The Natural Hazard Disclosure (NHD) Report, Explained

What the statement covers

The form is written out word for word in Civil Code section 1103.2. For each of six areas the seller answers yes, no, or (for some items) that the information is not available from the local jurisdiction. The six areas are:

• A Special Flood Hazard Area (any Zone A or V) designated by FEMA.
• An area of potential flooding shown on a dam failure inundation map.
• A High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. The form distinguishes High and Very High zones in a state responsibility area from Very High zones in a local responsibility area, and notes that the owner is subject to the fire-safety maintenance requirements of Government Code section 51182.
• A wildland area that may contain substantial forest fire risks and hazards.
• An Earthquake Fault Zone under the Alquist-Priolo Act.
• A Seismic Hazard Zone, marked as a landslide zone, a liquefaction zone, or "map not yet released by state".

The form itself warns that the maps estimate where hazards exist and are not definitive indicators of whether a property will be affected by a natural disaster.

The statement and the NHD report

A seller does not have to read the maps personally. Under Civil Code section 1103.4, a report prepared by a licensed engineer, geologist or other expert in natural hazard discovery satisfies the seller's duty for the items it covers, and the seller and agents are not liable for errors in it that they did not know about. This is the basis for the third-party "NHD report" a seller can order. The same section also asks the expert to state whether the property is in an airport influence area, so the report covers more than the six map items.

When you get it

Civil Code section 1103.3 requires the seller to deliver the statement as soon as practicable before title transfers. It can arrive after your offer is signed. If it does, you have three days after delivery in person, or five days after delivery by mail or electronically (where you agreed to electronic delivery), to terminate the offer with a written notice to the seller or the seller's agent.

Because the statement comes late, checking the same maps before you make an offer is the useful step. Every item except dam inundation and the wildland area appears in a sounding report.

How each item maps to a sounding report

The report reads each layer at the parcel's center point from the agencies' own public map services. A parcel that straddles a zone line can read differently at its edge, so the NHD report remains the document of record.

What the report adds: tsunami

The statutory form has no tsunami line. The California Geological Survey publishes Tsunami Hazard Area maps for coastal evacuation planning and states that they are not legal documents and do not meet disclosure requirements for real estate transactions. A sounding report still checks the parcel against that layer, so a coastal buyer can see it alongside the disclosed items.

Where to look at the maps yourself

• Flood: FEMA's Flood Map Service Center. FEMA defines a Special Flood Hazard Area by its A and V zones. See also flood zones and flood insurance in San Diego.
• Dam inundation: the Department of Water Resources dam breach inundation map viewer, which publishes the maps its Division of Safety of Dams approves.
• Fire: what a fire hazard zone means for insurance is covered in wildfire insurance in San Diego.
• Earthquake fault zones: the CGS Alquist-Priolo page, which also explains the geologic investigation required before new building in a zone.
• Seismic hazard zones: the CGS Seismic Hazard Zones page, covering liquefaction and earthquake-induced landslide zones.
• Several at once: Cal OES's MyHazards looks up tsunami, earthquake, flood and fire hazards for an address.