US flood-risk disclosure is a patchwork, the patchwork is getting bigger, and nobody was maintaining the map. So we built one, and every row says exactly how it was sourced.
The short version: 11 states had flood-disclosure requirements by end-2025 (Harvard JCHS, Feb 2026), roughly two-thirds aimed at buyers. The new wave is recent — Florida's landlord rule took effect 2025-10-01, Washington's applies to leases entered after 2026-12-31. If you run properties in FL or WA, the rules are live or about to be.
Why now
Three things collided:
- The law moved first. Florida amended its regime twice (2024 for the buyer side, SB 948 / Ch. 2025-166 for landlords, effective 2025-10-01, plus a 2026 permitting expansion). Washington passed SB 6237 (RCW 59.18.060) after the December 2025 flood — effective 2026-06-11, bites leases entered after 2026-12-31.
- The platforms stopped being the source of truth. Zillow pulled climate-risk scores from its listings on 2025-11-30, after broker complaints (NYT) — it now shows the FEMA zone plus an outbound link. Redfin, Realtor.com and Homes.com still display First Street scores, and First Street is now MSCI-owned (licensing is their problem, not the landlord's).
- The incumbents ship forms, not requirements. The major landlord-forms libraries offer a single generic "Flood Disclosure" document — "customize to meet your state's requirements" — without stating which state requires what, when, and for whom. Single-state content exists (e.g. the good Florida SB 948 guides), but nobody maintains the cross-state matrix.
The matrix (2026-10-09)
| State | Applies to | Requirement | Statute | Effective | Sourcing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FL | buyers | Flood disclosure for properties in a designated special flood hazard area (2024 expansion/clarification) | Fla. Stat. §689.302 (Ch. 2024-215 / HB 1049) | 2024 | statute-verified |
| FL | tenants | Separate flood disclosure before/at signing of residential leases of 1+ year: damage during ownership, flood-insurance claims filed, FEMA/disaster assistance received. Mobile-home-park lot rentals covered by a parallel provision. Remedy: undisclosed + property damaged ≥50% of market value → early termination + refund of prepaid rent | Fla. Stat. §83.512 + §723.011(6) (SB 948 / Ch. 2025-166) | 2025-10-01 | statute-verified |
| FL | permitting | 2026 expansion touching flood-related permitting requirements | Ch. 2026-63 (HB 803, 2026) | 2026 | statute-verified (secondary: Shutts 2026-06-18) |
| WA | tenants | Landlord flood disclosure for new leases (enacted after the Dec-2025 WA flood) | RCW 59.18.060 (SB 6237, 2025) | eff. 2026-06-11; leases entered after 2026-12-31 | statute-verified |
| NC | buyers | Flood disclosure to buyers (2024 addition per JCHS) | not independently verified | 2024 | summary — JCHS 2026-02-18 |
| NJ | tenants | State flood-disclosure law for rentals (NJDEP page 502 at probe time) | not independently verified | — | summary — JCHS + NJDEP |
| IL | buyers | Floodplain + flood-history disclosure | not independently verified | — | summary — JCHS 2026-02-18 |
| NY | buyers | Flood disclosure (2023 addition per JCHS) | not independently verified | 2023 | summary — JCHS 2026-02-18 |
| TX | buyers | Flood disclosure for properties in flood hazard areas ("most robust" in our sweep) | not independently verified | — | summary — JCHS 2026-02-18 |
| SC | buyers | Flood disclosure (2023 addition per JCHS) | not independently verified | 2023 | summary — JCHS 2026-02-18 |
| LA | mixed | Robust flood-disclosure regime per NLIHC 2023 | not independently verified | — | summary — JCHS + NLIHC 2023 |
| OK | mixed | Robust flood-disclosure regime per NLIHC 2023 | not independently verified | — | summary — JCHS + NLIHC 2023 |
| MS | mixed | Robust flood-disclosure regime per NLIHC 2023 | not independently verified | — | summary — JCHS + NLIHC 2023 |
| MA | pending | Flood-disclosure bills pending (watch list for property managers) | no enacted statute per JCHS | — | summary — JCHS 2026-02-18 |
Honest sourcing, stated per row. The FL and WA rows were checked against the statutes (and, for FL, re-checked 2026-10-09 against a 2026-10 compliance guide). The rest are summarized from the Harvard JCHS survey "More States Requiring Landlords to Disclose Flood Risk, Laws Vary Nationwide" (2026-02-18) and labeled summary — its state list is an image, so the 11th state isn't resolved in the survey's text, and JCHS counts 11 states by end-2025. We would rather underclaim than overclaim.
What this means in practice
- Florida, now: if you lease (1+ year) or rent a mobile-home-park lot, the separate-document flood disclosure is already law. The disclosure covers damage during your ownership period, flood-insurance claims you filed, and FEMA assistance you received — not the property's whole history. Noncompliance exposes you to early termination plus refund of prepaid rent when the tenant's property takes ≥50% market-value damage.
- Washington, next: the statute is in force (2026-06-11) but only reaches leases entered after 2026-12-31. If you renew or sign in 2027, you're in.
- Everyone else: your tenant/buyer may be entitled to flood history you never thought to ask about, depending on state. The matrix tells you which rows are verified and which are still summary.
How to use this
- The machine-readable version (CSV, same table, same labels) is at pennyforge.org/flood-matrix.html → CSV. Pin it in your onboarding checklist; we re-pull revisions and date every change.
- Corrections: send a state, a statute, and what the row should say. We re-verify against statutory text and publish the fix with a date.
- Free to use, cite, and correct. No account, no paywall.
Pennyforge — a small one-person studio. Verified against statutes where stated — 2026-10-09. Comments and corrections welcome below.
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