Pennsylvania Code › Title 37 - LAW › Part III - Agencies and Offices › Subpart F - Uniform Relocation Assistance › Chapter 151 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 151.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
					 have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
					 otherwise:
Acquired dwelling
-A dwelling which has
					 been acquired for a program or project by an acquiring agency.
Acquiring agency
-An entity vested with the
					 power of eminent domain by the laws of the Commonwealth.
Acquisition cost
-General damages, or in
					 the event of amicable acquisition, the price paid by the acquiring agency in
					 lieu thereof.
Act
-The Eminent Domain Code (26 P. S.
					 §§
											1-101-1-617.1).
Amount necessary to rent comparable decent, safe
					 and sanitary dwelling
-The actual rental paid by a displaced person for
					 a decent, safe and sanitary replacement dwelling or the amount determined to be
					 necessary to rent a comparable replacement dwelling, whichever is the
					 lesser.
Business
-A lawful activity, with the
					 exception of a farm operation, conducted primarily for the following
					 purposes:
(i) The purchase, sale,
				  lease or rental of personal or real property, or for the manufacture,
				  processing or marketing of products, commodities or other personal
				  property.
(ii) The sale of services
				  to the public.
(iii) A nonprofit
				  organization venture.
(iv) As
				  qualification for damages under section 601-A (a), (b)(1) and (4) of the act
				  (26
				  P. S. §
											1-601A(a), (b)(1) and
				  (4)) for assisting in the purchase, sale,
				  resale manufacture, processing or marketing of products, commodities, personal
				  property or services by the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising
				  displays whether or not the displays are located on the premises on which the
				  activities are conducted.
Comparable replacement dwelling
-A dwelling
					 which meets the following standards:
(i) Decent, safe and sanitary.
(ii) Functionally equivalent and
				  substantially with same as the acquired dwelling with respect to number of
				  rooms, area of living space, age and state of repair.
(iii) Adequate in size to accommodate the
				  family or individual.
(iv) Located
				  in a neighborhood or area not generally less desirable than that in which the
				  acquired dwelling was located.
(v)
				  Reasonably accessible to public services and the displaced person's place of
				  employment.
(vi) Available on the
				  private market.
(vii) Open to
				  persons regardless of race, color, religion or national origin in a manner
				  consistent with Title VIII of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1968
				  (42 U.S.C.A. §
											3601 et seq.) and the Pennsylvania Human
				  Relations Act (43 P. S. §§
											951-962) and regulations promulgated under
				  those acts.
(viii) Within the
				  financial means of the displaced person.
Decent, safe and sanitary
-A replacement
					 dwelling is decent, safe and sanitary if it meets the following standards:
(i) It conforms with local building
				  and occupancy codes.
(ii) It has a
				  continuing and adequate supply of potable water.
(iii) It has a kitchen, which contains a sink
				  connected to hot and cold running water, an adequate sewage system, space for a
				  refrigerator and a utility connection.
(iv) It has an adequate heating system to
				  maintain a 70°F or 21.1°C temperature in the living area not including
				  bedrooms.
(v) It has a bathroom,
				  which is well lighted and ventilated, private, containing a basin and a bathtub
				  or stall shower connected to an adequate supply of hot and cold running water,
				  and a flush closet, all in working order and connected to a properly
				  functioning sewage disposal system.
(vi) It has a safe and adequate electric
				  system.
(vii) It appears to a
				  knowledgable person to be structurally sound, weather-tight, in good repair and
				  adequately maintained.
(viii) It
				  has a safe means of egress to open space at ground level. For multifamily
				  buildings, each unit has access either directly or through a common corridor.
				  For three or more story buildings, the common corridor shall have at least two
				  means of egress.
(ix) It has
				  habitable floor space, which contains 150 square feet of habitable floor space
				  for the first occupant and at least 100 square feet for each additional
				  occupant or 70 square feet for mobile homes.
(x) Rooms are adequately ventilated. The
				  habitable floor space is divided into sufficient rooms so as to be adequate for
				  the family, particularly with regard to bedrooms.
Displaced person
-A condemnee or other
					 person not illegally in occupancy of real property who moves his personal
					 property as a result of the acquisition for a program or project of the real
					 property, whole or in part, or as the result of written notice from the
					 acquiring agency of intent to acquire or order to vacate the real property; and
					 solely for the purpose of section 601-A(a), (b)(1) and (4) of the act
					 (26
					 P. S. §
											1-601A(a), (b)(1) and
					 (4)), as a result of the acquisition or
					 written notice of intent to acquire or order to vacate other real property on
					 which the person conducts a business or farm operation. For the purpose of
					 computing payments under Article VI-A of the act (26 P. S. §§
											1-601A-1-606A) and the provisions of this
					 chapter, members of a family shall be collectively regarded as a single
					 displaced person.
Dwelling
-A single-family building, a
					 single-family unit in a multifamily building, a unit of a condominium or
					 cooperative housing project, a mobile home or other residential unit which is
					 the established, fixed, permanent or ordinary dwelling place of residence of a
					 person, as distinguished from temporary and transient, though actual, place of
					 residence. It is a person's legal residence as distinguished from a temporary
					 place of abode; or a person's home, as distinguished from a place to which
					 business or pleasure may temporarily call a person. In instances where the
					 place of permanent and usual abode may be in question, consideration should be
					 given, but not limited to, the following indicia of permanent residency:
(i) The location in which a person is legally
				  registered to vote.
(ii) The
				  location which a person declares to be his residence and for the purpose of
				  registration of his automobile and for the payment of Federal, State and
				  municipal or local taxes.
(iii) The
				  location in which the dependent children reside and attend the schools located
				  within their assigned school districts.
Family
-Two or more displaced persons, one
					 of whom is the head of a household, plus all other individuals regardless of
					 blood or legal ties who live with and are considered a part of the family unit.
					 If two or more individuals occupy the same dwelling with no identifiable head
					 of a household, they shall be treated as one family for replacement housing
					 payment purposes.
Farm operation
-An activity conducted
					 solely or primarily for the production of one or more agricultural products or
					 commodities, including timber, for sale or home use, and customarily producing
					 the products or commodities in sufficient quantity to be capable of
					 contributing materially to the support of the operator.
Loss of existing patronage
-A decrease in
					 net earnings.
Original cost of personal property to the displaced
					 person
-The amount paid by the displaced person for the personal
					 property, as indicated in his business records. In the event of personal
					 property which was obtained without cost or for which there are no records, the
					 replacement cost of equivalent property at the time of sale shall be used.
Personal property
-A tangible property not
					 considered to be real property for purposes of general damages under the laws
					 of the Commonwealth.
Program or project
-A program or project
					 undertaken by or for an acquiring agency as to which it has the authority to
					 exercise the power of eminent domain.
Reasonable cost of a comparable replacement
					 dwelling
-The actual amount paid by a displaced person for a decent,
					 safe and sanitary replacement dwelling or the amount determined to be necessary
					 for the purchase of a comparable replacement dwelling, whichever is the lesser.
Replacement cost of equivalent property at the time
					 of sale
-The current market cost, including delivery and installation
					 costs, of similar personal property, considering such factors as physical and
					 economic depreciation and functional obsolescence.
Replacement dwelling
-A dwelling purchased
					 or rented and occupied by a displaced person as a result of the acquisition for
					 a program or project of an acquired dwelling occupied by the displaced person,
					 or as the result of written notice from the acquiring agency of intent to
					 acquire or order to vacate the acquired dwelling.
Value in place of personal property
-The
					 value the personal property would have, installed in real property housing a
					 going business, considering such factors as original cost, delivery and
					 installation costs, physical and economic depreciation and functional
					 obsolescence.