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1. Does the City have an Elevation Certificate for my building?

Maybe.  The City only has Elevation Certificates (EC) on-file when they are required for certain regulatory purposes.  All flood certificates on-file with the City are published to an online map.

Elevation Certificates are produced almost daily, but few are submitted to the City. If the City has a flood certificate, there will be a clickable icon over the property to download the document.

If there’s no icon over a property, then the City doesn’t have any flood certificates for that property.

2. How do I obtain an Elevation Certificate?

Land surveyors licensed by the State of Florida are the only professionals in this state eligi8ble to complete an Elevation Certificate (EC). Note: While the blank form and accompanying instructions indicate other professionals may complete ECs, that’s not accurate within Florida.

Tip: In the Florida Keys, it’s preferable to hire local land surveyors.  Mainland surveyors are reluctant to make the long trip back down to Key West to capture a measurement missed during the initial survey. An inaccurate EC can significantly delay permitting.

The City maintains a list of local Land Surveyors.

3. Do Elevation Certificates expire?

No.  However, if conditions at the building have changed or if a certificate is very old, some lending institutions may require you obtain a newer version. 

While there’s an expiration date on the certificate, that’s an expiration date for the blank version of the form, not the completed certificate.  

Note: Often, a new version of this form isn’t available before the old version expires, so the older version is extended. So don’t be concerned, if the date your certificate was completed was after the form’s expiration date.

4. There are multiple buildings on my lot, do I need an Elevation Certificate for each building?

If you already have elevation certificates for each building (only one building may appear on any Elevation Certificate) and they all qualify for a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA), then you can submit separate  LOMA applications for each building. 

If you don’t have Elevation Certificates for each building and the entire lot qualifies for a LOMA, then you may apply for a LOMA that reclassifies the entire lot as being in a different flood zone, which would include all structures on that parcel. The key to filing such an application, is that instead of the Lowest Adjacent Grade next to a building needing to be higher than the flood level, the lowest point on the entire lot must be higher. You’ll need a land surveyor to complete a special Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Elevation Form. 

Note: An Elevation Form differs from an Elevation Certificate, and not all surveyors may be familiar with the latter.

5. My Elevation Certificate lists a different owner, do I need to get that changed?

No problem. The Elevation Certificate is still good, regardless of any changes to ownership.  An Elevation Certificate is more about the building and ground measurements; so long as those things remain unchanged the certificate remains valid. 

6. When new flood maps become effective, will I need to get a new certificate?

Your old Elevation Certificate will still be valid. Insurance Agents and local government officials will be able to convert the measurements on your certificate to relevant elevations on the new flood maps.