To have long-term success, a business must continue to look for ways to grow. In the sphere of eminent domain law, there is a way that you can set your practice apart from the competition and increase the chances of securing the client’s business. Doing so will accelerate the success of your practice. The change will be able to offer services to your clients right away and move out of the usual holding pattern that usually occurs.
You can extend your reach with new services, and you can make strategic partnerships that can play a significant role in boosting the growth of your practice. Advancing your business can actually be straightforward and only requires one addition to your current practice: the integration of a Business Relocation Consultant as part of your team.
Effective collaboration built on a shared vision and strong purpose will create more worth together than what your entity could produce on its own. A Business Relocation Consultant can work alongside your efforts as part of your eminent domain team and will enable you to offer unique services that will set you apart from the competition. The partnership can bolster your firm’s equity and potential clients will take notice of the added value. Most practitioners do not provide these services, but the benefits to your clients are extensive. A Business Relocation Consultant’s services allow you to form a more complete package to your clients than any other attorney.
Preplanning services can begin right away, breaking the usual holding pattern that’s common in these cases, and the overall outcome of the relocation will usually be improved. Preplanning a business relocation refers to planning before the business has received their notice of eligibility for relocation benefits and before the public agency’s offer has been made on the real property. While following relocation guidelines based on the Uniform Act, preplanning the business relocation and taking appropriate action can result in improved relocation reimbursements received from the displacing public agency, and these amounts are frequently twice or more. The consultant will give a business the opportunity to guide the public agency’s decision-making process as they determine the eligible relocation benefits.
Preplanning differs from relocation planning or Move Planning, as it’s described in the Uniform Act relocation guidelines. Relocation Planning is performed after the business has been determined eligible for relocation benefits by the agency but before the business actually moves.
My 18 years of experience and expertise in preparing relocation costs for reimbursement from displacing public agencies (as high as $34 million) includes preparing appeals, planning relocation logistics, and orchestrating and coordinating the actual move itself toward maximum efficiency and minimum client downtime.
These services are quite unique. This work adds proven value to attorney services and their clients and in many cases, when the business becomes eligible for relocation benefits, my relocation services are eligible for reimbursement within the relocation guidelines.
Partnerships are a great way for any type of business to increase their competitive advantage. In the case of eminent domain law, a partnership can be leveraged to share resources, and increase profitability. By augmenting your professional services to include the expertise of my business relocation consultancy, you can set your practice apart from that of other eminent domain attorneys. If you wish to discuss this further or should you have any questions, or comments, please contact me.
I have been following the eminent domain case for the City of St. Louis bid to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and have some comments in response to the Paul Berry III Congressional Exploratory Committee statement that was released November 2nd, 2015.
Mr. Berry makes an excellent point of gaining support by the effected property owners and tenants for the NGA project.
To gain that support, I recommend going a few steps further than he suggests. I recommend that the City implement the Federal Uniform Relocation and Acquisition Act (URA). The URA provides guidelines for relocating residents and businesses on federally funded projects and many other projects without federal funding, while using eminent domain to acquire the property.
The URA sets rules and guidelines for the government, as well as for the displaced person to follow, creating fairness and reasonableness for each side during the relocation process. The guidelines make it fairer for the displaced person than many other methods used. However, the URA does not necessarily make the displaced person whole after their relocation, particularly if the guidelines are not properly implemented.
For the City to come closer to this goal of fairness without sacrificing reasonableness and controls, the City could enhance certain parts of the guidelines, as many public agencies and states have successfully done through properly setting up its implementation.
Offering an enhanced version of the URA relocation guidelines for this project will go a long way toward gaining the support of the effected property owners and tenants needed while controlling the process. This would shed a good light of fairness on this project location to enhance the likeliness of the NGA choosing this site.
I am available to assist with recommendations for enhancements to the URA and the proper procedures for its implementation to support Mr. Berry’s recommendation.
The better that we anticipate the needs of our clients and meet those needs by applying all of the resources available at our disposal, the more successful we – and our clients – will be. There are key ways that an eminent domain attorney can augment their services to better protect the interests of private property and business owners. A more robust service offering will set you apart from other attorneys and demonstrate to your potential clients that you are the best possible attorney to manage their case.
#1 Add Value to your Practice by Including a Business Relocation Consultant on your Team
You can add additional value and benefit to your clients when you team with a business relocation consultant. When brought in early, my services can direct your client along a course that will produce better results and considerable advantage to your clients.
Add expert relocation consultation to your client offering to avoid client disappointment. Consultant services can save your clients significant out of pocket, non-reimbursable money. Federal relocation guidelines don’t automatically guide businesses to the best relocation results. Each business relocation must have some level of analysis performed to distinguish between personal property and real property. It’s essential to determine the proper amounts and bestmethods for receiving relocation payments from the public agency while following the relocation guidelines.
Preparing appeals, planning relocation logistics, and orchestrating and coordinating the actual move itself toward maximum efficiency and minimum client downtime are examples of how business relocation consultation can add value to your attorney services and your clients.
#2 Enhance your Service Offerings with the Addition of Preplanning Services
You will benefit from offering preplanning services to prospective clients because you will be offering a more complete package than any other attorney. Preplanning services provide you with something to offer the client right away, while other attorneys are in a holding pattern. This offering will increase the chances of securing the client’s business.
Preliminary planning services for vulnerable businesses that are being displaced can result in thousands of dollars in savings and reimbursements for your clients that often otherwise go unclaimed. Preplanning a business relocation while following relocation guidelines based on the Uniform Act can greatly improve the outcome of the relocation. Taking appropriate action can result in improved relocation reimbursements received from the displacing public agency, frequently in amounts of twice or more. In many cases when the business becomes eligible for relocation benefits, the relocation consultation services are eligible for reimbursement within the relocation guidelines.
Preplanning gives a business the opportunity to guide the public agency’s decision-making process as they determine the eligible relocation benefits. Preplanning a business relocation refers to planning before the business has received their notice of eligibility for relocation benefits and before the public agency’s offer has been made on the real property.
Preplanning differs from relocation planning or Move Planning, as it’s described in the Uniform Act relocation guidelines. Relocation Planning is performed after the business has been determined eligible for relocation benefits by the agency but before the business actually moves.
Your extended services will help to ensure fair compensation for your clients’ losses. These services are quite unique within eminent domain industry. By augmenting your professional services to include the expertise of my business relocation consultancy, you can set your practice apart from that of other eminent domain attorneys. If you wish to discuss this further or should you have any questions, or comments, please contact me.
Why a Displaced Business Should Be Concerned with Relocation Assistance Advisory Services, and Why a Displacing Public Agency Should Diligently Provide These Services
Federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 (URA)
On public projects where a public agency is using eminent domain laws to condemn private property, the agency often elects to, or in many cases is required to, follow the URA. For example, a department of transportation might use eminent domain laws in the case for expanding a highway right of way, or adding a new light rail line.
When the project includes federal funds, the public agency is required to follow the URA. When the URA is used, it provides regulations and guidelines that the public agency must follow when acquiring private property and displacing business and residential tenants for the agency’s project. The URA’s regulations are the rights of the property owners, displaced businesses, and displaced residents to receive from the displacing public agency.
Relocation Assistance Advisory Services
The URA requires a condemning public agency to provide six key relocation advisory services to a displaced business. A list of these services follows – Relocation Advisory Service #1-6. I have also included my comments for each of these services as a relocation consultant working for displaced businesses, as well as, working as a relocation agent for public agencies providing these services.
Relocation Assistance Advisory Services vs. Relocation Consulting Services
Relocation Assistance Advisory Services, not to be confused with Relocation Consulting Services, also known as Move Planning Services, are a required service provided by a condemning public agency to a displaced person or business. Relocation Consulting Services are provided by a private consultant hired by the displaced business to plan and coordinate their relocation. Relocation consulting services are a reimbursable relocation expense eligible to the displaced business within the URA regulations.
Success and Failure of Relocation Assistance Advisory Services
When a public agency fulfills these services properly, they will gain important information that will help the agency prepare for the timely use, implementation, and payment of the relocation benefits provided. This is meant to better assist the displaced business to successfully relocate with minimal downtime and minimal out of pocket expenses.
When the public agency fails to fulfill these services, they find themselves ill prepared to provide the necessary relocation benefits in a timely manner. Delay causes unnecessary damages to the displaced business including excessive downtime and excessive out of pocket expenses. For the public agency, they will likely experience needless relocation payments, and unnecessary expenses for appeals and legal fees. The community may also suffer from a loss of jobs, local tax revenues, and productivity if the displaced business fails to survive the relocation.
Appeal or Tort Claim of Relocation Assistance Advisory Services
A business can appeal most anything related to their relocation benefits. Unfortunately, most of the damages caused by the lack of these Relocation Advisory Services are non-compensable within the URA, leaving little to no recovery of costs or damages from the appeal process. A lack of these services inflicts damages in the way of loss of income, loss of customers, and loss of employees, which are specifically excluded from eligible cost reimbursements. Increased costs for the business are another effect, falling into the capped Reestablishment category of the URA and leaving little if any recovery of costs. In addition to or in place of an appeal, some businesses have had success treating this issue as a Tort claim.
CFR Title 49, §24.205(c) Relocation Assistance Advisory Services
This section of the URA outlines the Services to be provided as follows:
Services to be provided. The advisory program shall include such measures, facilities, and services as may be necessary or appropriate in order to:
Determine, for nonresidential (businesses, farm, and nonprofit organizations) displacements, the relocation needs, and preferences of each business (farm and nonprofit organization) to be displaced.
Explain the relocation payments and other assistance for which the business may be eligible, the related eligibility requirements, and the procedures for obtaining such assistance.
This shall include a personal interview with each business.
At a minimum, interviews with displaced business owners and operators should include the following items:
Relocation Advisory Service #1
The Regulation:
24.205(c)(2)(i)(A) The business’s replacement site requirements1, current lease terms2 and other contractual obligations3, and the financial capacity of the business to accomplish the move4.
Comments on replacement sites and financial capacity to relocate:
Replacement site requirements – Changed zoning may mean relocating outside of the business’s customer and/or employee base. Some businesses may have special needs that are not readily found in the market place.
Current lease terms – Leases that are several years old may be very different from what is currently available in the market, causing extra expenses for many years.
Contractual obligations – We often find that the displaced property owner or landlord sold the business that is currently the tenant and is now receiving payments for the sale of the business. This creates a need and desire to continue receiving those payments by providing a replacement property to the tenant. In addition, the business may have a contract to supply products or services that may be disrupted by the relocation.
Financial capacity – Most businesses having to relocate do not have the financial capacity or cash flow to finance their own business relocation. Additionally, the move can drain any available cash and cause a loss of sales or income during the move. Knowing the financial capacity of the displaced business should alert the public agency to be ready to provide available tools within the Relocation Guidelines that will assist the business to minimize downtime and out of pocket costs for the move. This may include advance payments, recommending professional services, and assuring the displaced business understands which relocation costs are eligible and not eligible for reimbursement.
Relocation Advisory Service #2
The Regulation:
24.205(c)(2)(i)(B) Determination of the need for outside specialists in accordance with §24.301(g)(12) that will be required to assist in planning the move, assistance in the actual move, and in the reinstallation of machinery and/or other personal property.
Comments on outside specialists:
Most, but not all, displaced businesses need some level of outside specialist support. The public agency, through their agents and consultants, must recognize early on in the project this need for specialists to help a business successfully relocate in a timely timeframe.
Otherwise, the displaced person can also decide that they need a specialist. A specialist may be needed to deal with the business’s unique needs, or, to help free up time for the business owner and key personnel so they can focus on running the business, while the specialist undertakes the planning and coordination of the business move.
I like to see a displaced business have the opportunity to have one person in charge of planning and coordinating their move who will assist them with making the move as though it had been planned and executed for sound business reasons, rather than eminent domain reasons.
Choosing to use a relocation consultant is similar to choosing the use of a general contractor to work on your house compared to you hiring and managing all of the subcontractors yourself and dealing with issues you’re not used to handling, all while you’re at your office working at your day job. There are good reasons why general contractors exist; they are key to achieving your desired results including quality, timeliness, and budget, particularly when multiple trades or vendors are involved.
Much like a general contractor, a relocation consultant can plan, organize, coordinate, and schedule other experts, contractors, and vendors in a manner that minimizes unnecessary costs and downtime, where the business owner participates as much or as little as they desire while they continue to run their business. An example of avoiding downtime is recognizing equipment that needs code upgrades before it’s disconnected and moved, or, as simple as preparing a layout plan for the new location during the planning stage that will maintain or improve the flow of operations or visual appearance to the customers. Unfortunately, relocation agents working for the government agency just don’t have that much time or budget to dedicate to a single displaced business.
For many reasons, it’s helpful for the relocation consultant to be conversant on eminent domain issues. Particularly because the most displaced businesses are not prepared financially for the move. The relocation consultant can help disseminate between acquisition and relocation issues, and assist with qualifying the business for available funding sources such as the relocation benefits. Additionally, many relocation decisions are based on available finances. During the planning stage of the relocation, the business needs to know what they will have to pay for out of pocket and where relocation benefits will help them. This is where the relocation consultant can to offer critical guidance. This marks an important difference when planning the relocation and can mean the difference between the business moving as-is, with the possibility of being in a worsened business situation, or moving in a manner that helps them continue their business success equal to or better than they experienced at their displacement location.
Relocation Advisory Service #3
The Regulation:
24.205(c)(2)(i)(C) For businesses, an identification and resolution of personalty/realty issues. Every effort must be made to identify and resolve realty/personalty issues prior to, or at the time of, the appraisal of the property.
Comments on personalty and realty issues:
When a fixture is classified as realty, the public agency’s payment for the fixture is made to the owner based on its depreciated value, if it is determined to have value. The depreciated value is usually less than the cost of replacing the item. Additionally, the realty payment often goes to the property owner or the real property mortgage holder rather than the displaced business. Finally, realty is not eligible for relocation benefits, leaving the owner to pay from their own pocket to replace this item at their new location. It’s clearly very important to get this right.
Knowledge of the business, personal property, and the laws that distinguish personalty from realty are key to proper personalty/realty classification. Unfortunately, too often the relocation agent and the appraiser do not collaborate on personalty and realty issues or one is not conversant on the issue, leaving flawed or incomplete appraisal reports. This occurrence creates confusion and debate during the business move causing additional relocation costs, delay, and downtime.
To improve on this issue, appraisers (real property appraisers, and FF&E appraisers) should be accompanied on the appraisal walk-through by a relocation agent (as the URA suggests) who has knowledge on this issue. Discussions between those parties should resolve most personalty/realty issues before they become a relocation problem.
Additionally, the business owner will benefit from having their own relocation consultant who is knowledgeable on these issues and involved prior to and during the appraisal walk-through, particularly when there is equipment and machinery involved. This will enhance the collaboration and understanding among all parties including the business owner, which will improve the relocation planning and process. In addition, the cost for this service is often a reimbursable expense to the displaced business or property owner.
Relocation Advisory Service #4
The Regulation:
24.205(c)(2)(i)(D) An estimate of the time required for the business to vacate the site.
Comments on estimated time to vacate:
A relocation schedule must be prepared to take advantage of the available time to properly plan, prepare, and perform the move. Without a schedule, a business may incur unplanned and unnecessary downtime. Downtime can cause a business to lose employees and customers along with income and profits, none of which are eligible for reimbursement, and any of which can cause business disruption and possibly devastation.
For the public agency, a relocation schedule is a tool to reduce unnecessary relocation costs and missed vacate dates. It will also improve the agency’s success with relocating displaced businesses, and improve the usage of public funds.
At a minimum, the schedule should include three milestones: 1) Notice of Eligibility, 2) Acquire Replacement Property, and 3) Vacate Displacement Property. Including some known tasks between these milestones will produce a basic beginning schedule as shown below (dates and task durations are excluded for clarity).
Notice of Eligibility
Plan relocation
Search for replacement site
Acquire Replacement Property
Plan relocation
Design and permitting for replacement property improvements
Prepare replacement property to receive relocated personal property
Send change of address notices
Disconnect, move, and reinstall personal property
Vacate Displacement Property
Finalize move
This basic schedule will give the business owner a starting point for planning purposes. The public agency’s relocation agent should be cautious of including too much detail for liability reasons. Additional tasks and durations can be added, as they become known by the business owner or the relocation consultant.
This basic schedule may be more than is required by this regulation, however, it is an excellent tool that supports the required task. The schedule also makes a significant improvement to most business relocations and is well worth the small amount of effort invested in its preparation for the benefits it produces.
Relocation Advisory Service #5
The Regulation:
24.205(c)(2)(i)(E) An estimate of the anticipated difficulty in locating a replacement property.
Comments on locating a replacement property:
Planning and finding the perfect replacement property that’s affordable and in the proper location can be challenging in the best of times. Because the displaced business was not likely in the process of planning their move before the notice to vacate was delivered, it’s critical for the business to find the right replacement property more quickly than under normal conditions to allow the needed time to prepare the replacement property for the business and to relocate the business. Otherwise, if the vacate date is too near, the business may incur downtime. However, spending the necessary time to find the right replacement property can be essential to the longevity of the displaced business. There is a fine balance between finding the perfect replacement property and avoiding business downtime. That balance point varies for each business.
The fast-food industry is a good example of the effort that goes into selecting store locations. One prosperous displaced fast-food business couldn’t wait for the normal, long, yet successful process of site selection provided by the franchisor, and there was only a year to go until their vacate date. The franchisee short-circuited the proven franchisor’s process in order to quickly find the replacement property without any assistance of the franchisor. The franchisee leased and successfully prepared the replacement site, opening the doors just in time to vacate the displacement property, avoiding any business downtime.
However, during the first year of operating at the replacement property, the franchisee spent an extraordinary amount of money on advertising in an effort to attract customers to his new location and struggled with poor sales. Within the second year of operating at the replacement property while continuing to advertise, the business closed for lack of cash flow resulting from too few sales.
The project’s vacate date will be fixed and unlikely to change. Early on in the project, the displaced business needs to fully understand the project’s inflexible timeline, the tasks, and challenges facing them. To hasten the property search, the displacee needs to know how relocation benefits may or may not help make a particular property suitable and affordable for their business. It is the displacing public agency’s job and/or challenge to inform the displaced business of these issues to help them avoid downtime, as well as find an affordable replacement property that fits their needs, all while meeting the project’s schedule. This begins with the public agency estimating the difficulty in locating a replacement property.
Relocation Advisory Service #6
The Regulation:
24.205(c)(2)(i)(F) An identification of any advance relocation payments required for the move, and the Agency’s legal capacity to provide them.
Comments on advance relocation payments:
Advance payments are often necessary, as well as critical for a displaced business, which often has shallow pockets. Advance payments are often needed for ordering substitute personal property, ordering materials needed for the reinstallation of personal property, and starting design services. A public agency must recognize the need and be ready to offer advance payments. Otherwise, the business relocation may stall at the beginning of the process, which could cause missing the vacate date and delaying the public project, and can cause an unnecessary hardship on the displaced business.
Conclusion
These six Relocation Assistance Advisory Services are critical to prepare for and to accomplish a successful business relocation. Any shortcomings in their implementation leave a wider opportunity for unnecessary costs and downtime to occur.
The public agency must initiate the inquiries of the business to gain the information necessary to properly provide relocation benefits. It is the business’s responsibility to provide the necessary information to the public agency.
I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have on this matter or other eminent domain and condemnation matters you may want to discuss as they relate to relocation and cost-to-cure. Please contact me either by phone 425-398-5708 or email . I look forward to hearing from you.
A wise man once said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” That same man, Alan Lakein, also said “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” This wisdom could not be truer and better applied than when it comes to eminent domain relocation preplanning.
Did you know that by time a business has been made eligible for relocation benefits, it’s likely too late to prevail? Unknown to most displaced business owners, it is after the public agency has completed their analysis and has determined the business’ eligibility for relocation benefits, that the business becomes eligible to incur and receive reimbursements for relocation costs incurred.
However, it’s not until this stage that the public agency actually explains the relocation benefits to the business owner. As a result, most businesses don’t begin planning their relocation until the analysis is complete. The problem is that by waiting until the analysis has already taken place, the business is either obliged to plan their relocation around what the public agency has already determined, or they must appeal those decisions. It becomes too late to pre-plan the relocation. Waiting uses up unnecessary time and resources and concludes with uncertain results. The only option is to attempt to undo what would likely have been prevented with preplanning.
Benefits of Preplanning an Eminent Domain Relocation
Preplanning gives a business the opportunity to guide the public agency’s decision-making process as they determine the eligible relocation benefits. Preplanning a business relocation refers to planning before the business has received their notice of eligibility for relocation benefits and before the public agency’s offer has been made on the real property.
Preplanning differs from relocation planning or Move Planning, as it’s described in the Uniform Act relocation guidelines. Relocation Planning is performed after the business has been determined eligible for relocation benefits by the agency but before the business actually moves.
A few of the many benefits of preplanning business relocation due to eminent domain:
1. Preplanning creates an increased amount of time for evaluating and making critical decisions such as: a. Evaluating the best of the potential replacement properties. b. Understanding how relocation benefits will and will not assist with making a potential replacement property functional for the business.
2. Preplanning ensures that your decisions will be made on facts of relocation benefits rather than on misleading information or assumptions on what the relocation benefits do or do not provide to you. 3. Preplanning relocation establishes time for preparation of plans for minimizing downtime with the use of relocation benefits. 4. Preplanning grants you more time and knowledge of the process, which opens up more business relocation options. 5. Proper preplanning sets the stage for your actual relocation, saving you out of pocket expenses because of a rushed move, lack of choices, and excessive key employee time spent on the relocation. 6. Preplanning allows you to put your best foot forward while working with the public agency representatives. Beginning with their first contact with you, your level of organization and knowledge will be evident which is important since this is the time when information, both proper and improper or misinterpreted, is generally traded. With the right preplanning, you can avoid the misinformation that usually causes the process to derail and veer off in a direction that can be costly to your business.
The preplanning window that opens before the public agency’s analysis has been completed is a pivotal — but fleeting — opportunity for businesses. Preplanning empowers business owners with informed knowledge that will enable them to take positive action. The difference between taking advantage of the preplanning stage and missing that opportunity can be the difference between real business savings of both money and efficiency vs. expensive business hardship and stress. Don’t miss the preplanning window. Avoid being swept up in an overwhelming, inefficient, and expensive relocation tide for you and your business by seizing the window of preplanning opportunity today.
As an eminent domain attorney for owners, you offer important services to your clients. You work to protect the interests of private property and business owners through a process that is complicated and confusing for those who are inexperienced and vulnerable in a relocation situation. Your services help to ensure fair compensation for your clients.
What if there was a way to add additional value and benefit to your clients, and to improve your overall service offerings? A business relocation consultant, when brought in early for preplanning a business location, can steer things in a direction that will produce better results to the business/property owner that you’re working with. Including a business relocation consultant as part of your team can result in considerable advantage to your clients.
Because federal relocation guidelines don’t automatically guide businesses to the best relocation results, each business relocation, must have some level of analysis performed to distinguish between personal property and real property. It’s also essential to determine the proper amounts and bestmethods for receiving relocation payments from the public agency while following the relocation guidelines. By adding expert relocation consultation to your client offering, your practice can avoid the disappointment of clients who find out how much out of pocket, non-reimbursable money they spent to relocate their business because of a public project taking their property.
You will benefit from offering preplanning services to prospective clients because you will be offering a more complete package than any other attorney. Preplanning services provide you with something to offer the client right away, while other attorneys are in a holding pattern. This offering will increase the chances of securing the client’s business.
Preparing appeals, planning relocation logistics, and orchestrating and coordinating the actual move itself toward maximum efficiency and minimum client downtime are examples of how business relocation consultation can add value to your attorney services and your clients.
Business relocation consultation and preliminary planning services for those businesses that will be displaced by the project can result in thousands and sometimes millions of dollars in cost reimbursements for your clients that often otherwise go unrecognized and unclaimed. Preplanning a business relocation while following relocation guidelines based on the Uniform Act can greatly improve the outcome of the relocation. Taking appropriate action can result in improved relocation reimbursements received from the displacing public agency, frequently in amounts of twice or more. In many cases when the business becomes eligible for relocation benefits, the relocation consultation services are eligible for reimbursement within the relocation guidelines.
These services are quite unique within the eminent domain industry. By augmenting your professional services to include the expertise of my business relocation consultancy, you can set your practice apart from that of other eminent domain attorneys. If you wish to discuss this further or should you have any questions, or comments, please contact me.
The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act (URA), for federally assisted programs, requires condemning public agencies to provide relocation advisory services as described in part 49 CFR 24.205(c). Find out what can happen to a business while relocating from a public project when the condemning agency stumbles with this requirement, and, hear some solutions.
As a relocation consultant, I’m looking forward to sharing insights on this subject at this seminar: 7th Annual Eminent Domain; Current Developments in Condemnation, Valuation & Challenges, June 5th and 6th 2014, in Portland, OR.
Eminent domain attorneys, appraisers, and public agency representatives should hear this.
Martyn Daniel LLC provides relocation consulting, cost-to-cure designs and estimates, and replacement cost estimates within the right-of-way industry for public and private sectors around the U.S.
The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act (URA), for federally assisted programs, requires condemning public agencies to provide relocation advisory services as described in CFR 24.205(c). Find out what can happen to a business while relocating from a public project when the condemning agency stumbles with this requirement, and, hear some solutions.
As a relocation consultant, I’m looking forward to sharing insights on this subject at this seminar: 7th Annual Eminent Domain; Current Developments in Condemnation, Valuation & Challenges, June 5th and 6th 2014, in Portland, OR
Eminent domain attorneys, appraisers, and public agency representatives should hear this.
Martyn Daniel LLC provides relocation consulting, cost-to-cure designs and estimates, and replacement cost estimates within the right-of-way industry for public and private sectors around the U.S.
I’ll be speaking on the Uniform Relocation Act Benefits at the Second Annual Eminent Domain and Condemnation seminar in Honolulu on August 21, 2013. You can take home new information from a lineup of talented faculty sharing their latest valuable updates, tips, and information.
Martyn regularly speaks around the U.S. on eminent domain issues including relocation, cost-to-cure, and replacement costs at gatherings of property/business owners, law firms, and continuing legal education seminars.
For certain situations, the case of Karen Y. Nielsen v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue provides some answers for understanding how income taxes apply to eminent domain acquisition and relocation payments. As an eminent domain relocation consultant, not a tax advisor, I’ve prepared the analysis below based on the information from this case. This analysis and suggestions are for a typical acquisition of private property and relocation of a resident, business, non-profit, or farm located within a public project using eminent domain and federal funds to acquire property and relocate the occupants.
This case indicates that:
The acquisition payments made for just compensation of real property may be taxable as a capital gain or deferred by use of IRC section 1033.
Relocation payments are not considered income and not taxable.
That seems clear and simple. However, the key is to separate real property acquisition payments from relocation payments. When possible, it will be helpful to work with the public agency making the payments to clarify the type of payment being made. However, it may not be clear between the two types of payments, particularly when there was a settlement in mediation or court.
Moreover, it’s important to identify and properly classify movable fixtures (personal property) from non-movable fixtures (real property). It’s preferable to do this before the move and before relocation payments are made. I’ve spent a great deal of time making these distinctions for relocation planning purposes by analyzing the characteristics of installed equipment to compare them to various states’ methods for distinguishing between personal property and real property. The typical test for fixtures is the three-part test known as the Teaff method. Now, as we see, this task is equally important for tax planning within the relocation planning.
Below are my suggestions for recognizing and separating acquisition payments from relocation payments.
Acquisition Payments (Just Compensation) – Payments for the items listed below appear to be taxable as a capital gain but may be deferred by use of IRC 1033:
Real property including; land, buildings, and other improvements including; driveways, utilities, well, septic system, landscaping, etc.
Fixtures (non-movable, or permanent) The 3-part Teaff test may be needed to determine this fixture classification.
Relocation Payments – Payments or reimbursements made for the items below should be non-taxable to the displaced resident or business. The items listed are major categories within the Federal Uniform Relocation and Acquisition Act, which are eligible for reimbursement or payment. See my abbreviated version of the URA relocation benefits for a full but abbreviated list of eligible reimbursable relocation costs. (Another time, I’ll expand on these categories and their sub-categories in more detail)
Resident (homeowner or tenant)
Moving and reinstallation of personal property, storage, and other moving related costs
Replacement Housing Payment or Price Differential payment
Amount by which the cost of the comparable replacement dwelling exceeds the acquisition amount of the displacement dwelling
Increased interest on the replacement dwelling
Expenses incidental to the purchase of the replacement dwelling
Other remedies within the Housing of Last Resort
Business or Farm (property/business owner, landlord business, business tenant, non-profit, farm)
Fixed Payment, also known as the In-Lieu Payment
Moving Costs including 16 line items of eligible reimbursable costs
Reestablishment Costs Including 7 line items of eligible reimbursable costs
Related Eligible Expenses including 3 line items of eligible reimbursable costs
Separating eminent domain payments by the categories described above will help you plan your tax obligations. This work will also help you properly plan your relocation and help you receive proper and timely relocation payments, when prepared before you move.
The above discussion is my opinion as an eminent domain and relocation consultant. I recommend consulting a tax advisor prior to relying on this information for tax purposes. I would be pleased to discuss the methods for separating personal and real property in more detail with you as a displaced person, your tax advisor, legal counsel, or your displacing public agency.
If you are searching for guidance on the proper handling of these tax matters, please feel free to contact me. I’ll put you in touch with tax advisors who have worked in these situations and who I’ve discussed these matters with.
To have long-term success, a business must continue to look for ways to grow. In the sphere of eminent domain law, there is a way that you can set your practice apart from the competition and increase the chances of securing the client’s business. Doing so will accelerate the success of your practice. The change will be able to offer services to your clients right away and move out of the usual holding pattern that usually occurs.
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