Committee approves amendment to H.106 creating 'unable to determine' disclosure defense for sellers in FEMA‑mapped areas

The House General & Housing Committee on March 25 approved Draft 1.1, a strike‑all amendment to H.106 that creates a new statutory defense for sellers of real property when federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps are unavailable or unclear.

Cameron Wood of the Office of Legislative Council drafted the amendment and walked members through the changes. Wood said the amendment keeps the disclosure requirement that sellers inform buyers whether a property is in a FEMA special or moderate flood hazard area, but adds a new subsection providing that a seller “shall not be liable for damages” if, after a reasonable attempt to determine the property's location on FEMA maps, the seller notifies the buyer that the seller cannot reasonably determine whether the property lies within the mapped areas and also notifies the buyer of the disclosure obligations under subsection (a).

Wood told the committee the defense would be available going forward on enactment and would not operate retroactively; sellers would continue to have the existing defense where they had relied on information provided by a public body or a licensed professional. He described the amendment as designed to address practical problems committee members and stakeholders raised, including old raster FEMA maps and areas where maps are not digitized or are otherwise difficult to overlay on parcel maps.

Aaron Tucker of the Vermont Association of Realtors testified in favor of the amendment, saying the change would give sellers a usable option when maps are unclear. “This on outward appearances seems to allow us to… say, I cannot determine where whether I’m in the high flood hazard area or the medium flood hazard area,” Tucker said, and added the amendment would allow practitioners to revise seller disclosure forms accordingly.

Committee members discussed the limits of the defense, confirming it shields sellers from damage claims under the statute if they follow the notice steps but does not strip buyers of other remedies, such as contract cancellation before closing if a buyer later discovers accurate mapping that shows a property is within a flood zone.

The committee voted to approve the amendment and recommend H.106 with the amendment. Clerk roll call recorded the following yes votes: Representative Burrows; Representative Charlton; Representative Dodge; Representative Delden; Representative Howard; Representative Krasnow; Representative Lamont; Representative Carson; Representative Pezzo; and Representative Mahali. Representative Bartley was recorded absent. The committee reported a final tally of 10 yes, 0 no, 1 absent.

The committee’s approval sends the amended H.106 to the drafting office and places the bill on the notice calendar for future floor consideration.