The first one of these, the Tenant Flood Hazard Disclosure, satisfies a new requirement that in every residential lease or rental agreement entered into after July 1, 2018, the landlord or agent must disclose certain information regarding flood hazards including the landlords "actual knowledge." The TFHD informs the tenant that the property is in a special flood hazard area or an area of potential flooding if one or more of the following conditions are met.

1. The owner has actual knowledge of that fact.
2. The owner has received written notice from any public agency stating that the property is located in a special flood hazard or an area of potential flooding.
3. The property is located in an area in which the owners mortgage holder requires the owner to carry flood insurance.
4. The owner carries flood insurance.

There are no conditions under which either of the other two advisories is mandated by law; however, individual companies may choose to include them among their required documents.

The Disclosure Information Advisory is addressed to sellers. It provides them with some general information about required disclosures. It addresses many of the questions that sellers often ask their agents as to what is expected of them. The advice it provides for sellers is very similar to the advice that brokers often give their agents. For example, "you should not let subjective beliefs limit, qualify or downplay your disclosures. Avoid words such as lsquo;never, lsquo;minor, lsquo;insignificant, lsquo;small, or lsquo;infrequent as these terms may reflect your opinion but that opinion may not be shared by Buyers, professionals or others."

The DIA is 2 frac12; pages in length. It covers a lot of ground, much of which good agents already cover, although verbally. A particularly good piece of advice -- for agents as well as sellers -- is this:

"If you are unsure about whether something is important enough to be disclosed, you should probably disclose it. If you dont want to disclose a piece of information about the Property, think about your reasoning for why you do not want to disclose this information. If the answer is because you think a buyer will not want to buy the Property, or will want purchase at a lower price, that is exactly the reason why the fact ought to be disclosed: it materially affects the value or desirability of the Property."

Finally, there is the Buyers Homeowners Association Advisory. We have discussed in other contexts the fact that people who are buying a property subject to an HOA will receive a high volume of legally-required disclosures. Probably, there is a pretty low percentage of those buyers who have actually read all the documents they receive. This advisory provides a brief summary of the kinds of documents they should receive and emphasizes the importance of reading them. It also emphasizes that the buyers agent has not and cannot verify the information provided. It particularly notes, "Real estate agents are not qualified to assess the financial viability of any HOA."

Some of the advice, however, does challenge credulity. For example, "You should directly contact the HOA Board to determine whether the property can be used for your intended purposes."

Brokers and agents will do well to familiarize themselves with the new forms when they are made available. Theres no doubt that some will want to adopt them.