NRS: CHAPTER 342 - ACQUISITION OF REAL PROPERTY AND ASSISTANCE IN RELOCATION

[Rev. 6/29/2024 3:42:06 PM--2023]

CHAPTER 342 - ACQUISITION OF REAL PROPERTY AND ASSISTANCE IN RELOCATION

NRS 342.025 Duty to develop process for claiming eligibility for services and benefits provided to displaced persons or businesses by governmental body.

NRS 342.035 Duty to provide certain administrative services and written notice to persons who may be displaced.

NRS 342.045 Duty to adopt policies to provide relocation assistance and make relocation payments.

NRS 342.055 Payments of certain costs, fees and sums to persons displaced as result of acquisition of property by or on behalf of redevelopment agency; exceptions; other appropriate action which allows relocation to comparable location.

NRS 342.065 Period for making payments of benefits; payment to third party upon request; establishment of administrative appeal process for grievances.

NRS 342.075 Applicability of NRS 342.015 to 342.065, inclusive; discretion of governmental body to pay increased benefits; regulations governing interpretation of certain words or phrases.

NRS 342.105 Compliance with federal law required; adoption of regulations by Director of Department of Transportation.

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NRS 342.015 Definitions. As used in NRS 342.015 to 342.075, inclusive, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. “Acquisition” means the acquisition of real property by a governmental body by purchase or eminent domain.

2. “Business” means a business which is licensed and registered in accordance with law.

3. “Displacement” means the actual vacating of real property by a natural person or business because of an acquisition by a governmental body.

4. “Governmental body” means any political subdivision of this state, any department, agency or instrumentality of a political subdivision, and any other entity which is authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain.

(Added to NRS by 1995, 2232)

NRS 342.025 Duty to develop process for claiming eligibility for services and benefits provided to displaced persons or businesses by governmental body. Before displacing a natural person or a business as a result of an acquisition, a governmental body shall develop a process by which natural persons or businesses who will be displaced from their dwellings or business establishments as a result of the acquisition, and who are otherwise eligible for services and benefits provided by the governmental body pursuant to NRS 342.015 to 342.075, inclusive, may claim eligibility for those services and benefits. The process must include, without limitation, claim forms and a schedule setting forth the time when those forms and any required attachments must be submitted to the governmental body and the time when the governmental body will distribute any monetary compensation or provide other services.

(Added to NRS by 1995, 2232)

NRS 342.035 Duty to provide certain administrative services and written notice to persons who may be displaced. A governmental body shall provide the following administrative services for persons whose dwellings or business establishments are situated on property proposed for acquisition by the governmental body:

1. Written materials and public meetings, where applicable, which will provide information on the proposed acquisition of the property and the services and benefits that will be available to the persons who will be displaced.

2. Information and assistance regarding the time and manner in which the persons may claim eligibility for such services and benefits.

3. Ninety days’ written notice of the proposed displacement. This notice must contain information on the procedure for obtaining the services and benefits provided pursuant to NRS 342.015 to 342.075, inclusive, to which a person is otherwise eligible.

(Added to NRS by 1995, 2232)

NRS 342.045 Duty to adopt policies to provide relocation assistance and make relocation payments. Before undertaking a project that will result in the displacement of a natural person or a business, each governmental body, or person acting on behalf of, under contract with or in cooperation with the governmental body, shall adopt policies pursuant to NRS 342.015 to 342.075, inclusive, to provide relocation assistance and make relocation payments to each person, whether an owner or a tenant, who is displaced from his or her dwelling or business establishment as a result of the acquisition of property in a manner substantially similar to and in amounts equal to or greater than those which are provided for in the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4601-4655, and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto. Nothing in this section prohibits the payment of relocation benefits to a renter or lessee of real property whose tenancy is from month to month.

(Added to NRS by 1995, 2233; A 1999, 3615)

1. In addition to the relocation benefits provided pursuant to NRS 342.045, each person who is displaced from his or her business establishment as a result of the acquisition of property by an agency created pursuant to chapter 279 of NRS or by any person or entity acting on behalf of, in cooperation with or under contract with such an agency, and whose lease of the premises on which the establishment is situated is terminated as a consequence of the acquisition, must be paid:

(a) The actual, reasonable and necessary costs of alterations and other physical changes that are required to be made to a new location to render it suitable for the operation of the business;

(b) The actual, reasonable and necessary costs of modifications made to machinery, equipment and other personal property moved to the new location which were necessary for the operation of the business, except that such costs must not exceed the acquisition cost of the machinery, equipment and other personal property less accumulated depreciation;

(c) The prorated fees for any licenses, registrations, permits or certifications that must be obtained for the business to operate in the new location;

(d) The actual, reasonable and necessary fees for professional services incurred in connection with the acquisition of a replacement site, including the services of architects, appraisers, attorneys, engineers, realtors and other consultants; and

(e) A sum equal to:

(1) An amount which, when added to the amount that the tenant formerly paid in rent, will enable the tenant to rent or lease a comparable business location on the current market for a term equal to the period that would have remained on his or her lease if it had not been terminated as a result of the acquisition of the property or 3 years, whichever is greater; or

(2) The fair market value of the business as determined in accordance with subsection 6 of NRS 37.009 if the business owner is unable to relocate his or her business establishment to a comparable new location because of the operation of a governmental ordinance, regulation or restriction or because a comparable business location is not available.

2. The provisions of this section do not apply to month-to-month tenancies.

3. The provisions of this section do not apply to a business which executes an initial lease within 1 year before the approval of a development agreement or other similar action of a governmental body identifying the property that will be acquired, unless the business is renewing a lease on a site that it has occupied for more than 1 year before the identification of the property that will be acquired.

4. A governmental body may adopt ordinances or regulations or take any other appropriate action which allows a business to be relocated to a comparable business location.

5. As used in this section, “comparable business location” means a location that is decent, safe and sanitary, adequate in size for the needs of the displaced business, functionally equivalent for the purposes of the displaced business and located in an area not subject to unreasonably adverse environmental conditions.

6. Nothing contained in this section requires a governmental body to relocate a business to a location in a redevelopment area or an area similar to a redevelopment area, or to provide the benefits that a location in a redevelopment area would provide.

(Added to NRS by 1995, 2233; A 1997, 606)

NRS 342.065 Period for making payments of benefits; payment to third party upon request; establishment of administrative appeal process for grievances.

1. All payments of benefits pursuant to NRS 342.015 to 342.075, inclusive, must be made within 90 days after notice of displacement is given by a governmental body. If a person entitled to such benefits informs the governmental body that a payment is needed immediately to pay a third party, such as a new landlord, utility company or escrow company, the governmental body shall make any authorized payment directly to the third party upon request.

2. Each governmental body subject to the provisions of NRS 342.015 to 342.075, inclusive, shall establish an administrative appeal process for handling grievances arising pursuant to those sections. The process must include, at a minimum, notice and an opportunity to be heard.

(Added to NRS by 1995, 2234)

NRS 342.075 Applicability of NRS 342.015 to 342.065, inclusive; discretion of governmental body to pay increased benefits; regulations governing interpretation of certain words or phrases.

1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other statute to the contrary, the provisions of NRS 342.015 to 342.065, inclusive, apply to all acquisitions of real property by a governmental body by purchase or eminent domain unless the person who is being displaced owns and occupies the real property and willingly agrees to the purchase price offered by the governmental body.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of NRS 342.015 to 342.065, inclusive, a governmental body may, if appropriate under the circumstances, pay to a displaced person an amount of benefits that exceeds the amounts set forth in NRS 342.015 to 342.065, inclusive. The governmental body has sole discretion to decide whether benefits will be paid in an amount that exceeds the amounts set forth in NRS 342.015 to 342.065, inclusive, and its decision on that matter is final.

3. The regulations adopted pursuant to the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4601-4655, govern the interpretation of any word or phrase not specifically defined in NRS 342.015 and 342.055.

(Added to NRS by 1995, 2234)

NRS 342.105 Compliance with federal law required; adoption of regulations by Director of Department of Transportation.

1. Any department, agency, instrumentality or political subdivision of this State, or any other public or private entity, which is subject to the provisions of the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4601-4655, and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto, and which undertakes any project that results in the acquisition of real property or in a person being displaced from his or her home, business or farm, shall provide relocation assistance and make relocation payments to each displaced person and perform such other acts and follow such procedures and practices as are necessary to comply with those federal requirements.

2. The Director of the Department of Transportation shall review the federal act and all amendments and regulations adopted pursuant thereto and adopt such regulations as the Director finds are necessary to enable the State of Nevada to comply with those federal requirements.

(Added to NRS by 1989, 633)