UNIFORM RELOCATION ACT – CONNECTICUT

The following is excerpted from the Conn. General Assembly Office of Legislative Research Report #2004-R-0383 http://www.cga.ct.gov/2004/rpt/2004-R-0383.htm

UNIFORM RELOCATION ASSISTANCE ACT

Under Connecticut’s Uniform Relocation Assistance Act (CGS § 8-266), individuals and businesses who are displaced from their place of residence as a result of state or local government acquisition of their real property, code enforcement activities, or governmental and governmentally-supervised building rehabilitation programs, are entitled to advisory assistance and financial compensation from the municipality or other state agency that caused them to be displaced. The act’s provisions also apply to any project funded by the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) that will result in displacement.

ADVISORY ASSISTANCE

Under this law, the displacing agency must:

• determine the need for relocation assistance;
• provide information on the availability, prices, and rentals of comparable properties;
• assist displaced businesses in becoming established in a suitable new location;
• supply information on federal and state programs offering assistance; and
• provide other services to minimize the hardship of relocation.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

The municipality or agency that causes the displacement must pay the displaced person:

• his/her actual and reasonable expenses in moving his family, personal property, or business;
• actual direct losses of personal property resulting from the move or from the closure of a business (up to the cost of relocating the property); and
• actual and reasonable costs in searching for a replacement business.

LANDLORD RESPONSIBILITIES

Where a person is displaced from a rental due to code enforcement violations, the law requires a landlord to repay reasonable expenses to the municipality where his/her property is located for assistance paid to the displaced tenant. The municipality may place a lien on any real property owned by the landlord to secure reimbursement. A municipality may sue a landlord to recover the assistance paid.