FEMA Elevation Certificates in California: When You Need One, and When a LOMA Makes More Sense

If your property is in a FEMA flood zone, or your building department or insurance agent wants elevation information, two documents come up: the Elevation Certificate and the Letter of Map Amendment. Here is which one you need, who can prepare it in California, and where the form stands.

The current form, FEMA Form FF-206-FY-22-152 (2022 edition), carries a printed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) expiration date of June 30, 2026. That date has passed.

On June 1, 2026, FEMA published a Federal Register notice (Docket FEMA-2026-0166, OMB No. 1660-0008) proposing an "extension of a currently approved information collection" for the same 2022 form. Comments closed July 31, 2026. As of September 24, 2026, FEMA had not yet published the follow-up 30-day notice that sends the renewal to OMB, and its NFIP underwriting forms page still posts the 2022 edition.

What is a FEMA Elevation Certificate, and what is it used for?

An Elevation Certificate records a building's location, flood zone, and key elevations, including the top of the lowest floor, the lowest machinery and equipment, and the ground next to the building. Those are compared with the base flood elevation (BFE), the height floodwater is expected to reach in the base flood. Federal rules define the base flood as the flood with a 1 percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any year (44 CFR 59.1).

The form lists three uses:

• Permit compliance. Communities in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) must require that new residential construction and substantial improvements in Zones A1–30, AE and AH have the lowest floor, including any basement, elevated to or above the base flood level (44 CFR 60.3(c)). Non-residential buildings may be floodproofed instead. The EC is the standard FEMA form communities use to document that the rule was met.
• Flood insurance rating. The certificate gives the insurer building-specific elevations.
• Map changes. It can support a request for a LOMA, a Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill (LOMR-F), or their conditional versions.

A Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) is land FEMA maps as having a 1 percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year. A substantial improvement is work costing 50 percent or more of the building's market value before the work began.

Which Elevation Certificate do you need: construction drawings or finished construction?

Item C1 asks whether the elevations are based on Construction Drawings, Building Under Construction, or Finished Construction. For either of the first two, the form says a post-construction EC is required once work is complete.

"Finished Construction" may be checked only after all machinery and equipment, such as furnaces and water heaters, is installed and the grading around the building is done. That certificate also needs at least two, and when possible four, color photographs taken within 90 days of certification.

Staged certificates let a community confirm the floor height while it can still be corrected. Your local floodplain administrator decides which stages apply.

Who can complete an Elevation Certificate in California?

The surveyed elevations in Section C must be certified in Section D, which is "to be signed and sealed by a land surveyor, engineer, or architect authorized by state law to certify elevation information." Section C requires a field survey tied to a benchmark, on the same vertical datum as the BFE shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM).

State law decides who qualifies. California's Professional Land Surveyors' Act treats setting the elevation of fixed works and locating fixed objects as land surveying (Business and Professions Code 8726). Civil engineers registered before January 1, 1982, may practice all land surveying; those licensed after that date need a land surveyor license to practice land surveying (Sections 6731 and 8731). Licensed civil engineers may also perform elevation surveys, which the Professional Engineers Act includes within civil engineering (Section 6731.1).

The owner, the owner's representative, or a local official may fill in Sections A and B and, for insurance rating only, Section H. In Zone AO and Zone A without a BFE, they may also complete Section E, unless the certificate supports a map change.

Do Elevation Certificates expire?

No. The June 30, 2026 date applies to the blank form, not your certificate. The form states that a completed EC does not expire unless a physical change to the building invalidates information in Items A8 or A9, Section C, Section E, or Section H. It stays with the building when the property sells.

Do I still need an Elevation Certificate for flood insurance under Risk Rating 2.0?

Not to buy a policy. FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 overview says an EC is not required, but you may submit one to see whether it lowers your rate. The June 2026 notice names two reasons: using the building's own elevations instead of FEMA's data, and qualifying for the machinery and equipment premium discount.

FEMA's EC FAQ says it compares the certificate with its own data and gives the policyholder the lower premium, so an EC helps most when the building likely sits higher than FEMA's data suggests or its furnace and water heater are elevated. Ask your insurance agent first.

What is the difference between an Elevation Certificate and a LOMA?

An EC records elevations; it does not change the flood map. The form states that only a LOMA or LOMR-F from FEMA can amend the FIRM and remove the federal mandate for a lender to require flood insurance. The lender may still require coverage.

FEMA's change-your-flood-zone guidance draws the line on fill. A LOMA covers an existing structure or parcel on naturally high ground that has not been elevated by fill. A LOMR-F covers one raised with earthen fill.

For a structure, FEMA's LOMA and LOMR-F process checks whether the lowest adjacent grade, the lowest ground touching the structure, is at or above the BFE; for a parcel, it checks the lowest point on the lot. A LOMR-F also needs your community's sign-off that the filled site is reasonably safe from flooding (44 CFR 65.5).

Fees are from FEMA's flood map-related fees page; conditional requests (CLOMA and CLOMR-F) for projects not yet built have their own fees.

Apply through FEMA's Online LOMC portal or by mail: MT-EZ for a LOMA on a single residential lot or structure, MT-1 for multiple lots, LOMR-F and conditional requests. Elevations must be certified by a licensed land surveyor or registered professional engineer, on an EC or the package's elevation form. FEMA normally issues a determination within 60 days of a complete application.

Do you need both? Sometimes. If the ground touching the building is at or above the BFE, a LOMA may take it out of the SFHA. If it is below, a LOMA will not be granted, and the EC remains your tool for permits and rating.

Where the ground sits against the BFE

Illustrative diagram — not to scale

1. 1LOMA: natural ground at or above the BFE, not elevated by fill.
2. 2LOMR-F: ground raised with earthen fill; also needs your community's sign-off.
3. 3No LOMA: the ground touching the building is below the BFE.

What this means for your project

• Building new or substantially improving in an SFHA? Get the BFE and the required floor elevation from your floodplain administrator and building department before design is final. For homes, the California Residential Code requires the lowest floor in most flood hazard areas to be at least 1 foot above the BFE, or at the design flood elevation if higher (Section R306.2.1); some communities require more. Then set pad and finished floor elevations on the grading plan to match.
• Buying, selling, or refinancing in a mapped flood zone? Have the lowest adjacent grade surveyed. If natural ground is at or above the BFE, a LOMA may remove the federal purchase requirement; if the ground was raised with fill, the request is a LOMR-F instead. Our Elevation Certificate services cover the field survey and certified elevations for either path.
• Planning a site near a mapped floodplain? An early topographic survey shows where natural grade sits against the BFE before the layout is fixed.

Elevation Certificates are part of our land surveying services in California. If your lender, insurer, or building department is asking for flood elevations, tell us about the property.