Why land use red flags matter
Some facts are neither defects nor stigma — they restrict what an owner may legally do. A buyer planning to remodel or build needs them before closing, so the disclosure form flags conditions warranting investigation of land use controls. Public controls come from government: zoning, codes, permits, historic designation, flood rules, wetlands. Private controls come from recorded CC&Rs and association rules.
Historic designation and unpermitted work
Historic designation, or location in a historic district where permission is required for modifications, is a public control flagged on the form. It is not a private CC&R control, not psychological stigma, and not a title encumbrance to be removed before closing — a regulation is not a title defect.
Work done without a required building permit is also a public-control red flag, along with building, housing and zoning code violations not otherwise grandfathered. Unpermitted work does not void the deed, does not trigger the federal lead-based paint rule (triggered by pre-1978 construction), and does not automatically require a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, which is a commercial contamination inquiry.
Flood zones
Zone AE is a Special Flood Hazard Area — the area inundated by the flood having a 1 percent annual chance — so flood insurance is mandatory for a federally backed mortgage. Minimal-risk areas with no insurance rules are Zone C or unshaded X. The band between the 1 percent and 0.2 percent boundaries is Zone B or shaded X. Homeowners policies exclude flood.
Wetlands
Discharging dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands, requires a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, with EPA setting the criteria. A CERCLA Superfund listing is hazardous substance cleanup; an ILSFDA Property Report is subdivision lot-sale disclosure; a FEMA Letter of Map Amendment concerns flood map designations.
The ILSFDA seven-day right
A non-exempt lot contract may be revoked at the purchaser's option until midnight of the seventh day following signing. Sign Monday the 2nd, and the right runs to midnight of the 9th.
Traps: three business days is consumer lending rescission. Two years applies only when a required Property Report was not delivered before signing. Timely delivery of the Property Report does not cancel the cooling-off period.