Glossary

Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA)

Also known as: LOMA, LOMA

A FEMA determination, issued on request and supported by survey data, that officially removes a specific structure or parcel from a mapped Special Flood Hazard Area because it is shown to sit above the base flood elevation, eliminating the mandatory flood insurance purchase requirement.

A LOMA does not change FEMA's underlying flood map; it is a property-specific ruling layered on top of the map, based on an elevation certificate or other survey evidence demonstrating that the particular structure's elevation places it outside the effective floodplain despite the map's general depiction. For a CRE asset mapped within an SFHA where actual site conditions (a filled or naturally elevated pad, for instance) place the building above BFE, obtaining a LOMA can eliminate a lender's mandatory flood insurance requirement and materially reduce the property's operating expense assumption, making it a worthwhile diligence item on acquisitions where the map designation seems inconsistent with the building's apparent elevation. Lenders should treat a LOMA as removing the legal purchase mandate, not necessarily the underlying physical flood risk, since flood maps are periodically revised and a LOMA obtained under an older map does not guarantee the same result under a subsequently updated one; a related instrument, the Letter of Map Revision (LOMR), applies when fill, grading, or flood-control construction has physically changed the flood risk rather than merely correcting how an unchanged condition was mapped.