NJ landlords, sellers required to tell flood damages

Expands state's property disclosure statement.

By: Maddie McGay
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Looking to buy or rent, but don't want to unknowingly risk living in a flood-prone area?
..... Lucky for you, New Jersey sellers and landlords are now required to explicitly disclose the flood dangers a property might have to prospective buyer and tenants.
..... Officially in effect as of Wednesday, [03/20/2024] The New Jersey Flood Disclosure Law was signed by Governor Phil Murphy in July 2023 after a push from the nonprofit group New Jersey Future and Senator Bob Smith, D-Middlesex. This expands the state's existing property disclosure statements - which previously asked whether properties were in a flood zone and if there was any prior flood damage - to be more comprehensive and transparent.
..... This comes at a time when many are looking to Trenton lawmakers to help find ways to help those impacted by recent major flood events in North Jersey, as well as to develop short - and long-term plans to minimize damage in flood-prone areas. and many are across New Jersey are sill seeing impacts from flooding caused in the decades since Superstorm Sandy and years after the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
..... Additionally, in a recent report by Realtor.com , the New York metropolitan area has the second highest total value of homes with severe or extreme flood risk at $265.2 billion.
..... "As we continue to live with the impacts of climate change in our communities, It's essential that we inform prospective home-buyers and renters of the risks in areas where they are looking to settle down," Murphy said.
..... Under the new law, all sellers of real estate property have to disclose any specific flood risk information via a property condition disclosure statement before the buyer becomes obligated nuder any property purchase contract.
..... This includes formation on whether the property is located in FEMA's Special Flood Hazard Area or Moderate Flood Hazard Area, as well as any knowledge concerning flood risk of the property. This information will be added to the existing property disclosure statement, rather than in a separate document, and will be provided to buyers before they are contractually obligated to purchase the property.
...... New Jersey landlords are required to provide a notice to prospective renters about whether the property is located in FEMA's Special Flood Hazard area or Moderate Flood Hazard Area, as well as any knowledge that the rental property or nay portion of the rental property, such as parking areas, have experienced flooding.
..... The new law states that prospective renters must receive a separate flood disclosure document with this information with a font size no smaller than 12 points.

Department of Environmental Protection's 'flood Indicator Tool!'

..... As part of the new law, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Portentous also revamped its "Flood Indicator Tool!."
..... The publicly-available Online tool provides basic information regarding a propriety's current and future flood risk. Users can search for their property on the website to find flood risk information that may be necessaries to complete certain sections of the Flood Rise Notice and/or property condition discloser statement, including whether a property is in the FEMA Special or Moderate Risk Flood Hazard Area.

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