Flood Insurance, Franklin Homeowners Assurance Company

Tip of the Month February 2007

Elevation Certificate

FEMA's new Elevation Certificate (EC) was approved for use, effective February 13, 2006, through February 28, 2009. The new form has been revised and now requires the certifier to provide the square footage of the enclosed area below the elevated floor and at least two photographs of the building, if the EC is being used to obtain flood insurance.

The new EC will be phased in on a voluntary basis until December 31, 2006. An electronic version of the form and instructions is available on the FEMA website. Although the old version of the form is no longer available for distribution, existing copies may be used until the end of 2006. Elevations certified on or after January 1, 2007, must be submitted on the new form and must include photographs.

What's New?

The format of the EC has been modified slightly to include all building description related items in Section A, dedicating Section C to building elevation information.
The instructions of the new form have been modified to reflect the changes and to provide better guidance for completing the form.
Two pages have been added for attaching two or more color photographs of the building. Photographs must be a minimum of 3" x 3" and may be digital or analog.
Elevation Certificate (includes 8 building type diagrams for determining reference levels) (PDF 229KB, TXT 41KB)

Elevation Certificate MS Word Template (DOC 153KB)

More detailed Elevation Certificate information.
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/nfip/manual200610/08cert.pdf