What Florida Sellers Must Disclose

Florida puts the homework on the buyer. No statutory general seller disclosure form; duty to disclose known material defects comes from case law (Johnson v. Davis), plus specific statutory disclosures including a mandatory flood disclosure. That is the regime you are buying into: whatever the seller does not volunteer, you have to go and find.

What sellers still have to tell you

Seller must disclose facts known to the seller that materially affect the property's value, are not readily observable, and are not known to the buyer; since October 1, 2024, section 689.302 also requires a written flood disclosure at or before the sales contract is executed. There is no state-mandated general disclosure form, and the REALTORS form in circulation is voluntary, so press for answers about known hidden defects. You must, however, receive a separate statutory flood disclosure at or before signing the contract, covering flood damage during the seller's ownership, flood insurance claims and flood assistance received.

Flooding: the answer that matters most

Florida 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 Florida traps inside the paperwork

Save Our Homes benefit does not transfer to the buyer. The seller's accumulated Save Our Homes cap (3 percent or CPI, whichever is lower) resets on sale and the new owner is assessed at full market value; up to $500,000 of benefit is portable only to the same owner's new Florida homestead, not to an unrelated buyer.

2024 flood disclosure law, expanded in 2025. Section 689.302, effective for contracts on or after October 1, 2024 and amended effective October 1, 2025, requires the flood disclosure at or before contract execution and now asks about any flooding the seller knows damaged the property during ownership, even without an insurance claim.

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 Florida, property tax reassessment works like this: A sale resets the assessment to full market value, so your bill will usually be far higher than a long-term seller's Save Our Homes-capped bill. After you file homestead, your own assessed value is capped at 3 percent or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, each year — 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 Florida records guide — never budget from the seller's bill.
• Check the address against the official Florida 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 Florida?

No standard statutory form. Seller must disclose facts known to the seller that materially affect the property's value, are not readily observable, and are not known to the buyer; since October 1, 2024, section 689.302 also requires a written flood disclosure at or before the sales contract is executed.

Does a Florida seller have to disclose flooding?

Yes — Florida 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: infinityrealtygroup.com · offender.fdle.state.fl.us · empowertransactions.com · recordinglaw.com