LOMA / LOMR-F Tutorial Series

Purpose

If you are a homeowner and believe your property is not located in the designated 100-year floodplain [also known as a 1-percent-annual-chance floodplain, or Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)], as shown on the effective Flood Insurance Rate Map or Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map for your community and you would like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make an official determination regarding the location of your property relative to the SFHA, you may request a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or a Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill (LOMR-F).

The tutorials in this series were designed to walk you through the application and information-gathering processes that you must follow to request single-lot/single-structure LOMAs and LOMR-Fs. The tutorials in this series also provide you with online tools to complete portions of the MT-EZ form (used for single–lot/single-structure LOMAs) and MT-1 forms (used for LOMR-Fs), which you may then print and mail to FEMA at the address provided in the form instructions with all required supporting information, signatures, and review and processing fees (only for LOMR-Fs).

Additional information about the LOMA and LOMR-F request processes follows. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to download copies of the MT-EZ and MT-1 forms, available in the Forms section of this site, before launching the tutorials.

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Background

National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) regulations require flood insurance for insurable structures located in SFHAs that carry a mortgage loan backed by a federally regulated lender or servicer.  The SFHAs are the areas subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance) flood, which is also referred to as the base, or 100-year, flood.

For a LOMA to be issued to remove a structure from the SFHA, NFIP regulations require that the lowest adjacent grade (the lowest ground touching the structure) be at or above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE). To remove an entire lot from the SFHA, NFIP regulations require that the lowest point on the lot be at or above the BFE.

A LOMR-F is submitted for properties on which fill has been placed to raise a structure or lot to or above the BFE. NFIP regulations require that the lowest adjacent grade of the structure be at or above the BFE for a LOMR-F to be issued to remove the structure from the SFHA. The participating community must also determine that the land and any existing or proposed structures to be removed from the SFHA are "reasonably safe from flooding." To remove an entire lot and structure, both the lowest point on the lot and the lowest adjacent grade of the structure must be at or above the BFE.

The issuance of a LOMA or LOMR-F by FEMA eliminates the Federal flood insurance purchase requirement as a condition of Federal or federally backed financing. However, lenders retain the prerogative to require flood insurance as a condition of any loan as part of their standard business practices, regardless of the location of the structure.

Certain sections of the LOMA and LOMR-F application forms must be certified by a Registered Professional Engineer or Licensed Land Surveyor. Therefore, requesters may incur certain fees associated with obtaining data and hiring a Registered Professional Engineer or Licensed Land Surveyor to provide and certify certain information that must be submitted with LOMA and LOMR-F requests. Information about the required supporting information and FEMA review and processing fees (only for LOMR-Fs) is provided in the MT-EZ and MT-1 Forms Packages, available in the Forms section of this site, and in the LOMA and LOMR-F modules of this tutorial series.

If your house was built on natural ground and its lowest adjacent grade is at or above the BFE, and you would like to request a LOMA, please go to the LOMA Tutorial.  (See minimum system requirements and specifications below.)

If your house was built on fill (or has been elevated by the placement of earthen fill), and you would like to request a LOMR-F, please go to the LOMR-F Tutorial. (See minimum system requirements and specifications below.)  Fill is defined as material from any source placed to raise the ground to or above the BFE. The common construction practice of removing unsuitable existing material (topsoil) and backfilling with select structural material is not considered the placement of fill if the practice does not alter the existing (natural grade or ground) elevation, which is at or above the BFE. Fill that is placed before the date of the first NFIP map showing the area in an SFHA is considered natural grade.

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System Requirements and Specifications

To view the LOMA and LOMR-F Tutorials, you must have the latest version of the Flash Player installed on your local machine. Your system must also meet some minimum specifications in order to optimally run the movie(s). The necessary requirements and suggested specifications are outlined below. Click on the links for more detailed information.

  1. Flash Player Plug-in
    If you are running a Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME machine and know that you do not have Flash Player installed, download the free plug-in. A link is provided from this Web page to other Web Players, including those for Macintosh. If you attempt to access the tutorial and do not have the player, or have an older version, a page will prompt you to download Flash Player or upgrade if you do not have the latest player installed on your system. Follow the link on the page that is displayed in your browser to the download page for the most recent version of Flash Player.

  2. Target Browsers
    The LOMA and LOMR-F Tutorial modules should run successfully on most Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. The latest browsers include the Flash Player plug-in. If you have an older browser, you may need to download the plug-in. A page will prompt you to download Flash Player or upgrade if you do not have the latest player installed on your system.

  3. Screen Resolution
    The tutorials can be run at any screen resolution; however, it is recommended that a resolution of 1024 x 768 be used for optimal functionality. If you run an 800 x 600 resolution, you may find it helpful to adjust your browser settings to optimize the display. To do this, follow the instructions included below.

    Internet Explorer
    Select "Full Screen" from the "View" pull-down menu, or toggle the F11 key to view the content in "Full Screen" mode.

    Netscape:
    Turn off the "Show Toolbar", "Show Location", and "Show Directory Buttons" options in the "Options" pull-down menu.

    NOTE: If you run an 800 x 600 screen resolution and do not adjust your browser to the full-screen mode, you may have to scroll to view all of the content on each screen. Running screen resolutions lower than 800 x 600 is not recommended for these tutorials.

  4. Minimum System Requirements
    For optimal performance it is recommended that you have a Pentium 133 MHz or higher machine, including a sound card and speakers. A 56K modem or better is recommended to shorten movie download time.

  5. Install Adobe Reader®
    The latest version of the Adobe Reader should be installed on your computer before running the LOMA and/or LOMR-F Tutorials. The software is not required to view the tutorials; however, you may need it to interact with applications before, during, or after viewing the tutorials. To download the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.

  6. Tell-A-Friend Feature
    One of the tutorials' features allows users to forward a link to the tutorials to other users via e-mail by clicking on the "Tell-A-Friend" button at the end of the tutorial. This feature may not work successfully with all e-mail clients. As an alternative to using the "Tell-A-Friend" feature, you may choose to send a link to the tutorial directly from your default e-mail client.

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Choose a Tutorial!

If your system meets the requirements listed above and you have reviewed the tutorial specifications, you are ready to start the tutorial. Click on the appropriate icon or text link below to launch the tutorial that best suits your needs, LOMA or LOMR-F.

Begin the LOMA Tutorial Begin the LOMR-F Tutorial
Begin the LOMA Tutorial!
[Text equivalent for the LOMA Tutorial]
Begin the LOMR-F Tutorial!
[Text equivalent for the LOMR-F Tutorial]

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Download Plug-in

Some of the links on this page require a plug-in to view them. Links to the plug-ins are available below.

Click Here to Download Flash Player Flash Player

Last Modified: Thursday, 28-Jun-2007 09:43:33 EDT