What California Sellers Must Disclose

California requires sellers to put it in writing. The form is the Transfer Disclosure Statement. Seller of most 1-to-4 unit residential property must deliver a Transfer Disclosure Statement disclosing known material facts affecting value or desirability, and a Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement stating whether the property lies in mapped hazard zones including a FEMA special flood hazard area.

What the disclosure covers — and what it is

You will get both a Transfer Disclosure Statement about the home's condition and a Natural Hazard Disclosure about flood, fire, earthquake and dam-inundation zones. Read the hazard statement for insurance and lending consequences, and do not treat either form as a warranty or a substitute for inspection.

Flooding: the answer that matters most

California law specifically requires flood disclosure: the seller has to tell you about flood risk or history. Read that answer carefully, then verify it against the official map — FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer is the map your lender will use, and a seller's 'never flooded' is not the same as 'not in a flood zone.'

The California traps inside the paperwork

Proposition 13 sale reset and supplemental tax bill. Proposition 13 establishes a new base-year value at change of ownership, generally the purchase price; the county then issues a supplemental assessment for the gap between the old and new values for the rest of the tax year.

Natural Hazard Disclosure is separate from the condition disclosure. Civil Code section 1103.2 requires disclosure of six mapped hazards, including FEMA special flood hazard areas (Zones A or V), very high fire hazard severity zones, earthquake fault zones and dam inundation areas, which can limit development, insurance or disaster assistance.

What no disclosure will ever tell you

A disclosure is the seller's knowledge, on the seller's timeline. It says nothing about the street's crime trend, the registry, the tax bill you will pay after the sale, permits pulled (or never pulled) for the renovation in the photos, or the rezoning working its way through the planning office. In California, property tax reassessment works like this: Buying resets the assessed value to current market value, usually the purchase price, so your tax bill will often be much higher than a long-term seller's Proposition 13 bill. Expect a supplemental assessment for the difference in the first year, then annual increases capped at 2 percent — which is why the seller's current bill is a poor guide to yours. Pull those records yourself; they are all public.

Your checks, in order

• Read the disclosure line by line, and get 'unknown' answers in writing anyway — an unknown is a flag, not a pass.
• Run the exact parcel on FEMA's flood map.
• Estimate your post-sale tax bill with the California records guide — never budget from the seller's bill.
• Check the address against the official California registry.
• Ask the county for open and expired permits on the address before you waive anything.

Frequently asked questions

Is a seller disclosure form required in California?

Yes — the Transfer Disclosure Statement. Seller of most 1-to-4 unit residential property must deliver a Transfer Disclosure Statement disclosing known material facts affecting value or desirability, and a Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement stating whether the property lies in mapped hazard zones including a FEMA special flood hazard area.

Does a California seller have to disclose flooding?

Yes — California requires flood disclosure. Verify it on the FEMA map anyway; the disclosure is the seller's statement, the map is the lender's rulebook.

The seller answered 'unknown' to half the form. Now what?

'Unknown' is legal in most regimes and useful to nobody. Treat every unknown as a job: inspection, permit search, and the county record file. If the seller genuinely doesn't know, the records usually do.

Sources: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov · oag.ca.gov · legalclarity.org · ownwell.com