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Data updated October 22, 2026

Data updated October 22, 2026

Florida flood disclosure law: what sellers and landlords must tell you

Updated October 22, 2026

Since October 1, 2024, Florida sellers of residential property must give the buyer a written flood disclosure at or before the time the sales contract is signed (Fla. Stat. 689.302). Since October 1, 2025, the form also asks about known flood damage, and landlords must give a similar notice to tenants signing leases of one year or longer.

Florida requires sellers of residential real property to complete a flood disclosure form and give it to the buyer at or before the time the sales contract is executed. The rule is Fla. Stat. 689.302, created in 2024 and expanded in 2025. A parallel rule for landlords, Fla. Stat. 83.512, has applied since October 1, 2025.

What the seller’s flood disclosure asks

The statute prescribes the form’s wording. It opens with a notice that homeowners’ insurance policies do not cover flood damage and that the buyer is encouraged to discuss separate flood insurance with an insurance agent. The seller then answers three questions:

  1. Whether the seller has or has no knowledge of any flooding that damaged the property during the seller’s ownership.
  2. Whether the seller has or has not filed a claim with an insurance provider for flood damage to the property, including, but not limited to, a claim with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
  3. Whether the seller has or has not received assistance for flood damage to the property, including, but not limited to, assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The first question was added by the 2025 amendments. The same amendments also dropped the word “federal” from the assistance question, so it now covers flood-damage assistance from any source, not only federal aid.

What “flooding” means in the statute

For the form, “flooding” means a general or temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of the property caused by any of the following:

  • the overflow of inland or tidal waters;
  • the unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff or surface waters from any established water source, such as a river, stream or drainage ditch;
  • sustained periods of standing water resulting from rainfall.

The definition reaches rainfall ponding and drainage-ditch overflow, not only storm surge or river flooding. The questions are limited to the seller’s own period of ownership and to what the seller knows. They do not cover earlier owners or the property’s FEMA flood zone.

Who it applies to, exemptions and consequences

The duty falls on “a seller” of “residential real property”. Section 689.302 lists no exemptions. It also sets no specific penalty and no buyer remedy for a missing or inaccurate form. Any remedy would come from other law and the contract, which is a question for a Florida real estate attorney.

Other property types are covered by separate statutes. The 2025 bill, CS/CS/SB 948, added flood statements for condominium developers selling units (Fla. Stat. 718.503). It also amended the disclosure rules for cooperatives (719.503) and mobile home lot rentals (723.011). The condominium developer statement asks the same questions and extends them to the common elements.

The landlord flood disclosure (Fla. Stat. 83.512)

Since October 1, 2025, a landlord of residential real property must give a prospective tenant a flood disclosure at or before signing a rental agreement for a term of one year or longer. It must be a separate document. It follows the seller form: a notice that renters’ insurance does not cover flood damage, then whether the landlord knows of flooding that damaged the dwelling unit during the landlord’s ownership, has filed a flood claim (including NFIP), or has received flood-damage assistance (including FEMA). “Flooding” is defined the same way.

The statute gives tenants a termination right:

  • If the landlord violates the section and the tenant suffers substantial loss or damage to personal property from flooding, the tenant may end the lease by written notice and by surrendering possession no later than 30 days after the loss.
  • “Substantial loss or damage” means repair or replacement costs of 50% or more of the personal property’s market value on the date of the flood.
  • The landlord must refund rent and other amounts paid in advance for the period after termination. The tenant remains liable for rent and other sums owed before that date.

How the law changed: HB 1049 and SB 948

Law Chapter Signed Effective What it did
CS/CS/HB 1049 2024-215 May 29, 2024 October 1, 2024 Created 689.302: insurance notice, flood claims question, federal assistance question, definition of flooding
CS/CS/SB 948 2025-166 June 20, 2025 October 1, 2025 Added the known-flood-damage question, broadened “federal assistance” to “assistance”, created the landlord disclosure (83.512), added condominium, cooperative and mobile home park disclosures

How a buyer can check independently

The disclosure is limited to what the seller knows and says. A buyer can test it against public records.

  • Flood zone: Look up the property on the effective FEMA flood map, or read our Miami-Dade County flood and hazard report for zone shares by area. In Miami-Dade, new maps take effect on February 19, 2027, so check both the current and the preliminary zone (what changes in 2027). Whether a lender will require flood insurance depends on the zone (flood insurance requirements).
  • Elevation: Ask whether the seller has an Elevation Certificate. It shows the building’s elevation relative to the base flood elevation.
  • Claims history: NFIP claims for a specific address are not public. FEMA’s NFIP Redacted Claims dataset is redacted to protect policyholders. It gives location only by ZIP code, census block group and coordinates rounded to one decimal place. That data shows how often insured buildings in an area have flooded, not whether a particular house has.

Our ZIP reports summarize that claims data. Among Miami-Dade ZIP codes, some of the longest claim histories are:

These figures come from FEMA’s NFIP Redacted Claims v3 data (claims from 1978 to September 2026), grouped by the ZIP code reported on each claim. They cover insured buildings only. NFIP take-up is lower outside high-risk zones, so area claim counts understate total flood losses.

Questions

When does a Florida seller have to give the flood disclosure?

At or before the time the sales contract is executed. The duty applies to sellers of residential real property under Fla. Stat. 689.302.

Does the Florida flood disclosure say whether the home is in a flood zone?

No. The form covers known flood damage during the seller's ownership, flood insurance claims and flood-damage assistance. It does not ask about the FEMA flood zone, which a buyer can check on the flood map.

Can a tenant in Florida end a lease over a missing flood disclosure?

Under Fla. Stat. 83.512, if the landlord violates the disclosure rule and the tenant suffers substantial flood loss to personal property (repair or replacement costing 50% or more of its market value), the tenant may terminate by written notice and surrendering possession within 30 days after the loss.

Can I look up a property's past NFIP flood claims?

Not by address. FEMA's public NFIP claims data is redacted to protect policyholders, with locations given only at ZIP code, census block group or rounded coordinates, so it shows area claim history rather than a specific home's.

Sources

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