What is an Elevation Certificate?
An Elevation Certificate is a document issued by a Registered Florida Land Surveyor indicating the lowest floor elevation and the Base Flood Elevation. The Base Flood Elevation is also known as the 1% annual chance flood (a.k.a. 100 year flood) elevation. Insurance agents usually request these documents when writing a flood insurance policy. They need to know the difference between the lowest floor elevation and the Base Flood Elevation in order to quote an accurate rate. In general terms, the higher the floor elevation is above the flood elevation the lower the premium will be. The Orange County Flood Plain ordinance requires residential structures to be at least 1′ above the base flood elevation. Where can I get an Elevation Certificate? You can obtain an Elevation Certificate from any Registered Land Surveyor. Check your telephone directory (yellow pages) under surveyors and ask for an estimate. The Stormwater Management Division has some Elevation Certificates on file for public re
. – This form is prepared by FEMA to clearly show what the risk of flooding is for a specific structure. It is usually filled out after a structure is completed and it provides ‘as-built’ information for the structure. A structure with a properly completed Elevation Certificate may qualify for a discount on flood insurance premiums.
An elevation certificate is an engineered study that determines the elevation of the dwelling in relation to the land and the flood risk. These certificates may help reduce the cost of flood insurance. Only a small number of properties actually require elevation certificates. They are usually difficult to obtain and expensive to fund. In some cases your lender can bypass elevation certificates with a Mortgage Protection Portfolio Program (MPPP), which is a lender-placed flood insurance that carries substantially higher premiums.
An Elevation Certificate is an official form of the National Flood Insurance Program (FEMA Form 81-31) created to compare a property’s elevation data (determined by field measurement) to the Base Flood Elevation data. It provides elevation information for compliance with floodplain management ordinances, setting insurance premium rates, and supporting map change requests, namely the Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) and the Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill (LOMR-F).
A certificate issued by a professional surveyor which shows the elevation of the bottom floor of a structure on a given property. If this certificate shows that the property is above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) despite the property being shown in the 1% (100-year) floodplain on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), it can be used to obtain a lower insurance rate.
