What Florida SellersMust Disclose

Most sellers meet this subject as a form their agent hands them, and treat it as paperwork. It is not paperwork. It is the single largest source of post-closing litigation in Florida residential real estate, and the standard it applies is broader than the form suggests.

The good news is that the rule is genuinely simple, and following it is cheap.

The rule, in one sentence

That is the whole of it. Florida's Supreme Court decided that caveat emptor was "not in tune with the times" and did not "conform with current notions of justice, equity and fair dealing," and replaced it with an affirmative duty.

Three elements, and what each actually means

1. The seller knows. Actual knowledge is required. Florida's Second District put it plainly in Jensen v. Bailey: "to hold the seller liable under Johnson, the buyer must prove the seller's actual knowledge of an undisclosed material defect."

But knowledge is the only mental element. Motive is irrelevant — as one court put it, the seller's state of mind in failing to disclose does not matter; the forgetful or unsophisticated seller is just as liable as the knowing dissembler. "I forgot about the 2019 roof leak" is not a defence.

2. The fact materially affects value. Not every imperfection. A defect that a reasonable buyer would weigh in deciding whether, or at what price, to buy.

3. It is not readily observable. This is the one sellers misunderstand. "Readily observable" means visible or apparent on ordinary inspection. A latent defect — one that is present but not visible — is squarely inside the duty. The buyer is expected to observe what is observable; there is no affirmative duty to go hunting for what is hidden.

So: a stained ceiling the buyer can see is readily observable. The repaired-and-repainted leak above it, which you know recurs in heavy rain, is not.

One more rule, often decisive: partial disclosure triggers full disclosure. If you undertake to speak about a subject, you must disclose the whole truth about it. Saying "the roof was repaired in 2021" while omitting that it has leaked twice since is worse than saying nothing at all.

One limit worth knowing: the Johnson duty is residential. Florida courts have declined to extend it to commercial real estate transactions.

An "as is" contract does not waive it

In Syvrud v. Today Real Estate (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) the court held that "an 'as is' clause in a contract for the sale of residential real property does not waive the duty imposed by Johnson v. Davis to disclose hidden defects in the property." Earlier, Levy v. Creative Construction Services of Broward found no "as is" exception to the duty.

The FARBAR "AS IS" contract itself preserves the obligation — the comprehensive rider for "as is" purchases expressly states it does not relieve the seller of obligations under the standard warranting that no facts known to the seller materially affecting value remain undisclosed.

A careful caveat: Syvrud turned in part on the absence of express waiver language, and courts have not ruled out that a specific, negotiated disclaimer as to a particular known condition might operate differently. The safe statement is the accurate one: a standard "as is" clause does not waive the duty.

The statutory disclosures, which are separate and specific

The sinkhole one deserves emphasis here specifically. Central Florida sits in Florida's sinkhole belt. If a claim was made and paid on your property — by you — that disclosure is statutory, not discretionary, and the question of whether the full proceeds went into the repair is part of it.

Flood — the newest duty, and broader than most sellers know

Florida created a residential flood disclosure in 2024 and expanded it in 2025. A lot of what is written about it online describes only the 2024 version.

As amended, a seller must disclose:

• Any flooding that damaged the property during the seller's ownership — and since the 2025 amendment, regardless of whether an insurance claim was filed. The original version reached only claims.
• Any insurance claims filed relating to flood damage.
• Any assistance received to remediate flood damage — and since 2025, from any source, not only federal. FEMA assistance remains covered; so now do state, local and other forms.

"Flooding" is defined broadly: overflow of inland or tidal waters; unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from an established source; and sustained standing water resulting from rainfall. That last clause is the one inland Central Florida sellers should read twice. After Ian in 2022 and Milton in 2024, a great many properties in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties experienced exactly that, and never filed a claim.

A companion 2025 change, section 83.512, requires landlords to make the same three disclosures at or before execution of a rental agreement with a term of a year or longer, as a separate document.

Unpermitted work and open permits

Unpermitted or defective work that you know about, that is not readily observable, and that materially affects value, is squarely inside the Johnson duty. Beyond the legal duty it is a practical problem: open permits and unpermitted additions create appraisal issues, financing issues, insurance issues, and the cost of retroactive permitting or removal.

Two provisions of section 553.79 are worth knowing:

• A current owner can close a permit someone else pulled. Subsection (16)(a) allows a property owner to close a building permit regardless of who applied for it, and a replacement contractor is not liable for defects in the original contractor's work.
• An arms-length buyer is protected. Subsection (17)(a): a local enforcement agency "may not deny issuance of a building permit to; issue a notice of violation to; or fine, penalize, sanction, or assess fees against an arms-length purchaser of a property for value solely because a building permit applied for by a previous owner of the property was not closed." The agency keeps its remedies against the prior owner and the permitted contractor.

That second one is genuinely useful for a buyer — but it protects against municipal penalties, not against the cost of fixing the work, and not against a lender or insurer who declines the file. The sensible move for a seller is to run the permit history and close what is open before listing.

What Florida law says you do not have to disclose

Section 689.25(1)(a) says the same about the fact that an occupant is or has been infected with HIV or diagnosed with AIDS.

Two limits. The statute names homicide, suicide and death — it is not a general "stigma" exemption covering every category of crime or notoriety. And nothing in it permits an affirmative misrepresentation: Johnson v. Davis and ordinary fraud law still bar lying in response to a direct question. The safe position is silence where the statute allows it, never a false answer.

How to actually handle it

• Write down everything you know before you list — repairs, leaks, claims, standing water, work done without a permit, anything a contractor ever told you. The list is almost always shorter and less frightening than sellers expect.
• Disclose in writing and keep the copy. A disclosure that cannot be proved is worth very little if it is ever questioned.
• Do not selectively disclose. If you mention the subject, finish the sentence.
• Pull the permit history from the city or county and close anything open.
• Answer questions honestly even where silence is permitted.
• When you are genuinely unsure whether something is material, disclose it. Disclosure costs nothing. The alternative is a lawsuit after closing, when the buyer owns the house and the leverage.

In practice, honest disclosure rarely costs a sale. What kills sales — and what generates litigation — is a buyer discovering during their own inspection something the seller plainly knew and did not say. At that point the issue is no longer the defect. It is whether anything else in the file can be trusted.