Enter your search terms Submit search form

Have you been informed by your lender or insurance company that your house or business requires flood insurance? In some cases it is possible to change, amend, or revise the flood map, cancel or waive the flood insurance requirement, and get a refund of flood insurance premiums paid over the last year or two.  Below is an explanation as to why you are being told you must purchase flood insurance, and also a possible solution to the issue if you believe the flood insurance requirement shouldn't apply to you. 

The flood insurance requirement is based solely on one document... FEMA's flood map, either the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) or the Flood Hazard Boundary Map (FHBM).  If any part of your structure is located in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) on this map, your lender is required by law to enforce the flood insurance requirement.  This determination is not based on elevation, it's a two dimensional determination based on shaded SFHAs on the flood map.  The problem with this is that even FEMA recognizes that their maps can't possibly recognize every rise and fall in terrain all over the country and admit that there can be some inconsistencies within the maps.  Generally speaking the flood maps are an accurate guide to determine the location of 100 year floodplains and without them thousands of people would be without necessary flood insurance and would be out of a home in many cases.  But for another large group of people flood insurance is enforced when technically a structure is above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) and insurance could either be dropped or a preferred risk flood insurance policy could be obtained at a much lower rate if the owner feels better having the protection anyway.  One important thing to remember is that if a lender says flood insurance is required and you believe the flood map is wrong, they are not the bad guys.  The lender has to follow the regulations or they can be subject to fines.  Again, right or wrong, if any part of the structure is in the SFHA on the flood map, flood insurance is required.  The lender can't do anything or except any information from a third party to waive the flood insurance requirement.  Many times, appraisers, surveyors, engineers, or community officials may have the opinion or even documented proof that the structure is above the BFE and flood insurance should not be required.  As long as the flood map shows what it does the flood insurance requirement must be enforced.

In these cases there is only one way to waive the flood insurance requirement.  FEMA must issue a Letter of Map Change (LOMC).  There are two scenarios.  A Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) can be applied for when it is believed that the flood maps incorrectly shows a structure in the SFHA.  If you can show that even though the structure is shown in the SFHA on the flood map in reality it is above the BFE, you would be a good candidate to receive a LOMA.  In order to prove this the burden of proof is on you.  You would have to pay a licensed surveyor to perform an elevation certificate that would show the elevations of the structure, including the lowest adjacent grade.  If the lowest adjacent grade around the structure is above the BFE you will almost always be a good candidate for a LOMA.  It's important to note that just because the finished floor that you walk on in your house is above the BFE that doesn't mean that where the house touches the ground is above the BFE, and that is what matters to FEMA.  Whether it's a slab foundation or a crawl space it doesn't matter.  When you walk around the exterior of the house and see the ground meeting the structure, that is the adjacent grade.  When a LOMA is issued by FEMA they are stating that a particular structure or structures have been removed from the SFHA and the effective FEMA map is therefore amended per this letter to show this change.  With this letter a flood zone determination can be revised to show that flood insurance is no longer required and therefore the lender can legally waive the flood insurance requirement.  The other scenario as opposed to the LOMA is the Letter of Map Revision (LOMR).  A LOMR is many times based on fill dirt being used to raise an area or the particular building pad before the structure is built.  Technically the flood map was correct when it was made effective but due to the structure being built up it would be considered now above the BFE.  Everything is the same as far as having to obtain an elevation certificate to prove this but there can sometimes be more information requested by FEMA and it can sometimes take longer for FEMA to make a final determination.  A LOMA takes about 6-8 weeks from the time FEMA receives your request where a LOMR can sometimes take a few months or more to get a final determination.  In the end, both provide you with documentation directly from the source, FEMA, that your structure no longer requires flood insurance..