{"id":691053,"date":"2022-06-08T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T10:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=3e8518403fd0f42c8ec7c4d724fb2374"},"modified":"2022-06-08T10:15:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T10:15:00","slug":"is-there-a-moral-obligation-to-disclose-that-your-house-has-flooded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/06\/08\/is-there-a-moral-obligation-to-disclose-that-your-house-has-flooded\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there a moral obligation to disclose that your house has flooded?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This article is part of Ask Umbra\u2019s guide on\u00a0<\/em>How to Build a Flood-Resilient Community<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine you\u2019re moving from Tampa, Florida, to Dallas, Texas. You own a house in Tampa, but you\u2019re changing jobs, so you put the house on the market. Soon, potential buyers start showing up. You tell them about the nice neighborhood, the good restaurants nearby, and the community pool \u2014 but there\u2019s one thing you hesitate to mention: The house flooded four years ago during a hurricane, ruining the living room. You fixed everything like a good owner should, but you also know that it could happen again. The storms seem to be more frequent in recent years, and more severe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have to sell the house in the next few months before you move to Dallas, and you\u2019re worried about scaring off buyers. Your real estate agent suggests that you don\u2019t mention the flood, especially since the house has been fixed and there are no structural defects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you do? Do you have a responsibility to discuss the flood with would-be buyers, even if it means scaring them off? Or can you omit unflattering information that hasn\u2019t even left an enduring mark on the property? After all, the flood was years ago. Where do your ethical obligations end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a homeowner puts her house on the market, she does have a legal obligation to disclose certain facts and risks to potential buyers. These disclosure obligations vary by state, but the most common ones apply to invisible hazards like lead paint and asbestos. Many states also require sellers to disclose if their home has been the site of a murder, or even if it has a reputation for being haunted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to disclosing flood history, though, there\u2019s no federal mandate, and state requirements are spotty. More than one-third of states have no flood disclosure laws whatsoever, and a few more have laws that experts deem too weak or too vague. These laggards include Florida, New York, and New Jersey, all of which rank in the top five states with the largest coastal populations. Other offending states<\/a> include population centers like Virginia and Georgia, plus states like Missouri and Maryland with long histories of riverine and ocean flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To make matters worse, homeowners who live in these states don\u2019t have any way to find out whether a home has flooded. Members of the public can search the flood map database of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to find out whether a home is inside a designated flood zone, and thus whether it requires flood insurance. However, simply being inside a flood zone doesn\u2019t mean a home has ever flooded, and there are plenty of homes outside these zones that see frequent and significant water damage. When Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas, for instance, more than half of all damaged homes<\/a> were outside FEMA flood zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n