Flood Zones and Flood Insurance on Long Island: What Buyers, Lenders and Title Check

You can look up any Long Island property’s flood zone by address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. High-risk flood zones are Zones A, AE, V and VE. Your mortgage may come from a federally regulated or federally backed lender. If so, and the building is in one of these zones, federal law requires flood insurance for the life of the loan. Outside those zones, flood insurance is optional.

New York also requires sellers to disclose flood zone status and flood history on the Property Condition Disclosure Statement. Landlords must disclose the same in residential leases.

A title search does not answer these questions. Flood maps are not recorded with the Nassau or Suffolk County Clerk, and title insurance does not insure flood status. The answers come from your lender, your insurance agent, the seller’s disclosure and, on the waterfront, maps from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

This guide covers Nassau and Suffolk counties only. Brooklyn and Queens are mapped as part of New York City.

What the flood zones mean

FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) puts every property in a zone.

Zone	What it means	Insurance required?
VE	Coastal high hazard, with waves	Yes, if the lender rule applies
AE	1% yearly flood chance; flood height shown	Yes, if the lender rule applies
X (shaded)	0.2% yearly flood chance	No
X (unshaded)	Minimal hazard	No

The high-risk area is called the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). It is land with a 1% or greater chance of flooding in any year. People call it the “100-year floodplain.” It includes Zones A, AE and VE (HUD summary of FEMA zones). Shaded Zone X is the area between the 1% and 0.2% yearly chance floods, the “500-year floodplain.”

In AE and VE areas, the map shows a Base Flood Elevation (BFE): how high the water is expected to rise in that 1% flood. The V zone is the open-coast area most exposed to waves. The federal insurance rule treats the whole SFHA the same way.

How to look up a property’s flood zone

Go to msc.fema.gov/portal/search and enter the street address.
Write down the map panel number and its effective date.
Open the Dynamic Map (FIRMette). This printable map includes official map changes (Letters of Map Change) made since the panel’s effective date. The static panel image “has not been updated since the effective date.”
Check “Changes to this FIRM.” A Letter of Map Amendment or Revision can move a lot or building in or out of the SFHA without a new map.
Use “Search All Products” for the town or village to see current, preliminary, pending and older maps.

How current the Nassau and Suffolk maps are

Both counties use countywide flood maps from 2009:

Nassau County: dated September 11, 2009, as cited in village flood laws such as the Village of Malverne code.
Suffolk County: dated September 25, 2009, as cited in the Village of Southampton code.

Some map panels have been changed since then, such as a 2020 revision in the Village of Kings Point (Federal Register notice).

FEMA’s flood hazard determination notices page showed no Nassau or Suffolk community when checked on October 31, 2026. That page lists only communities whose 90-day appeal period is open or closed within the past three months. FEMA can issue a preliminary map at any time, so confirm with the community’s “Search All Products” view. A preliminary map does not trigger the insurance requirement until it takes effect.

When you must buy flood insurance

The federal rule

The requirement comes from a 1973 federal law (the mandatory purchase law). It covers buildings and mobile homes in the SFHA where federal flood insurance (NFIP) is available. A federally regulated lender cannot make, increase, extend or renew a loan on one unless it is insured for the life of the loan.

The minimum amount is the lower of the loan balance or the most the NFIP offers. Federal agency lenders follow the same rule. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must make sure the loans they buy carry the same coverage.

NFIP limits. For a one- to four-family building, the NFIP maximum is $250,000 for the structure and $100,000 for contents. Other residential and nonresidential buildings can be insured up to $500,000 (federal coverage limits). Example: on a hypothetical $600,000 mortgage on a Zone AE house, the federal minimum is $250,000 of building coverage. Your lender may require more.
Escrow. For a home, premiums generally must be paid through your lender’s or servicer’s escrow account for the life of the loan. There are exceptions, including home equity lines of credit.
Private policies. Lenders must accept qualifying private flood insurance.
Detached buildings. Flood insurance is not required on a detached building that isn’t used as a home, such as a detached garage or shed.
Letting it lapse. Say required coverage lapses and you don’t replace it within 45 days of the lender’s notice. The lender can then buy coverage and charge you.

A cash purchase, or a loan from a lender outside these rules, has no federal insurance requirement.

The lender’s flood check and your notice

The lender orders a flood zone determination on FEMA’s Standard Flood Hazard Determination Form (federal law). The lender acts on that form, not on the seller’s disclosure or a map screenshot. If the building is in the SFHA, the lender must give you written notice “within a reasonable time before the completion of the transaction.” The notice explains the requirement and your coverage options (federal rule).

What counts is whether the building, not the land, is in the SFHA. A FEMA Letter of Map Amendment, usually backed by elevation data, is the formal way to show a building sits above the base flood elevation.

Timing at closing

NFIP policies normally start after a 30-day waiting period. That wait does not apply when you buy the policy because you are getting, increasing, extending or renewing a loan (federal law). So a policy for a purchase can start on the closing date. The paid policy declarations page is a standard lender condition among the open items before closing. A seller’s existing NFIP policy can also be transferred to the buyer (NAR NFIP FAQ).

If the NFIP’s authority lapses

Congress has authorized the NFIP to issue new and renewal policies through December 11, 2026 (Congressional Research Service, Oct. 2026). During a lapse:

the NFIP can’t issue new or renewal policies
existing policies stay in force
a seller’s policy can still be transferred to a buyer
private flood policies are not affected (NAR)

How flood insurance is priced

FEMA prices NFIP policies under a system called Risk Rating 2.0. It started October 1, 2021 for new policies and April 1, 2022 for renewals (CRS). Each building is rated on its own features. FEMA lists factors such as distance to water, elevation, first-floor height and the cost to rebuild (FloodSmart agents page).

The zone still decides whether insurance is required. It no longer sets the price on its own. By law, a single policy’s yearly increase is generally capped at 18%.

Elevation certificates

An elevation certificate shows how high a building sits compared with the base flood elevation. A licensed land surveyor, professional engineer or certified architect prepares it (FloodSmart). Under Risk Rating 2.0 you no longer need one to buy NFIP coverage. You can still submit one to see if it lowers the premium.

Town and village floodplain officials use them to confirm that new or heavily improved buildings meet elevation rules. Southampton’s code treats a building without one as a violation until it’s shown to comply. An existing certificate is usually with the seller, the building department or the old insurance file. The seller’s disclosure form asks the seller to attach it.

What New York requires sellers and landlords to disclose

Sellers: the Property Condition Disclosure Statement

A home seller must give the buyer a completed Property Condition Disclosure Statement before the buyer signs a binding contract (New York’s disclosure law). A 2023 law added flood questions, effective March 20, 2024. It also ended the $500 credit sellers once gave instead of the form (NYSBA). The form now asks whether:

any of the property is in a FEMA floodplain, the SFHA (100-year) or the moderate-risk (500-year) area (Questions 10 to 12)
federal law requires flood insurance on the property (Question 13)
the seller, or a prior owner as far as the seller knows, got FEMA, SBA or other federal flood disaster aid (Question 14)
flood insurance is in place, with the policy attached (Question 15)
a FEMA elevation certificate is available, with a copy attached (Question 16)
the seller ever filed a flood damage claim, including with the NFIP (Question 17)

Question 39 asks about water getting in or damage from seepage or a natural flood such as storm surge.

The disaster aid question matters. Some federal flood aid comes with a duty to keep flood insurance. If a later owner lets it lapse, that owner can be denied federal repair aid after the next flood (federal disaster law). A seller who leaves the required written notice out of the transfer documents can owe the government that aid.

Landlords: residential leases

Since June 21, 2023, every New York residential lease must disclose whether the home is in a FEMA floodplain, the SFHA or the 500-year area (New York’s lease flood disclosure law). It must also disclose any past flood damage the landlord knows or reasonably should know about. The lease must tell tenants that NFIP renters’ coverage is available and that standard renters’ insurance usually doesn’t cover flood (NYS HCR guidance and sample notice).

State shoreline rules: erosion and tidal wetlands

FEMA zones decide insurance. Two state programs decide what can be built or rebuilt on the shoreline, whatever the flood zone.

Program	What needs a permit
Coastal Erosion Hazard Areas	New buildings, additions, grading
Tidal Wetlands	Most work within 300 feet of the wetland

Coastal erosion areas. DEC says the entire Long Island coastline is mapped. You need a Coastal Erosion Management Permit to build, add on, grade or fill in natural protective areas (beaches, dunes, bluffs) and structural hazard areas (DEC erosion permit program). In the 34 certified communities statewide, the town or village issues the permit. The erosion map layer is in DEC’s DECinfo Locator.

Tidal wetlands. DEC requires a permit for “almost any activity which will alter wetlands or the adjacent areas,” including rebuilding homes, docks and bulkheads. Outside New York City, the regulated area reaches up to 300 feet inland from the wetland edge (DEC tidal wetlands program). DEC will tell you, free, whether its rules cover a site. Bulkheads and docks are covered in bulkheads and waterfront title.

Neither program creates a lien. A missing DEC permit is a regulatory issue, not a recorded title defect.

What the title search and title insurance show

A Nassau or Suffolk title search checks the county clerk’s land records, judgments, liens and any municipal searches ordered (title search and title report, county clerk land records). FEMA and DEC maps aren’t part of those records, so the title report won’t state a flood zone. Recorded easements or covenants about drainage do appear in the report’s list of exceptions (Schedule B), like any other recorded item.

Flood status is also outside title insurance. The owner’s policy used in New York does not cover losses from land use, building or environmental rules. Finding out after closing that a house is in Zone VE, or lacks a DEC permit, is not by itself a title claim. See the title insurance policy explained.

A boundary survey is checked for encroachments (survey exception). It is not a flood determination. An elevation certificate is a separate document, even when the same surveyor prepares both.

Who handles what

Item	Who handles it
Flood zone determination	Lender, through a vendor
Flood policy and declarations	Buyer’s insurance agent
Flood answers on the disclosure form	Seller
Elevation certificate	Surveyor, engineer, architect
Erosion or tidal wetland permit	Owner, DEC or certified town
Lien and record search	Title company

Details for attorneys and title professionals

Map panels. Nassau panels carry the prefix 36059C; Suffolk panels carry 36103C. The Kings Point revision appeared in the Federal Register on April 22, 2020.
Zone definitions in local code. Southampton’s floodplain code, which follows FEMA’s terms, defines the V zone as the coastal high-hazard area “extending from offshore to the inland limit of a primary frontal dune along an open coast,” designated VE on a FIRM (Southampton floodplain code). It also defines a Coastal A Zone. That is the part of the SFHA landward of a V zone where breaking waves of at least 1.5 feet are possible in the base flood. Its inland edge is the Limit of Moderate Wave Action (LiMWA) line, where a FIRM shows one.
Where the purchase rule sits. The Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 is now part of the federal flood insurance statute. The same section holds, in separate parts, the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac duty, the detached-building exemption, the escrow rule and the 45-day rule on lender-bought coverage (force-placement). The federal banking regulators issued the borrower notice rule jointly, each in its own regulations. The wording quoted above is the FDIC’s version.
The 2023 disclosure change. The flood questions came from a 2023 amendment to the disclosure law (see the NYSBA summary in Official sources).
Shoreline program law. The coastal erosion program rests on the coastal erosion article of the Environmental Conservation Law and DEC’s regulations under it. The tidal wetlands program rests on that law’s tidal wetlands article and its own regulations. See Official sources.
Policy language. The 2021 ALTA owner’s policy has a standard exclusion for loss from laws restricting land use, the character of improvements or environmental protection. Its definition of public records leaves out environmental, zoning, building and similar records (2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy).

Official sources

Korvane Title is preparing to launch in New York. It is not licensed as a title insurance agent and does not accept title orders. Content on this site is general information, not legal advice.