New real estate rules focus on flooding

“Providing potential home buyers with information about a home’s flood risk is crucial for ensuring buyers can take appropriate steps to mitigate flood damages, including purchasing flood insurance,” said Joel Scata, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

A petition to add flood-related questions to the real estate disclosure form was filed in December 2022 by Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council and several other organizations.

“Without proper flood disclosure, a home buyer is left in the dark about the risk and potential lifetime cost associated with the home,” said Brooks Rainey Pearson, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Less than 4% of homeowners in the U.S. have any flood insurance coverage, potentially leaving unsuspecting buyers of previously flooded homes to be substantially more at risk of paying out of pocket for devastating, unexpected flood damages.”

Advocates for the change say that a survey conducted from 2021 found that 13,237 homes in North Carolina purchased during the year previously had flooded.

The updated N.C. Real Estate Commission disclosure form will feature several questions about flooding history and risk.

The form asks whether the property is in a federal or other designated flood hazard zone; whether the property has had water damage from heavy rainfall, river overflow, coastal storm surge or tidal flooding; whether a claim for flood damage has ever been filed on the property; whether the property has flood insurance; and whether the owner has ever received government assistance for flood damage recovery.

With climate change risks widening, transparency about properties across the nation becomes more vital, Scata said.

“As sea levels rise and heavy rainstorms become more common, tens of thousands of communities can expect increasing vulnerability to flooding,” Scata said.