Bill Text: VA HB735 | 2024 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Eminent domain; offer to sell to former owner.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-13 - Left in Courts of Justice [HB735 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB735-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §25.1-108 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§25.1-108. Offer to sell to former owner.
A. If Except as otherwise provided by the provisions of
this subsection, if a condemnor has acquired a fee simple
interest in property by exercise of its power of eminent domain and
subsequently declares that the property is surplus, the condemnor shall offer,
within 30 days following such determination, to sell such property to the
former owner or his heirs or other successors or assigns. If (i) the work or
improvements described in any written statement required by law or in the
petition for condemnation made pursuant to §25.1-206 have not been let to
contract or construction commenced within a period of 20 years from the date
that the fee simple interest in the property vested in the condemnor, and the
property is not being used for other public uses that are within the
limitations set forth in §1-219.1 or (ii) at any time the property is no
longer used or needed for the public use for which the property was taken as
may be described in any written statement required by law or in the petition
for condemnation or for another specific public use that is within the
limitations set forth in §1-219.1, the condemnor shall declare its fee simple
interest in the property to be surplus and offer to sell the property to the
former owner or his heirs or other successors or assigns. Additionally, if the
conditions described in clause (i) or (ii) occur, the former property owner or
his heirs or other successors or assigns may make a written demand that the
condemnor (a) declare its fee simple interest in the property to be surplus and
(b) offer to sell the property to the former owner or his heirs or other
successors or assigns. Any
contractual provision or agreement by the The former
owner may also
enter into a contractual agreement or agree to a contractual provision with the
condemnor waiving the right to
receive an offer to sell from the such condemnor is void and unenforceable.
The Any offer to
sell shall be made in writing by the condemnor at the price paid by the
condemnor to the former owner plus interest at the annual rate of six percent,
provided that the condemnor may increase the price by the fair market value of
the condemnor's improvements, determined at the time the offer to sell is made.
In no case shall the price established by the condemnor exceed the fair market
value of the property at the time the offer to sell is made. The offer to sell
shall comply with the requirements of subsection B. If the former owner or his
heirs or other successors or assigns do not accept in writing an offer to sell
that complies with the requirements of this section within six months after the
offer to sell has been made as provided in subsection B, the former owner or his
heirs or other successors or assigns shall have no further right to purchase
the property pursuant to this section. An offer to sell that satisfies the
requirements of this subsection and subsection B shall be deemed a valid offer
to sell under this section.
B. The condemnor shall (i) send the offer to sell to the former owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, to (a) the last known address of the former owner and (b) the address of the former owner as it appears in the tax records of the treasurer for the locality in which the property is located and (ii) publish the offer to sell in a newspaper having general circulation in the locality in which the property is located. The offer to sell shall be published once a week for two successive weeks, shall identify the former owner from whom the condemnor acquired the property, shall briefly describe the property and the date title vested in the condemnor, shall state the offer is made pursuant to this section, and shall state that the offer is open to any heirs, successors, or assigns of the former owner, who shall be named in the offer as parties unknown.
C. This section shall apply only to a fee simple interest in real property acquired by a condemnor in the exercise of its power of eminent domain. This section shall not apply to property acquired by the Commissioner of Highways pursuant to Title 33.2. Further, this section shall not apply to property acquired by a locality for transportation projects, including for bond-funded transportation projects or for future transportation improvements, regardless of whether such projects are undertaken in conjunction with the Commonwealth Transportation Board, provided that as to any such acquisitions by a locality the provisions of §33.2-1005 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the property and any disposition thereof. Also, this section shall not apply to property that is acquired by the owner of a railroad for actual operating purposes if the property is unsuitable for independent development.