Printable Format26-518. Acquisition of real property; duties of condemning authority. Whenever federal funding is not involved, and real property is acquired by any condemning authority through negotiation in advance of a condemnation action or through a condemnation action, and which acquisition will result in the displacement of any person, the condemning authority shall:
(a) Provide the displaced person, as defined in the federal uniform relocation assistance and real property acquisition policies act of 1970, fair and reasonable relocation payments and assistance to or for displaced persons.
(b) Fair and reasonable relocation payments and assistance to or for displaced persons as provided under sections 202, 203 and 204 of the federal uniform relocation assistance and real property acquisition policies act of 1970, and amendments thereto, shall be deemed fair and reasonable relocation payments and assistance pursuant to this section.
(c) Nothing in this section shall preclude the voluntary negotiation of fair and reasonable relocation payments and assistance between the displaced person and condemning authority. If such negotiations lead to agreement between the displaced person and the condemning authority, that agreement shall be deemed fair and reasonable.
History: L. 2003, ch. 106, ยง 4; July 1.
CASE ANNOTATIONS
1. Tenants' forced relocation from the subject property by the landlord as a condition to sell the property to the city makes the tenants "displaced persons"; in order to establish entitlement to relocation benefits, tenants must prove that the city either threatened or took affirmative action towards condemnation. Nauheim v. City of Topeka, 52 Kan. App. 2d 969, 975-76 (2016).
2. Whether a negotiation was in advance of a condemnation action is a question of fact to be established by a preponderance of the evidence. Nauheim v. City of Topeka, 309 Kan. 145, 152, 432 P.3d 647 (2019).
3. The eminent domain procedure act does not provide third-party displaced persons a private right of action for relocation benefits, but such persons may pursue relocation benefits under the Kansas relocation act or another cause of action. Kan. Fire & Safety Equip. v. City of Topeka, 62 Kan. App. 2d 341, 350, 514 P.3d 387 (2022), review granted, No. 123,063, 2022 WL 17101043 (Kan. Sept. 23, 2022).
4. There is no implied private right of action allowing displaced persons to sue a condemning authority for relocation benefits and assistance in a civil cause of action filed directly in district court. Kan. Fire & Safety Equip. v. City of Topeka, 317 Kan. 418, 426, 531 P.3d 504 (2023).