Picture a seller whose garage flooded during a storm two years ago. They cleaned it up themselves. They never called their insurance company and never applied for any kind of aid. Under the first version of Florida’s flood disclosure, that seller could check “has not” on both questions and be telling the truth.
That is no longer the case. Since October 1, 2025, the form asks a different kind of question, and the difference matters for every Florida agent who lists a home or helps someone buy one.
What Section 689.302 Actually Requires
Florida Statute 689.302 requires a seller of residential real property to complete and provide a flood disclosure to the purchaser at or before the time the sales contract is executed. The statute prescribes the form itself, and Florida Realtors publishes it as the Flood Disclosure (FD-2).
The form opens with a plain statement that homeowners’ insurance policies do not cover flood damage, and it encourages the buyer to discuss separate flood coverage with their insurance agent. Then the seller answers three checkbox questions. The form defines “flooding” as a general or temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of the property caused by one of three things: the overflow of inland or tidal waters, the unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff or surface waters from an established water source such as a river, stream, or drainage ditch, or sustained periods of standing water resulting from rainfall.
Nothing in the statute carves out AS IS sales. How a contract treats the property’s condition is one question. Whether the seller completed and delivered this form is another.
What Changed on October 1, 2025
The flood disclosure first became a requirement for contracts in 2024, and it had two questions: whether the seller had filed a flood-related claim with an insurance provider, including the National Flood Insurance Program, and whether the seller had received federal assistance for flood damage.
Senate Bill 948 amended the statute effective October 1, 2025, in two ways. It added a new question asking whether the seller knows about any flooding that damaged the property during the seller’s ownership. It also broadened the assistance question to cover assistance for flood damage from any source, not only federal programs.
Florida Realtors updated the FD-2 to match, and the same bill created separate flood disclosure obligations for residential landlords and for condominium and cooperative developers. For agents on the sale side of a single-family transaction, the seller’s two amended questions change day-to-day practice.
Why “Knowledge” Is a Different Standard Than “Claim”
A claim and an assistance payment leave a paper trail. Knowledge does not. The original questions captured flooding already routed through an insurer or a government program. The new question captures flooding that the seller simply knows happened, whether or not any money ever changed hands.
That shift connects to a body of Florida law agents already know. Since the Florida Supreme Court’s 1985 decision in Johnson v. Davis, sellers have had a duty to disclose known facts that materially affect a property’s value and are not readily observable. Whether a property’s tendency to flood is readily observable has been contested, and Florida Realtors has noted that Florida courts have not been uniform on the point. A buyer unfamiliar with an area may have no way to see what the seller already knows.
The amended flood disclosure does not replace that common-law duty. It does, however, put one important category of seller knowledge into a specific, signed, statutory form that a specific point in the transaction must deliver.
What the Form Does Not Tell a Buyer
The disclosure is a statement of what this seller knows about this seller’s ownership. It is not a flood-risk assessment of the property, and a buyer’s agent should be careful not to let a clean form carry more weight than it can.
Flooding that happened before the current seller bought the property falls outside the question as written, which asks about flooding during the seller’s ownership. A seller who answers “has no knowledge” may be completely accurate, and the property may still carry real flood exposure. The checkbox also says nothing about flood zone designation, elevation, or what flood insurance would cost. Those are separate questions a buyer can ask, and the form’s language points the buyer to their insurance agent for that reason.
How This Plays Out on Each Side of the Deal
For the listing agent
The statute sets the deadline at or before contract execution. Many listing agents will want the seller to have thought through the form before an offer is on the table, because a seller answering the knowledge question under time pressure is more likely to answer quickly than carefully. A short conversation at the listing appointment about what the seller actually knows, including events that never produced a claim, is far easier than one held while a buyer waits.
For the buyer’s agent
The first job is confirming the form was delivered before the contract was signed, rather than discovering at the closing table that it never was. The second is explaining to the buyer what the answers mean and what they do not. If the seller checked “has knowledge,” the natural follow-up is what the buyer can learn about the event, and if the box says “has no knowledge,” the buyer still benefits from independent diligence on the property’s flood history and insurability.
The Conversation Behind the Checkbox
It’s easy to treat this as one more form to initial. The 2025 amendment reminds us that disclosure laws exist to put information in front of buyers before they commit, and that an agent’s value in that moment is not the signature but the explanation.
A listing agent who helps a seller answer honestly and completely is protecting that seller. A buyer’s agent who reads the form closely and explains its limits is protecting the buyer. Both do the part of the job a form cannot do.
Go Deeper on Disclosures With CCC Society
The flood disclosure sits alongside a long list of seller and transaction disclosures in the FAR/BAR AS IS contract, and each one raises its own questions about timing, precision, and what to say to a client. Inside CCC Society, Tiffany Pantozzi and Natalie Zagury walk through these obligations step by step, so you can explain them with confidence, not just complete them.
👉 contractclosechampagne.com/ccc-society
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the seller have to deliver the Florida flood disclosure?
At or before the time the sales contract is executed. The statute sets that timing for residential real property sales.
Does a seller have to disclose flooding that never led to an insurance claim?
The amended form asks whether the seller knows about any flooding that damaged the property during the seller’s ownership, which is a separate question from whether a claim was filed. A seller who knows about qualifying flooding answers that question based on that knowledge, regardless of whether an insurer or government program was ever involved.
Does the flood disclosure cover flooding from before the seller owned the property?
The form’s knowledge question is limited to flooding during the seller’s ownership. Other disclosure duties, including the seller’s duty under Johnson v. Davis to disclose known, materially affecting, non-observable facts, may apply to other situations, and a licensed Florida real estate attorney can advise on a specific transaction.
Does an AS IS contract remove the seller’s obligation to provide the flood disclosure?
Section 689.302 contains no exception for AS IS sales. The seller’s obligation to complete and provide the form applies regardless of how the contract treats the property’s condition.
Which form do agents use?
Florida Realtors publishes the Flood Disclosure as form FD-2, updated to reflect the October 1, 2025 statutory changes.
Disclaimer: Content provided by Contract Closed Champagne is for educational purposes only and does not constitute formal legal advice. Always consult a licensed Florida real estate attorney for specific guidance.
