Payment and Possession

PAYMENT

As soon as all of the necessary paperwork has been completed for transferring title of the property, the Agency will pay any liens that may exist against the property and pay the equity to the owner. Incidental expenses will also be paid or reimbursed.
Incidental expenses are all those reasonable expenses incurred as a result of transferring title to the Agency such as:

• Recording fees, transfer taxes, documentary stamps, evidence of title, surveys, legal descriptions of the real property, and other similar expenses necessary to convey the property to the agency. The agency, however, is not required to pay costs required solely to perfect title (that is, to assure that the title to the real property is entirely without fault or defect).
  
  
• Penalty costs and other charges for prepaying any preexisting recorded mortgage entered into in good faith encumbering the real property.
  
  
• The pro rata share of any prepaid real property taxes that can be allocated to the period after the agency obtains title to the property or takes possession of it, whichever is earlier.
  

If possible, the agency will pay these costs directly so that you will not need to pay the costs and then claim reimbursement from the agency.

POSSESSION

The agency may not take possession of the property unless both of these conditions have been met:

(1) The property owner has been paid the agreed purchase price. In the case of condemnation, the agency must have deposited with the court an amount that is at least the agency's approved appraisal of the fair market value of the property; and

(2) All persons occupying the property have received a written notice to move at least 90 days in advance of the required move. In this context, the term “persons” includes residential occupants (both homeowners and tenants), businesses (including non-profit organizations), and farms.

An occupant of a residence cannot be required to move until at least 90 days after a comparable replacement dwelling has been made ready for occupancy. Only in unusual circumstances (such as when continued occupancy would constitute a substantial danger to the health or safety of the occupants) could vacation of the property be required in less than 90 days.