Uniform Code

An offer should be adequately presented to an owner, and the owner should be properly informed. Personal, face-to-face contact should take place, if feasible, but this section does not require such contact in all cases. This section also provides that the property owner be given a reasonable opportunity to consider the Agency’s offer and to present relevant material to the Agency. In order to satisfy this requirement, Agencies must allow owners time for analysis, research and development, and compilation of a response, including perhaps getting an appraisal. The needed time can vary significantly, depending on the circumstances, but thirty (30) days would seem to be the minimum time these actions can be reasonably expected to require. Regardless of project time…

The initial offer to the property owner may not be less than the amount of the Agency’s approved appraisal, but may exceed that amount if the Agency determines that a greater amount reflects just compensation for the property.

The purpose of the appraisal waiver provision is to provide Agencies a technique to avoid the costs and time delay associated with appraisal requirements for low-value, non-complex acquisitions. The intent is that non-appraisers make the waiver valuations, freeing appraisers to do more sophisticated work. The Agency employee making the determination to use the appraisal waiver process must have enough understanding of appraisal principles to be able to determine whether or not the proposed acquisition is low value and uncomplicated. Waiver valuations are not appraisals as defined by the Uniform Act and these regulations; therefore, appraisal performance requirements or standards, regardless of their source, are not required for waiver valuations by this rule. Since waiver valuations are not appraisals, neither is…

  This provision provides a benchmark beyond which the requirements of the subpart clearly apply to leases.

(2) (ii). These sections provide that, for programs and projects receiving Federal financial assistance described in §§ 24.101(b)(1) and (2), Agencies are to inform the owner(s) in writing of the Agency’s estimate of the fair market value for the property to be acquired. While this part does not require an appraisal for these transactions, Agencies may still decide that an appraisal is necessary to support their determination of the market value of these properties, and, in any event, Agencies must have some reasonable basis for their determination of market value. In addition, some of the concepts inherent in Federal Program appraisal practice are appropriate for these estimates. It would be appropriate for Agencies to adhere to project influence restrictions, as…

The term “general geographic area” is used to clarify that the “geographic area” is not to be construed to be a small, limited area.

All 49 CFR Part 24 Subpart B (real property acquisition) requirements apply to all direct acquisitions for Federal programs and projects by Federal Agencies, except for acquisitions undertaken by the Tennessee Valley Authority or the Rural Utilities Service. There are no exceptions for “voluntary transactions.”

Federal Agencies may find that, for Federal eminent domain purposes, the terms “fair market value” (as used throughout this subpart) and “market value,” which may be the more typical term in private transactions, may be synonymous. ROW-C Note: This section includes the subsections listed below and they are also listed under the heading Related Uniform Code located in the sidebar of this page.  Clicking on a code within the sidebar will allow you to discuss and review comments for that code and its subsections. If your discussion topic does not reasonably fit into one of those subsections but is somewhat related, then this is a good section to start your new discussion by clicking the New Discussion button located on the…

This section prohibits an Agency from making a payment to a person under these regulations that would duplicate another payment the person receives under Federal, State, or local law. The Agency is not required to conduct an exhaustive search for such other payments; it is only required to avoid creating a duplication based on the Agency’s knowledge at the time a payment is computed.

The following examples provide additional guidance on the types of mobile homes and manufactured housing that can be found acceptable as comparable replacement dwellings for persons displaced from mobile homes. A recreational vehicle that is capable of providing living accommodations may be considered a replacement dwelling if the following criteria are met: the recreational vehicle is purchased and occupied as the “primary” place of residence; it is located on a purchased or leased site and connected to or have available all necessary utilities for functioning as a housing unit on the date of the displacing Agency’s inspection; and, the dwelling, as sited, meets all local, State, and Federal requirements for a decent, safe and sanitary dwelling. (The regulations of some…