Century Law

Los Angeles Eminent Domain Attorney

Los Angeles Eminent Domain

According to the Fifth Amendment, the

government has the right to purchase property

from landowners to help improve Los Angeles.

The good news is that rules have been set up

that require the government to meet some

pretty specific criteria before they can use

your property.

What the Government

Has to Do When They Claim Eminent Domain

First, the government has to prove that they

need to use the property you own to improve

life for the general public. This has been a hot

topic recently. In the beginning, eminent

domain was only used to do things like

building new roads, but lately, it has been

used for other projects such as creating parks,

schools, and government offices.

What the Government

Has to Do When They Claim Eminent Domain

Where things get really touchy is when the

government claims eminent domain on a piece of

property and then turns around and sells the

property to a developer who wishes to use the

property for something completely different.

The good news is that the government can’t just

say that they want your Los Angeles property. You

do have to surrender your property, but they also

have to provide you with fair compensation.

How Much Property

is the Government Trying to Claim

One of the things that clients don’t always understand

is that just because the government has filed an

eminent domain case it doesn’t always mean that they

have to give up their home. More often than not, the

government doesn’t need the entire piece of property

and only wants to to initiate a partial taking.

When a case has been made for a partial taking, the

government not only has to pay the value of the land

they wish to use, you should also receive compensation

for the how much losing that piece of property will

lower the value of the remaining property.

Temporary Eminent Domain

It doesn’t happen often, but there are occasions

when the Los Angeles government needs to use a

piece of property, but only for a limited amount

of time. This is called a temporary taking.

Even though the property isn’t going to be used

long term and the current owner will eventually

regain complete control of it, the government is

legally required to provide you with fair

compensation for the entire time that they have

access to your property.