PCDS

The Property Condition Disclosure Statement is the form New York's Property Condition Disclosure Act (Real Property Law Article 14) requires sellers of one- to four-family residential property to complete and deliver to a buyer before a binding contract of sale, disclosing what the seller actually knows about the property's condition. A 2023 amendment, effective March 20, 2024, added a block of flood-specific questions covering FEMA floodplain status, flood insurance requirements and claims history, and elevation-certificate availability, alongside the form's existing structural, mechanical, and environmental items.

The same amendment removed the form's old escape hatch: sellers who failed to deliver a PCDS previously owed buyers a flat $500 credit at closing instead of answering it. That credit is gone — non-disclosure now exposes a seller to liability for a willful failure under Real Property Law §465, rather than a fixed fee. The PCDS is a sale-side obligation only; New York's separate residential-lease flood notice runs on its own statute.