Bill filed in Florida to require landlords to disclose flood zone information to tenants
ORLANDO, Florida. – A new bill filed in the Florida Senate aims to get results for tenants by requiring landlords to disclose information about flood zones.
Senate Bill 716 was introduced this week by State Senator Linda Stewart in response to the people who suffered heavy losses during Hurricanes Jan and Nicole.
The bill requires current and future tenants to be notified if their apartment is in a flood zone.
Good Samaritan Society villager Diane Barrett said a flood notice would be helpful in her case. She was one of hundreds of residents affected by the flooding caused by Hurricane Yan at the Kissimmee housing estate.
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“We wouldn’t have moved there if they said it could happen,” Barrett said, adding that now she and her husband have to stay with their two daughters as they try to rebuild their lives. “So, actually there are three families living here. We had to start over with clothes, furniture, things we thought we’d never have to buy again, not now.”
Tampa Public Legal Service attorney Jorge Acosta has worked with some Good Samaritan residents, saying, “The key is not to be caught off guard.”
Acosta said the new flood law could affect landlords because fewer people are interested in their property if it is in a flood zone, or landlords have to provide more housing to tenants to compensate for being in a flood zone.
“People need to look at this carefully and be more careful about the potential damage that could occur, and that needs to be taken into account whenever someone decides to build,” Acosta said.
The bill will also require landlords to provide tenants with specific information about the inclusion of a property in a floodplain.
Acosta said that while the bill itself could hurt landlords, builders or contractors, it offers essential information for tenants.
“If we don’t provide this information, we’ll just keep repeating the whole hurricane issue and rising water everywhere,” he said.
Barrett said she hopes the bill will help deliver results for tenants like her.
“They need to be held accountable,” Barrett said. “I mean, how many people… just lost their homes and don’t know where to go?”
Currently, the bill has just been filed and still has to pass through the State House and the Senate before heading to the governor’s office.
If approved, it will enter into force in July.
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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.
