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An Elevation Certificate May Already Be on File

If you’re looking at a home on a Brevard canal, or a few streets back from the river, an elevation certificate comes up early. It’s the FEMA form that records how high the building sits, and a lender or an insurance agent will ask about it. The certificate for that house may already exist, and finding it can be a quick search rather than a survey appointment.

Since January 1st, 2023, every elevation certificate a Florida surveyor completes has to be sent to the state within 30 days. Florida Statute 472.0366 requires it. The Florida Division of Emergency Management put those copies into a public search, and anyone can use it. You search by address, whether you need the certificate for a permit, for insurance or for any other reason. Brevard County keeps copies of its own, for flood-zone homes in the unincorporated county.

I’d look in both places before paying anyone to produce a new one.

Start With the State’s Search

The state’s search sits on FDEM’s public property site. You type in the address, and if a surveyor has filed a certificate for that building since the rule started, it should be there. Surveyors are allowed to black out the owner’s name on the copy they send in, and nothing else on the form can be changed.

The state is careful about what its search can promise. FDEM says it makes no warranties about how accurate the certificates it shows are. The filing rule also only started in 2023. A certificate completed before then may not be in there at all. When the search comes back empty, FDEM’s own advice is to ask the local government where the house sits for the copy it holds.

For a lot of Brevard homes, that means the county.

Brevard County Keeps Its Own Copies

The county’s Floodplain Administration office holds Brevard’s official copies of FEMA’s flood maps. It also provides copies of elevation certificates for homes in unincorporated Brevard County that were built in the mapped flood area. That’s the land FEMA maps as having a 1 percent chance of flooding in any year. FEMA’s own name for it is a Special Flood Hazard Area, and you’ll see that on the paperwork.

Certificates are available for structures permitted in the last ten years. Older ones may be available going back to 1992, looked up case by case, and the county notes that a research and recovery fee may apply.

One word decides where you ask, and it’s “unincorporated.” The county’s collection covers homes outside city limits. If the house is inside one of Brevard’s cities, that city is the local government FDEM is pointing you to, and its building department is the place to ask.

That gives you two doors to try before anyone orders a survey. Once a certificate is in your hands, the question becomes what it’s telling you.

What the Certificate Tells You

FEMA’s glossary calls it the official record that new buildings and major improvements in the mapped flood area are properly elevated. It also notes that an owner can use the same form to get flood insurance. Florida’s filing law covers the certificates completed by a licensed surveyor and mapper.

What the form measures the house against is the flood map, so the two are read together. FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center gives you the official map for any address, and the zone letters are plainer than they look.

The line that matters is the 1 percent flood, the one people usually call the 100-year flood. Every zone letter that starts with A or V sits inside the mapped flood area. Zone AE is part of it, and what sets AE apart is that FEMA has published a base flood elevation there, which is the height FEMA expects that flood to reach. Shaded Zone X means a moderate flood hazard and unshaded Zone X a minimal one, and both sit outside the mapped area, according to FEMA’s flood zone definitions.

Put the map and the certificate next to each other and the certificate is answering one question about one building. Where does its floor sit compared with that expected flood height?

That same height is what Brevard County’s rules measure from. Say a house in the mapped flood area in unincorporated Brevard is substantially improved, which means the work costs half the structure’s market value or more. The county’s requirements typically mean lifting the living area at least a foot above the base flood elevation.

Brevard County names its flooding sources as the Atlantic Ocean, the St. Johns River and the Indian River Lagoon system with its tributaries. That’s why this question tends to come up for homes near the water in the first place.

What Else a Buyer Looks At With It

Once a house is under contract, three other pieces of the flood picture sit beside the certificate.

The first is the seller’s flood disclosure. Under Florida Statute 689.302, someone selling a home has to fill one out and give it to the buyer at or before the time the contract is signed. It asks about flooding the seller knows damaged the property while they owned it. It also asks about flood claims filed with an insurer or with the National Flood Insurance Program, and about flood assistance received, including from FEMA. The form also tells the buyer, in its own words, that homeowners’ insurance doesn’t cover flood damage. Hold that disclosure and the certificate together, and you’re reading the home’s flood history next to its measured height.

The second is the insurance quote. Since April 1st, 2023, the National Flood Insurance Program’s pricing has used the property’s own characteristics, elevation among them. It also uses how often flooding happens there, how far the house is from water, and what it would cost to rebuild. FEMA says its flood maps still decide where flood insurance is required. What a particular carrier will do with a particular certificate is a question for a licensed insurance agent, and an agent can only weigh a certificate somebody has given them. It’s the same idea as the wind mitigation form, which puts a home’s wind-resistant features on the record. A description of the house, handed to the person pricing it.

The third is the policy that may already be on the house. FEMA still offers premium discounts on some properties. Its pricing page notes that a policyholder can pass a discount along to a new owner by assigning the flood insurance policy. The existing policy transfers to the buyer, instead of the buyer starting a new one. If the seller carries flood insurance, ask your insurance agent early whether an assignment is open to you.

When a new flood policy takes effect depends on the policy and on the purchase. That’s one more reason to bring an insurance agent in during the first days of a contract.

When You Do Need a New One

All three of those go better with a certificate in the file. That brings back the case where the search came up empty, or turned up one that no longer describes the house. A home that has been raised or added onto since the survey isn’t the building on that certificate anymore.

That’s the point to ask your insurance agent, your lender or the building department whether a new certificate is needed for what you’re doing. If it is, the one Florida’s law describes is completed by a licensed surveyor and mapper, and once it’s filed, the next owner will find it in the state’s search.

Selling is the same question in reverse. A certificate found or ordered before the house goes on the market is one fewer thing for a buyer to chase during an inspection period that’s already crowded.

Who to Ask About the Rest

Whether a home needs flood insurance under a particular loan, and what a policy will cost, are questions for your lender and a licensed insurance agent. Whether a particular house meets the county’s or a city’s floodplain rules is a question for that building department.

Buying or selling a home near the water comes with a few extra considerations, but you don’t have to navigate them alone. We know Brevard County, and we can tell you which of these questions applies to the house you’re looking at. Our Brevard County area pages go town by town, and if you’re comparing a few homes near the water, ask us.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find out if a Florida home already has an elevation certificate? Search the address on FDEM’s public property site, which holds the certificates surveyors have filed since January 1st, 2023. If nothing comes up, ask the local government where the house is. For unincorporated Brevard County, that’s the county’s Floodplain Administration office.

How far back do Brevard County’s elevation certificate records go? The county provides copies for homes in the mapped flood area in unincorporated Brevard that were permitted in the last ten years. Certificates may be available for older homes permitted during or after 1992, looked up case by case, and a research and recovery fee may apply.

What does flood zone AE mean? It’s part of FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Area, the land expected to be covered by a flood with a 1 percent chance of happening in any year. In Zone AE, FEMA has also published a base flood elevation.

What’s the difference between flood zone X and flood zone AE? Zone AE sits inside that mapped flood area and has a published base flood elevation. Shaded Zone X means a moderate flood hazard and unshaded Zone X a minimal one, and both sit outside it.

Who files elevation certificates with the state in Florida? The surveyor and mapper who completes one. Florida Statute 472.0366 gives them 30 days to send a digital copy to the Division of Emergency Management.

Does a Florida seller have to disclose past flooding? Yes. Florida Statute 689.302 requires the seller of a home to give the buyer a flood disclosure at or before the time the contract is signed. It covers flood damage the seller knows about from their own ownership, flood insurance claims, and flood assistance received.