(a) General prohibition

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal disaster relief assistance made available in a flood disaster area may be used to make a payment (including any loan assistance payment) to a person for repair, replacement, or restoration for damage to any personal, residential, or commercial property if that person at any time has received flood disaster assistance that was conditional on the person first having obtained flood insurance under applicable Federal law and subsequently having failed to obtain and maintain flood insurance as required under applicable Federal law on such property.

(b) Transfer of property

(1) Duty to notify

In the event of the transfer of any property described in paragraph (3), the transferor shall, not later than the date on which such transfer occurs, notify the transferee in writing of the requirements to—

(A) obtain flood insurance in accordance with applicable Federal law with respect to such property, if the property is not so insured as of the date on which the property is transferred; and

(B) maintain flood insurance in accordance with applicable Federal law with respect to such property.


Such written notification shall be contained in documents evidencing the transfer of ownership of the property.

(2) Failure to notify

If a transferor described in paragraph (1) fails to make a notification in accordance with such paragraph and, subsequent to the transfer of the property—

(A) the transferee fails to obtain or maintain flood insurance in accordance with applicable Federal law with respect to the property,

(B) the property is damaged by a flood disaster, and

(C) Federal disaster relief assistance is provided for the repair, replacement, or restoration of the property as a result of such damage,


the transferor shall be required to reimburse the Federal Government in an amount equal to the amount of the Federal disaster relief assistance provided with respect to the property.

(3) Property described

For purposes of paragraph (1), a property is described in this paragraph if it is personal, commercial, or residential property for which Federal disaster relief assistance made available in a flood disaster area has been provided, prior to the date on which the property is transferred, for repair, replacement, or restoration of the property, if such assistance was conditioned upon obtaining flood insurance in accordance with applicable Federal law with respect to such property.

(c) Omitted

(d) “Flood disaster area” defined

Terms Used In 42 USC 5154a

  • Emergency: means any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, Federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States. See 42 USC 5122
  • Major disaster: means any natural catastrophe (including any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, winddriven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought), or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part of the United States, which in the determination of the President causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance under this chapter to supplement the efforts and available resources of States, local governments, and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby. See 42 USC 5122
  • United States: means the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. See 42 USC 5122
  • writing: includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise. See 1 USC 1

For purposes of this section, the term “flood disaster area” means an area with respect to which—

(1) the Secretary of Agriculture finds, or has found, to have been substantially affected by a natural disaster in the United States pursuant to section 1961(a) of title 7; or

(2) the President declares, or has declared, the existence of a major disaster or emergency pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.), as a result of flood conditions existing in or affecting that area.

(e) Effective date

This section and the amendments made by this section shall apply to disasters declared after September 23, 1994.

  Previous section
Next section  
 Subchapter III Contents