A Natural Hazard Disclosure, the NHD, is a one-page statement a California seller must deliver saying whether the property sits inside any of six mapped hazard zones. It is prepared by a third-party company, not by the seller and not by the agents, and the form says so in print. On the Palos Verdes Peninsula it is the document that decides whether fire hardening obligations attach to the sale, and it is the one most buyers skim.
What is a Natural Hazard Disclosure?
The Natural Hazard Disclosure Act sits at California Civil Code sections 1103 through 1103.14. It consolidates six separate statutory disclosure requirements onto one page. A seller answers Yes or No to each, or the answer comes from a third-party report prepared under Civil Code 1103.4.
The six zones are a FEMA special flood hazard area, an area of potential flooding after a dam failure, a high or very high fire hazard severity zone, a wildland area that is a state fire responsibility area, an earthquake fault zone, and a seismic hazard zone.
Why does the fire section sometimes say No and Very High at once?
Because there are two fire questions on most reports, and they read two different maps.
The statutory question asks about a High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone as identified by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection. That reads the state’s map. Many providers then add a City and County Disclosures section, which is not required by the Act, and that section reads the map your city adopted. A provider explains the reason plainly: local agencies may apply more restrictive criteria in determining hazard zones than state law requires.
On the Peninsula those two maps diverged in 2025. Rolling Hills Estates, Rolling Hills, Rancho Palos Verdes and Palos Verdes Estates each adopted updated zone maps that year, and Rancho Palos Verdes Ordinance 691 took effect January 1, 2026. A parcel can sit outside the state answer and inside the city one. Both lines are correct.
Source note: Palos Verdes Estates
Palos Verdes Estates adopted its fire hazard severity zone map by Ordinance 768. The adoption is codified at Palos Verdes Estates Municipal Code 8.12.020, which adopts the map titled “City of Palos Verdes Estates Fire Hazard Severity Zones” dated March 24, 2025. The city’s Fire and Paramedic Department page on fire hazard severity zones still reads in the future tense, saying the Council will review and consider adoption of the new map. The municipal code is the adopted law. The department page has not been updated to match it.
The exact day of adoption is not settled here. A City Council agenda item on the subject is dated July 8, 2025, which may be the introduction and not the adoption, so no adoption day is published on this page until the minutes confirm one.
We do our very best to supply facts drawn from official sources so that the information you find here is reliable and accurate. If we find conflicting information, we report on all of it.
Which fire obligations attach, and at what level?
Three obligations hang off the fire zone, and they attach at different levels.
- The fire hardening disclosure, Civil Code 1102.6f, applies to a home built before 2010 in a High or Very High zone. Since July 1, 2025 the seller also discloses which low-cost retrofits were completed during their ownership.
- Defensible space compliance, Civil Code 1102.19, applies in a High or Very High zone to any transaction that requires a Transfer Disclosure Statement.
- The final inspection report on completion of construction or rebuilding, Civil Code 1102.6f(b), applies only in a Very High zone.
So a High designation carries the first two and not the third. A Very High designation carries all three. C.A.R. Form FHDS is the form used for them.
What does the landslide line mean on the Peninsula?
A seismic hazard zone covers ground shaking, liquefaction and landslides triggered by an earthquake. The landslide mapped there is an earthquake-induced landslide. That is a different thing from the slow land movement at Portuguese Bend, which needs no earthquake to move.
A Peninsula buyer should read the line for what it says. A report silent on seismic hazard does not mean the parcel has no land movement history, and a report that marks the box does not mean Portuguese Bend conditions apply. For what a wet winter does to Peninsula ground, see our El Niño homeowner checklist.
Who prepared it, and who stands behind it?
Most NHDs come from a third-party disclosure provider under Civil Code 1103.4. The statutory language on the form states that neither the seller nor the agents independently verified the information, and that neither is personally aware of errors in it. The provider signs and dates the report.
Reading it is the buyer’s job. The zones it names are the start of the insurance conversation, not the end of it. No line on an NHD binds an insurance carrier, which prices off its own wildfire model.
What should you do with it?
Four things. Check the date on the report and the date on each map it cites. Read the city and county section, not only the statutory page. Ask which map produced each fire answer. Then check your own parcel against your city’s adopted map before relying on either line.
If you are working out what all of this means for a purchase, our guide to buying a home in the South Bay covers where disclosures land in the timeline, and what happens after an offer is accepted covers the contingency periods these reports arrive in.
Sources
- California Civil Code sections 1103 through 1103.14, 1103.2, 1103.4, 1102.6f and 1102.19. Verified October 4, 2026.
- California Government Code sections 51178 and 51182. Verified October 4, 2026.
- C.A.R. Sales Disclosure Chart and C.A.R. Member Legal Services, Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement. Read October 4, 2026.
- Peninsula city ordinances and adoption records, verified October 3, 2026. Rancho Palos Verdes Ordinance 691, adopted July 1, 2025, effective January 1, 2026.
General real estate information, not legal, tax, lending or insurance advice. Route coverage questions to your own licensed broker and legal questions to your own attorney.
