Natural Hazard Disclosures and As-Is Sales

A Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement tells the buyer whether the property sits in any of six mapped hazard areas: a federal special flood hazard area, a dam inundation area, a high or very high fire hazard severity zone, a state-responsibility wildland area, an earthquake fault zone or a seismic hazard zone. Selling as-is does not change it, because it describes where the house is, not what condition it is in, and Civil Code section 1103 makes any waiver void. Most sellers order the report from a third-party hazard provider, which the statute accepts as a substitute disclosure when it is obtained with ordinary care. In the foothill cities around the Pomona Valley, the fire lines on the form and the fire notices that follow from them often shape the buyer pool more than any repair.

This article walks through the form, the two fire notices that ride with it, where the lines land in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, and how a hazard zone shows up in the two numbers. It describes the law and is not legal advice.

What does the Natural Hazard Disclosure cover?

The statement is set out word for word in Civil Code section 1103.2. For each area, the seller marks yes or no:

• Special flood hazard area, any FEMA zone "A" or "V".
• Area of potential flooding shown on a dam failure inundation map.
• High or very high fire hazard severity zone, in a state or local responsibility area. The owner is then subject to the vegetation maintenance rules of Government Code section 51182.
• Wildland area that may contain substantial forest fire risks, in a state responsibility area, with the clearance duties of Public Resources Code section 4291.
• Earthquake fault zone under the Alquist-Priolo maps.
• Seismic hazard zone, marked separately for landslide and liquefaction.

The form then warns, in capitals, that these hazards may limit the buyer's ability to develop the property, to obtain insurance or to receive assistance after a disaster, and that the maps estimate where hazards exist rather than predicting whether a property will be affected. Where a fire or seismic map is not accurate enough to tell whether the property is inside the zone, section 1103.2(b) says to mark "Yes".

Does selling as-is change the natural hazard disclosure?

No. "As-is" is about condition and repairs. The hazard statement is about location on government maps, and section 1103(d) says any waiver of the article is void as against public policy. Section 1103.8 adds that the form does not limit any other disclosure duty. It sits alongside the Transfer Disclosure Statement for as-is sellers; the two do different jobs. If you know of flooding, drainage problems or slope movement that no map shows, that belongs on the TDS, which asks about it directly.

Some sales are exempt from the hazard article under section 1103.1, including court-ordered sales and certain fiduciary sales, with the same revocable-trust exception the TDS has. The exemption is narrower than it looks: section 1103.1(b) notes that an exempt sale may still be subject to the separate hazard disclosure statutes in the Government Code and the Public Resources Code. An estate or trust attorney can say what applies.

Who prepares it, and who is liable?

Most sellers do not read the maps themselves. Civil Code section 1103.4 says a seller is not liable for an error that was not within the seller's personal knowledge when the information came from a public agency or from a licensed engineer, geologist or expert in natural hazard discovery, and ordinary care was used. The form has a box for exactly that: the seller acknowledges the representations are based on a third-party report.

The same section requires that report to say whether the property is in an airport influence area. If it is, the report must carry a "Notice of Airport in Vicinity" telling the buyer the property may be subject to noise, vibration or odors from airport operations.

Timing follows the TDS rule. Section 1103.3 says the statement is delivered as soon as practicable before transfer of title; if it is delivered after the buyer's offer, the buyer may terminate within three days after delivery in person or five days after delivery by mail or agreed electronic means.

The two fire notices that follow a fire zone "yes"

A "yes" on the high or very high fire line brings two more documents.

1. The fire-hardening notice, Civil Code section 1102.6f. For a home built before January 1, 2010, the seller gives a statement that the home predates the wildland-urban interface building codes, and discloses which of a list of features the seller knows of: vents with openings over one-eighth of an inch or not ember resistant, untreated wood shake roofs, combustible landscaping within five feet of the home, single-pane or nontempered windows, loose bird stopping or roof flashing, and gutters without noncombustible covers. Since July 1, 2025, the notice also lists low-cost retrofits and which of them the seller completed.
2. Defensible space documentation, Civil Code section 1102.19. Where a local ordinance or an inspection program applies, the seller provides documentation that the property complies with the vegetation clearance rules. If the seller has not obtained it, seller and buyer sign a written agreement that the buyer will obtain it; where an inspection program exists but no ordinance, the buyer does so within one year after close of escrow.

For an as-is seller, the fire-hardening list matters most, because it reads like a walkthrough checklist. You are asked to disclose which features exist, not to fix them. On a cash offer the same items, such as an old shake roof or open vents, appear as priced line items instead.

Where these lines land in our area

AreaLine most often in playWhat buyers ask about

Claremont foothills: Claraboya and Padua Hills

Fire hazard severity zone; the two fire notices

Insurance, brush clearance, access

North La Verne above Base Line Road; San Dimas north of the 210

Fire hazard severity zone

Insurance and clearance

Glendora foothills

Fire hazard severity zone

Drainage and slope after the 2014 Colby Fire and the debris-flow planning that followed

Alta Loma and Etiwanda in Rancho Cucamonga; north Upland

Fire hazard severity zone in parts

Insurance and clearance on foothill lots

Carbon Canyon and open-space edges in Chino Hills

Fire hazard severity zone

Fire exposure against privacy and views

Tracts near Ontario International Airport; homes near Cable Airport in Upland or Chino Airport

Notice of Airport in Vicinity in the hazard report

Noise and overflight

Debris flow is not one of the six map categories, which is why Glendora hillside buyers raise it separately. What a seller knows about past drainage or slope problems goes on the TDS. The city pages for Claremont, La Verne, San Dimas, Glendora, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Chino Hills and Ontario list the local rules in more detail. Your report, not this table, says which lines apply to your parcel.

How a hazard zone shows up in the two numbers

A fire zone or an airport notice is not deducted as a separate line on a cash offer. It is already in the comparable sales, as long as the comps come from the same zone. A foothill house priced from flatland sales would be overpriced; one priced from other foothill sales carries both the view premium and the insurance and clearance cost buyers attach to it. The same rule applies on the open-market read, which is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal.

What the cash offer does deduct are the condition items the fire notice lists, if they need work: a roof covering, the vents, the clearance. Whether to fix them first is the same question as any repair, and the as-is pillar's repair-first worksheet runs it.

Listing usually nets more when a foothill house is in good order, the defensible space documentation is in hand, the roof does not need replacing and the views draw owner-occupants who can get insurance. When the open-market number is higher and you have time, the written recommendation says so and you are introduced to a designated local expert who works those foothill streets.

What this looks like in practice

These are the kinds of files that come in, described without names or figures.

• A Glendora foothill house with smoke damage, where the owner compares selling now with an insurance-funded rebuild and needs the hazard report ordered either way.
• A Claraboya hillside home held in a trust, where the trustee orders the hazard report early so beneficiaries in other states can read it with both numbers.
• A post-war tract house near Ontario International Airport, where the airport notice is the only hazard line and the comps come from the same side of the airport.

More in the as-is sales hub, including what you handle in an as-is sale without a Realtor.

Next step

To see how your location and condition price out side by side, start at selling your house as-is or call (909) 498-3977. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report.

Sources

• California Civil Code section 1103 (application; waiver void): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Civil Code section 1103.1 (exempt sales; other hazard statutes still apply): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Civil Code section 1103.2 (the Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Civil Code section 1103.3 (delivery and termination window): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Civil Code section 1103.4 (third-party reports; airport notice): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Civil Code section 1103.8 (other disclosure duties): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Civil Code section 1102.6f (fire-hardening notice): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Civil Code section 1102.19 (defensible space documentation): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• Office of the State Fire Marshal, Fire Hazard Severity Zones: osfm.fire.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• FEMA Flood Map Service Center: msc.fema.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Department of Water Resources, dam breach inundation maps: fmds.water.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Geological Survey, Earthquake Zones of Required Investigation map: maps.conservation.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• City of Ontario, Ontario International Airport Inter-Agency Collaborative and ALUCP: ontarioca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)

Mr. Cali Offers is not a law firm or a natural hazard report provider. Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors who buy for their own account and may resell for profit; a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. Any value shown is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.