Does an elevation certificate have to be prepared for each unit in a townhome? If so is the BFE the same for the entire building or is the BFE different for each unit? The buildings in question have up to 8 owners and some of them are perpendicular to the floodway so the BFE scales up to a foot of difference from the high side to the low side of the building. Thanks.
sounds like individual units with individual BFEs
but the last one i worked on like that only left me with questions
only one unit was in the floodplain, but was insurance necessary for the entire building through the association or did each owner need their own?
i finished my EC, handed it over and ran away to cash the check.
Yes, my questions list is getting longer also. Thanks for the response.
I had to go back 10 years to a memo i wrote regarding the EC I mentioned above. I did the work for one unit owned by... let's say Mr. Smith.
The neighbor, Mr. Jones contacted me shortly thereafter because he decided to refinance and his lender mandated flood insurance. Mr. Jones's unit is feet above Mr. Smith's unit, but still physically attached.
The LAG of the entire building, which is adjacent to Mr. Smith's unit is 0.5' above the BFE.
I then spoke with an insurance agent who provided little insight. The lender can require flood insurance if there is a remote possibility of a flood damaging the property.
We included several notes on the EC that specified the LAG and HAG of the building and of the individual unit. We were not engaged by Mr. Jones to prepare an EC for him so I am not sure what ever became of his issue.
For your case, either contact FEMA and ask the question or prepare the certificate with all the details of this funny situation. Good luck, I hope you can get the chance to take the check and run and cash it...
Thanks for looking that up. I am looking at over 60 units in about a dozen buildings that the ECs were already done by the low bidder. FEMA rendered a decision of Non-Removal but there were some issues with interpretation of the LAG. It is obvious that they were incorrectly determined but I have discovered the BFE elevations are off by a couple of feet also. It looks like although the original ECs were botched the results by FEMA were probably correct.
The other gut got paid about $25 each for these certificates. Is it any surprise that they weren't done correctly!
Anyway, thanks for your response.
Our local Flood Administrator requested clarification from FEMA on the questions I posed and has informed me that 1 EC for the entire building with the worst case BFE is the correct answer. I got that information by voice mail so YMMV.
Elevation Certificate on Townhomes Update
This project has revived and I just got off of the phone with FEMA who advised me to prepare separate ECs for each unit. I was instructed to determine the LAG by unit also. I now have contrary instructions for the proper procedure for a townhome complex, both originating from FEMA. Anyone else have any experience or advise they would like to offer?
Elevation Certificate on Townhomes Update
My understanding is:
-If it's a townhome, where the land under the house is owned, then each unit needs a separate el-cert, BFE, LAG/HAG, etc. I'm also pretty certain that each unit must have adequate flood vents, if applicable ... it's not just a case of the building having enough flood vents..
-If it's a condo, where the owner just owns airspace, then the el-cert is for the whole building.
