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Elevation Certificates

Use of this certificate does not provide a waiver of the flood insurance purchase requirement. Only a LOMA or LOMR-F from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can amend the FIRMand remove the Federal mandate for a lending institution to require the purchase of flood insurance. However, the lending institution has the option of requiring flood insurance even if a LOMA/LOMR-F has been issued by FEMA. The Elevation Certificate may be used to support a LOMA or LOMR-F request. Lowest floor and lowest adjacent grade elevations certified by a surveyor or engineer will be required if the certificate is used to support a LOMA or LOMR-F request. A LOMA or LOMR-F request must be submitted with either a completed FEMA MT-EZ or MT-1 package, whichever is appropriate.

This certificate is used only to certify building elevations. A separate certificate is required for flood-proofing. Under the NFIP, non-residential buildings can be flood-proofed up to or above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE). A flood-proofed building is a building that has been designed and constructed to be watertight (substantially impermeable to floodwaters) below the BFE. Flood-proofing of residential buildings is not permitted under the NFIP unless FEMA has granted the community an exception for residential flood-proofed basements. The community must adopt standards for design and construction of flood-proofed basements before FEMA will grant a basement exception. For both flood-proofed nonresidential buildings and residential flood-proofed basements in communities that have been granted an exception by FEMA, a flood-proofing certificate is required.

The Elevation Certificate is to be completed by a land surveyor, engineer, or architect who is authorized by law to certify elevation information when elevation information is required for Zones A1-A30, AE, AH, A (with BFE), VE, V1-V30, V (with BFE), AR, AR/A, AR/AE, AR/A1-A30, AR/AH, or AR/AO.