we often limit exposure or certification to the person paying for the survey and not to a party we do not know. All work is done in a professional manner.
How can you limit your liability with an Elevation Certificate?
and, why would you want liability in perpetuity when signing the existing certificate?
You are certifying how things were on a certain date based on certain factors. If anything changes, it's a whole new ballgame. We have had new FIRM's come out essentially negating much of our work because the boundaries of the floodplain moved, one way or the other. Old elevation numbers are not identical with new elevation numbers based on which datum was applicable at the time. People modify the structures in all sorts of ways after we were there on the date specified. Disasters happen: fire, tornado, gas explosion, etc.
I seem to remember reading somewhere the biggest change from the previous Elev Cert, to the current one is that is applies to the property, not the current owner - therefore it essentially is transferrable. I thought it was in POB, but can't remember for sure though.
The key is to make sure the elevations are correct. Everything else is somewhat subject to change over time. The FIRM may change, the owner may change, where equipment is located may change, vents may be added or eliminated, additions may be made, fill may be added around the structure, etc. All of that will produce a different answer from the one you had years ago. But, your reported elevations on things that clearly have not changed had better be correct.
No different than a boundary survey. Do it right the first time.
EXCEPT IN CALIFORNIA: The elevations are subject to change there. Earthquakes, sliding hillsides, soil shrinkage from decade-long drought and sucking all the water out of subterranean reservoirs.
What kind of liability would you be attempting to avoid with regards to an EC?
Jim - financial liability to a 3rd party. See Toivo's response - certifications are to anyone who has or will have an interest in the property..
what do you think about landowner paying an annual premium for the surveyor's liability?
Let's just say for discussion that there is a 1/100,000 chance that someone get's flooded and has no flood insurance but they have an EC you did (for Joe Blo) showing them not in the floodplain based on some data. Who do you think they are going to come after to make them whole?
similar scenario with FEMA - you prepare an EC showing them in the floodplain and they get flood insurance. They pay their annual premiums and several years later they get flooded. Who do you think they are going to come after to make them whole? FEMA.
Difference here is that they pay FEMA an annual premium but they don't pay the surveyor an annual premium.
Both scenario's have liability.
Getting flooded and being in the flood plain are two completely different things. The insurance they pay does not go to FEMA. It goes to an insurance company.
If you screw up and do something wrong, you should pay..........somebody.
If you do your job correctly, they can sue either way, but it isn't your fault.
Ten years ago we did two EC's within a mile of each other roughly two months prior to a major flood. A house was found to be 14" higher than the BFE. A motel was found to be 20" higher than flood. The owner of the house immediately stopped paying for flood insurance. The motel continued paying for fairly cheap flood insurance. The flood event maxed out 24" higher than the BFE. There was 10" in the house and 4" in the motel. The motel came out fine because of their insurance policy plus some help from FEMA. The house owner received no help and ended up living in the motel for most of the time it took to repair his house. We did our job correctly. Nobody came crying to us because what happened agreed with what we had told them only a month or two prior to the flood. One was wise to pay for relatively inexpensive coverage while the other pulled a bonehead move.
ALTA surveys are the unusual ones.
Certifications are not all worded to a certain person or entity, often they are worded a particularly way due to a statute or regulation.
Subdivisions, construction plans, corner records, most maps and plats you sign are out there to almost everyone.
hpalmer, post: 430027, member: 336 wrote: Jim - financial liability to a 3rd party. See Toivo's response - certifications are to anyone who has or will have an interest in the property..
what do you think about landowner paying an annual premium for the surveyor's liability?
Let's just say for discussion that there is a 1/100,000 chance that someone get's flooded and has no flood insurance but they have an EC you did (for Joe Blo) showing them not in the floodplain based on some data. Who do you think they are going to come after to make them whole?
similar scenario with FEMA - you prepare an EC showing them in the floodplain and they get flood insurance. They pay their annual premiums and several years later they get flooded. Who do you think they are going to come after to make them whole? FEMA.
Difference here is that they pay FEMA an annual premium but they don't pay the surveyor an annual premium.
Both scenario's have liability.
Read your NFIP. Zone X or Zone C have a minimal chance of flooding. Have the great molasses flood story at your fingertips. Realize that most surveyors lack the education to make the flood maps, they sure better be able to interpret them. No surveyor charges enough for an EC to go through the process of determining the actual flood plan, A zone without elevation excluded.
They already sell our data to the next party. We always take more photos than necessary. We say it is for the insurance adjuster to know, but secretly it is to cover ourselves for things that change over time.