or surface water, or sustained standing water from rainfall. A backed-up storm drain that put six inches of water in the garage counts.
The statute does not currently require the seller to state the property's FEMA flood zone or its elevation. Buyers should check both themselves; the zone is public, and the elevation comes from an elevation certificate ordered with the survey, as discussed in whether you need a survey to close in Florida.
The 2025 expansion
The 2025 Legislature broadened the law in two directions. Landlords must now give tenants a flood disclosure before a residential lease is signed, covering the same claims and assistance questions, and a tenant who was not given the disclosure and later suffers substantial flood loss may terminate the lease. Sellers of newly built homes and developers selling under a contract for future construction must also disclose, closing a gap in the original bill. Sellers should use the current version of the form rather than one printed in 2024.
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What happens if the seller does not disclose
The statute itself does not create a fixed penalty or an automatic right to cancel a sale. What it does is convert flood history into a known material fact that must be disclosed in writing, which strengthens a buyer's claim for fraudulent nondisclosure under the common-law duty if the seller hid a known flood. A buyer who discovers a prior claim after closing has a documented misrepresentation rather than an argument about what the seller should have realized was material. That is a meaningful shift in litigation risk, and it is why brokerages now treat the form as mandatory.
What buyers should verify anyway
The disclosure is the seller's knowledge, not the property's history. A seller who bought two years ago may honestly answer no to every question on a house that flooded in 2017. Buyers should pull the FEMA flood zone from the county GIS or the FEMA map service center, request the property's claims history from the National Flood Insurance Program through their insurance agent, look at the elevation certificate if one exists, and check with the county whether repetitive-loss designations apply. In coastal counties, ask the neighbors. Floodplain history is also one of the items covered in our guide to clouds on title and other pre-closing problems.
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Submit a Contract →Timing inside the contract
Because the disclosure must precede the contract, a buyer who first receives it after signing has a strong argument that the contract was formed on incomplete information. Sellers should deliver it with the property disclosure before accepting an offer. Listing agents should keep proof of delivery. Buyers who receive a disclosure showing a prior claim should treat the inspection period as the time to price the risk: flood insurance quotes, an elevation certificate, and if the numbers are bad, a written cancellation before the deadline. The deadlines are computed in our contract deadline calculator.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Florida require sellers to disclose flooding?
Yes. Since October 1, 2024, section 689.302 requires residential sellers to give a written flood disclosure at or before the contract is signed, covering flood insurance, flood claims and federal flood assistance.
When must the Florida flood disclosure be given?
At or before the time the buyer signs the sales contract. Delivering it at closing does not satisfy the statute.
What does the Florida flood disclosure form ask?
Whether the seller carries flood insurance on the property, whether the seller has filed a flood damage claim with any insurer, and whether the seller has received federal assistance, including FEMA aid, for flood damage.
Does the disclosure have to state the FEMA flood zone?
No. The statute does not require the flood zone or elevation. Buyers should look those up separately and consider an elevation certificate.
Do landlords have to give a flood disclosure in Florida?
Yes, since the 2025 amendments. Residential landlords must provide a flood disclosure before the lease is signed.
What if a seller does not provide the flood disclosure?
The statute sets no fixed penalty, but a seller who withholds known flood history faces a fraudulent nondisclosure claim under Florida's common-law duty, now backed by a specific statutory requirement.