Section 10: Property Adjustment Work
Anchor: #i1005978Policy
As a general policy, TxDOT will not perform any work in the adjustment of improvements or curative work on the remainder property. The preferred procedure is to compensate the owner so that he or she can perform any adjustments needed, or retain and move any improvement under his or her own supervision and direction. Adjustments or moving improvements as a TxDOT responsibility is avoided because of the inherent liabilities involved in agreeing to cure and restore an owner’s property and the legal risk of working on private property. Property adjustment work should also be avoided by TxDOT in order to avoid double compensation and arguments for claims in the eminent domain process.
Adjustments are performed by TxDOT only in exceptional cases, such as in the acquisition of land from federal or state agencies, in emergencies, or acquisition of utility lines having a private function not discovered until uncovered by construction operations.
When minor compensation and cost to cure values need to be estimated for property adjustment work in connection with state, federal and other governmental agencies, ROW PD may utilize abbreviated appraisal report forms and/or the ROW-A-10 Tabulation of Values to document that the property adjustment work is needed as a result of the right of way acquisition and that the estimated cost of such work is not more than the market value. In instances when extensive property adjustment work is required, complete appraisals will be made according to required procedures.