Out of home appraiser Paul Wright estimates that there are 200-400 billboard condemnations in the US each year. If you are in business long enough, your out of home company will receive a letter from a state transportation authority notifying you that they are condemning the land on which your billboard sits for a road expansion. What should you do?
Contact an attorney.
Contact a good out of home attorney. The 7 law firms in the Billboard Insider legal classifieds are a good place to start. A good attorney will help you preserve your rights. They can tell you if your state has a just compensation law or if condemnation value is based on something else. They can also help you with relocation.
Explore relocation.
Many states will allow you to relocate your board if possible to a location nearby in order to avoid having to write you a large check. Your out of home attorney can help you with the relocation rules.
Prepare a fair market value and be able to defend it.
Most states must pay you just compensation (e.g. fair market value for your billboard) if it’s condemned and you can’t relocate it. Many state transportation authorities present an initial offer which isn’t much mre than the value of the steel in your structure. A good attorney is a must here for pointing out to the state that it must pay just compensation. You might also want to consider hiring an appraisal firm like Stark Capital or SignValue or Donna Desmond Associates to prepare a valuation of your billboard.
A personal experience.
The principals of Billboard Insider were part of a group that owned a billboard in the Midwest which was condemned for a state highway widening project. Setback requirements made it impossible to relocate the billboard. The initial condemnation offer from the state was about what the billboard would cost to build. We hired an attorney and asked the attorney to work for a % of the amount by which we succeeded in getting an increased condemnation offer. We did a fair market appraisal and went back to the state with a much higher fair market value figure. We didn’t get all that we asked but received a payout which was much much higher than the initial offer. It made sense to hire an attorney, do an appraisal and negotiate.
What’s been your experience in billboard condemnation proceedings. Email davewestburg@billboardinsider.com and we’ll run a followup story. Here are some Billboard Insider articles which address condemnation:
Rothfelder on Settlement of Billboard Condemnation Cases
Andy Goodman on What to do When You Receive a Condemnation Letter.
Paul Wright on Billboard Condemnation
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