Pennsylvania Flood Disclosure Law Adds Five Risk Questions to Home Sales

Pennsylvania’s new home sale disclosure rules bring flood history and insurance details into the buying process, where buyers can weigh them alongside a property’s location and condition. Starting in July 2028, sellers will have to answer five questions about flood damage, mapped risk, insurance and past assistance. The change puts more emphasis on information that can affect a household’s exposure to repair costs after a flood.

The requirement comes under House Bill 1704, signed into law this week by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. It was sponsored by Rep. Perry Warren, D-Bucks. The disclosures will cover whether the home has sustained flood damage, whether it lies in a FEMA-designated 100- or 500-year flood zone, and whether flood coverage is required or has been carried. Sellers must also disclose whether they received assistance for flood damage or filed a flood insurance claim.

What buyers will learn

The questions address different parts of a property’s flood exposure. A record of past damage may point to a previous event at the home, while a mapped hazard designation describes its placement within a defined flood area. Insurance history can give buyers another piece of information about how the property has been protected or how its prior owner addressed risk.

Those details don’t, on their own, determine the likelihood or cost of future damage. A map designation is one way to describe risk, and a past claim or damage record is a record of what happened before. Buyers will still need to consider the home and its insurance needs in context. The new disclosures are designed to make those questions harder to miss during a transaction.

The insurance figures show why the subject may matter beyond homes in mapped hazard areas: about one percent of Pennsylvania households currently carry flood insurance, according to the state. Standard homeowners’ insurance policies generally don’t cover flood damage. For buyers, the cost of a home is therefore only one part of the ownership picture; the availability and cost of separate flood coverage can also affect the financial exposure tied to a property.

Information and insurance access

The legislation also directs consumers to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s online information about flood zones, coverage choices and ways to reduce damage. The department’s flood insurance page links to a personalized interactive tool intended to help people assess flood risk. Together, the disclosure requirement and these resources give buyers a starting point for follow-up questions about a specific home.

The law reflects recommendations in a 2024 report from the Flood Insurance Premium Assistance Task Force. That report identified four areas for action: affordability, risk mitigation, incentives, and education and outreach. It recommended stronger flood information during home purchases, along with steps to improve education, access to coverage, mitigation efforts and participation in flood insurance.

Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Michael Humphreys said consumers should consider flood coverage even outside high-risk areas, and described buying a home as a timely moment to consider it. That message aligns with the disclosure rule’s broader purpose: put flood exposure into the conversation while a buyer is evaluating a property and its long-term costs.

What changes next

The new disclosures take effect in July 2028, leaving time before sellers must provide the specified information. The state has also established a flood insurance ombudsman to coordinate education and outreach with FEMA, state emergency management agencies and other stakeholders, and to develop ideas for improving access to coverage.

Insurance professionals are another part of the education effort. Agents and brokers who sell property and casualty insurance must devote at least two of their 24 required continuing education hours to flood insurance. That training requirement, the consumer resources and the home sale disclosures address different points where buyers and policyholders may encounter questions about flood risk.

For buyers, the practical takeaway is that flood exposure can affect both the property and the budget for insuring it. The disclosures will provide a more consistent set of facts to review, while coverage availability, cost and the particulars of each home remain matters to investigate. How useful the change proves will depend in part on the quality of the information sellers can provide and whether buyers follow it with property-specific questions.