In December of 2025, Western Washington experienced severe flooding that displaced tenants, and unlike in Oregon, California or Texas, Washington previously only required flood risk disclosures in home sales. Displaced tenants may have been previously unaware that their rental was in a flood-prone area, and the legislature sought to address this. The legislature passed Senate Bill 6237 with strong bipartisan support as part of a package of housing-related legislation in the 2026 legislative session. The Bill’s effective date is June 11, 2026, but it only applies to leases entered into after December 31, 2026.
The bill itself amends RCW 59.18.060, which sets out the duties of a residential landlord, adding a new duty of flood disclosure. For all leases entered into after December 31, 2026, Landlords must disclose to tenants the following:
- That the property may be located in a special flood hazard area or an area of potential flooding;
- That the landlord’s insurance does not cover the belongings of the tenant, and that the tenant should consider purchasing renter’s insurance and flood insurance; and
- That information about hazards affecting the property (including those related to flooding risk) are available from the county government where the property is located.
These disclosures only apply to leases and not rental advertisements, and landlords are immune from civil liability for omission unless the omission is knowing and intentional. Before preparing a flood disclosure, landlords should check to see if their property parcel is in a FEMA-designated flood hazard area, and should be aware of what their property insurance does and does not cover with regard to flood risk. Landlords with properties near a waterway should especially look into their local county’s records as they may have more granular flood risk information than FEMA maps. The “may be located in a special flood hazard area” language of the bill is broad enough that many landlords with properties near waterways, in low-lying areas, or in regions affected by the December 2025 flooding will reasonably choose to include the disclosure even if their FEMA flood zone designation does not explicitly require it. Given that the liability protection for unintentional omissions is narrow, and FEMA maps are not always current, a conservative and legally sensible approach would be to add the disclosure to all leases where the landlord has any reasonable inference that there could be a flood risk.
While the change to the law only applies to rental agreements entered into after December 31, 2026, and does not explicitly include lease renewals or month-to-month tenancies in the bill language, landlords should be proactive about revising their leases to be in compliance with the law. A knowledgeable and competent attorney can advise their clients and assist landlords in revising their lease agreements or preparing lease addenda in order to give tenants the information they need to make an informed decision and to protect landlords from potential future issues.
