A FEMA Elevation Certificate is a document (see example) completed by a surveyor that informs the homeowner, building department, title company and mortgage company or other entities requiring the form of relevant elevations on the subject property and building. The Elevation Certificate will also include floodplain information including Base Flood Elevation and Flood Zone.

Local communities often store Elevation Certificates on city or county websites and can be downloaded for free. It is a good idea to check with your city or county first. Additionally, the Elevation Certificate may not be available online, but the community could have a paper copy of the document. Finally, an Elevation Certificate may be associated with your mortgage closing documents.

An additional resource for digital Elevation Certificates is the Florida Disaster website. This website is supported through the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). Use the following link to access the Elevation Certificate map viewer. Search by your address to see if an Elevation Certificate is on file - FDEM Elevation Certificate Map Viewer

A Letter of Map Amendment or LOMA is often used to prove the building structure is above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) of the FEMA effective floodplain. Using detailed terrain datasets, No Flood Florida estimates the building structure elevation to determine if there is even a chance of qualifying. If our estimates indicate you are likely to qualify, an Elevation Certificate would be required to make a final determination whether this property would qualify for the flood zone change. If you do not have an Elevation Certificate, please take the first step by ordering an Elevation Certificate.

We are typically focused on two main sections when reviewing Elevation Certificates.

• SECTION B – FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAP (FIRM) INFORMATION
• SECTION C – BUILDING ELEVATION INFORMATION (SURVEY REQUIRED)

Section B of the Elevation Certificate contains various information related to the FEMA floodplains. In the example below, we can see the floodplain information defined for a property in Pasco County, Florida. We can see the FEMA Flood Zone (B8), the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) (B9), and the vertical datum used for the surveyed data (B11).

Section C of the Elevation Certificate contains survey information related to your building structure and key elevations surrounding the building. For this example, we can see the survey was taken for a finished construction building with the vertical datum noted as NAVD-88. The key elevation needed for the Letter of Map Amendment is the Lowest Adjacent Grade (LAG, letter f). When this elevation is at or above the Base Flood Elevation, the property will most likely qualify for the Letter of Map Amendment.

Under the new, Risk Rating 2.0 insurance methodology, FEMA is not directly requiring the use of Elevation Certificates. FEMA has developed a flood insurance rating engine that pulls in a variety of flood risk and elevation datasets to provide insurance quotes. Within these datasets, elevation information is extracted and used to develop the insurance quote. The insured may provide an Elevation Certificate to override the FEMA developed elevation information if the Elevation Certificate results in a better rate for the insured. It is recommended to discuss the various options, including private flood insurance, with your insurance agent.