News & Insights

A Rising Tide of Disclosure

If you’ve ever had a buyer fall in love with a charming cottage on the Eastern Shore only to discover, after settlement, that the living room floods every nor’easter, you know how ugly the fallout can be. Whether your clients are purchasing their forever home in Montgomery County or scouting a weekend retreat on the Chesapeake Bay, starting next year, Maryland law is going to make sure that surprise is a lot harder to pull off.

House Bill 200 (HB 200) signed into law on May 26, 2026, creates a brand-new requirement for sellers of residential real property: a completed flood risk disclosure statement must be provided to the buyer before entering into a contract of sale. The form itself is being developed by the Maryland Department of the Environment, and sellers will be required to use it beginning July 1, 2027.

What the Disclosure Covers

The new form goes well beyond the two water-related questions currently buried in Maryland’s existing property disclosure statement (which, let’s be honest, ask about basement dampness and roof leaks and not much else). Under HB 200, sellers must disclose:

• Whether the property sits within a designated special flood hazard area or a moderate-risk flood hazard area;
• Whether federal law requires flood insurance on the property;
• Whether the seller has received financial compensation from a federal agency for flood damage;
• Whether the seller currently carries flood insurance; and
• Whether the seller has knowledge of flood damage from sources including heavy rainfall, coastal storm surge, tidal inundation, or river overflows.

If a FEMA elevation certificate is available for the property, the seller must provide a copy of that as well.

Why This Matters for Agents

For those of us working primarily in Montgomery and the surrounding counties, you might think flood risk is a coastal problem, something to worry about “over there” on the Shore. Think again. Between the Potomac River corridor, Rock Creek tributaries, and an increasing number of FEMA-mapped flood zones in suburban neighborhoods, flood risk is very much a local issue. And for clients buying vacation homes on the Bay, a market many of you serve, the disclosure will be front and center on virtually every transaction.

From a practical standpoint, agents should begin thinking now about how this disclosure fits into the listing and contract process. The form must be delivered before a buyer enters into a contract, which means it cannot be an afterthought tacked on at the home inspection stage. If you’re listing a home along the Potomac or helping a client sell a Bay-front property in Calvert or St. Mary’s County, work with sellers early to gather the necessary information. Buyer’s agents, especially those guiding weekend-house hunters toward waterfront properties, should flag any missing disclosures before their clients sign on the dotted line.

The Bottom Line

Flood disclosure laws already exist in roughly 30 other states, so Maryland is catching up rather than breaking new ground. But for agents operating here, this is a meaningful shift. The days of a buyer’s flood risk education consisting entirely of “you might want to Google that” are numbered. Prepare accordingly, and your clients, buyers and sellers alike, will thank you.

About the author (drafted with the assistance of AI): Erin August is an Attorney in the Real Estate Department at Shulman Rogers, P.A. Barred in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia. She was born in Washington, DC and raised in Montgomery County, Maryland, where she resides with her husband and son.

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