Alabama § 18-1A-22 - Offer to Purchase at Full Appraised Value; Amount of Compensation; Written Statement and Summary; Waiver Valuation.

§ 18-1A-22. Offer to Purchase at Full Appraised Value; Amount of Compensation; Written Statement and Summary; Waiver Valuation.

(a)(1) Before commencing a condemnation action, the condemnor shall establish an amount based on an appraisal, except as otherwise provided in subsection (e), which it believes to be just compensation therefor and promptly shall submit to the owner an offer to acquire the property for the full amount so established.

(2) The amount may not be less than the condemnor’s established amount of just compensation for the property.

(b) In a total taking, the condemnor shall disregard any decrease or increase in the fair market value of the property caused by the project for which the property is to be acquired or by the reasonable likelihood that the property will be acquired for that project, other than normal depreciation.

(c)(1) The amount of compensation to which the owners and other parties interested therein are entitled may not be reduced or diminished because of any incidental benefits which may accrue to them or to their remaining lands in consequence of the uses to which the lands to be taken or in which the easement is to be acquired will be appropriated.

(2) In the condemnation of lands for ways and rights-of-way for public highways or water or sewer lines, the commissioners, in fixing the amount of compensation to be awarded the owner for lands taken for this use, may take into consideration the value of the enhancement to the remaining lands of the owner that the highway or water or sewer lines may cause.

(3) In proceedings instituted by water conservancy districts and water management districts, benefits accruing to the landowner from an improvement may be considered and allowed as a setoff against the damages to be awarded, but benefits derived from improvements other than the improvement for which the land is condemned may not be considered.

(d)(1) The condemnor shall provide the owner of the property with a written statement and summary, showing the basis for the amount it established as just compensation for the property.

(2) If appropriate, the compensation for the property to be acquired and for the damages to remaining property shall be separately stated.

(e)(1) The state or a political subdivision thereof may use a waiver valuation, in lieu of an appraisal, to acquire real property if either of the following apply:

a. The owner of the real property to be acquired is donating the property and releases the state or a political subdivision thereof from its obligation to appraise the property.

b. The state or a political subdivision thereof, with the written consent of the owner of the real property to be acquired, determines that an appraisal is unnecessary and the anticipated value of the proposed acquisition, based upon a review of available valuation data, is equal to or less than the amount provided for in 49 CFR §24.102(c)(2)(ii), or the appropriate replacement federal regulation.

(2) When an appraisal is determined to be unnecessary pursuant to this subsection, the state or a political subdivision thereof shall prepare the waiver valuation. The person preparing the waiver valuation shall make his or her determination based on the available evidence of the value of the real property in the local real estate market.