Texas · A lease notice is not a flood policy
Since January 1, 2022, many Texas residential leases have required a written floodplain notice. The notice tells the tenant the landlord’s awareness. It does not put flood coverage on the landlord policy or the renter’s policy.
Property Code section 92.0135, added by House Bill 531, applies to a lease entered into or renewed on or after that date. The enrolled bill defines a 100-year floodplain as land FEMA designates with a 1 percent or greater chance of flooding each year. The landlord gives a separate written notice, at or before the lease is signed, saying the landlord is or is not aware the dwelling is in that floodplain. If neither box is checked, the notice tells the tenant to assume it is. The same notice says the dwelling can still flood outside that zone, points to FEMA’s address search, and says most tenant policies do not cover a flood. If the landlord knows flooding damaged any part of the dwelling at least once in the five years before the lease’s effective date, a second notice covers that history. This is the 2022 enactment. Read the current code before you treat it as the only version.
Look up the address: flood maps and Texas flood insurance. The building policy: landlord insurance, what it protects, and what moves the cost. What you can ask the tenant to carry, which still is not flood: renters limits.
