FDOT Wants to Appraise Your Property: What to Do Before the Right of Way Appraisal

When the Florida Department of Transportation wants your land for a road project, the first formal step is a right of way appraisal. The appraiser’s visit usually comes before you have seen a dollar figure, and what you show that appraiser can inform the offer that follows. Here is what to do before the visit.

What Happens When FDOT Wants to Appraise Your Property?

FDOT sends an appraiser or real estate specialist to inspect your property and estimate its value. According to FDOT’s handbook, you will be contacted and invited to attend, and the written offer that follows will be no less than the appraised value.

That order matters. The appraisal is the foundation of the offer. Once the written offer arrives, section 73.015(1)(b) gives you at least 30 days to respond to that offer.

Has FDOT or its appraiser contacted you about your property? Talk with a Jimerson Birr eminent domain attorney before the inspection is scheduled.

Should You Be Present When the Appraiser Inspects Your Property?

In most cases, yes. Attend, or send someone who knows the site well. FDOT’s handbook says the appraiser must inspect the property and that owners are encouraged to be present and to share information they believe affects value.

On federally assisted projects, the federal rule gives the owner or a designated representative an opportunity to accompany the appraiser. That rule applies to those projects to the greatest extent practicable under state law.

Your representative can be a property manager, an operations lead, or an attorney such as Brandon Meadows, who serves on The Florida Bar’s Eminent Domain Substantive Law Committee.

What Should You Gather Before the Appraiser Arrives?

Gather the documents that prove what the property is, how it is used, and what it earns. In a partial taking, a jury values the property taken and any damages to the remainder caused by the taking, under section 73.071(3). Your paperwork should speak to both.

• Leases and rent rolls: actual income, tenant terms, and renewal options, which matter in commercial leases. Lease terms often decide who is compensated for what.
• Survey, site plan, and legal description: include recorded easements and restrictive covenants.
• Zoning, permits, and approvals: include any pending real estate development plans.
• Improvements and fixtures: dates and costs for recent work.
• Access notes and photos: driveways, curb cuts, parking counts, loading areas, and drainage.
• Five years of business records: only if a business operates on the site.

Owners with development or construction plans on the parcel can also review Jimerson Birr’s real estate development and construction page.

What Should You Say During the Inspection?

Stick to facts the appraiser can verify, and do not discuss price or sign anything on site. The appraiser is there to gather information. The negotiation comes later, in writing.

• Point out features that affect value: frontage, signage, tenant improvements, and access points.
• Explain how the part FDOT wants affects the part you keep, such as parking, setbacks, and drainage.
• Do not guess at a value or agree that a change is “fine.”
• Write down names, dates, and what the appraiser measured.
• Keep every letter, map, and note.

Florida law also excludes changes in value caused solely by public knowledge of a project’s location, under section 73.071(5). If your property’s value moved after the project was announced, say so and ask a lawyer how that rule applies.

What Mistakes Do Owners Make Before an FDOT Appraisal?

The most common mistake is treating the appraiser’s visit as a formality. The inspection is the one point where you can put facts in front of the person whose number drives the offer.

• Assuming the first number is final: the offer is where negotiation starts, not where it ends.
• Arriving without documents: an appraiser cannot value a lease, a permit, or a loading dock that nobody mentions.
• Letting an informal conversation stand in for a record: follow up in writing so the facts you shared are on paper.
• Overlooking the business side: the land and the operating company may have separate claims and separate clocks.

Owners along other FDOT corridors have faced the same decisions. See what Brevard County owners should do when FDOT calls and which FDOT projects are buying land in Duval County.

Can You Get Your Own Appraisal and FDOT’s Appraisal?

Yes to both. After you request it, the condemning authority must provide the appraisal behind its offer within 15 business days, under section 73.015(1)(a)3.. FDOT’s handbook also says you may obtain your own appraisal, and that FDOT will consider it.

The handbook describes reimbursement for one appraisal, only if FDOT acquires the property, at a usual and customary rate, with an invoice and a copy of your report. Separately, an owner who settles before a lawsuit can recover costs and attorney’s fees on the terms in section 73.015(4).

If the offer has already arrived, read what an eminent domain appraisal can miss on a warehouse or industrial site and how cost to cure and code issues can change the number.

How Does a Right of Way Appraisal Affect a Business on the Property?

The appraisal values the real estate. A business operating on the land may have a separate claim, and it runs on a deadline. Business damages are limited to partial takings for rights of way by public bodies such as FDOT. The business must be established for more than five years and located on adjoining land owned or held by the party whose land is taken, under section 73.071(3)(b).

The business must submit a good faith written settlement offer within 180 days after it receives the separate business notice, under section 73.015(2)(c). Without a good faith justification, the court must strike the claim.

For the full picture, see business damages under section 73.071 and our introduction to business damages. For what comes after an offer, see how to read an FDOT order of taking and the condemnation process for commercial owners.

What Should You Check Before You Respond to FDOT?

Five facts change how a right of way appraisal affects you:

1. Whole or part: Is FDOT taking all of the parcel or only a strip? Partial takings add remainder damages.
2. Ownership: Does one entity own the land while another runs the business?
3. Years in operation: Has the business operated on the site for more than five years?
4. Leases: Who are your tenants, and what do their leases say about a taking?
5. Dates: On what day did the notice or offer arrive? The 30-day period runs from receipt of the offer, and a business’s 180-day period runs from receipt of its own notice.

These facts decide the outcome, and an attorney needs to review them before you respond. Nothing in this article predicts what FDOT will offer or what a court would award.

Not sure what the appraiser will see? Request a free consultation with Jimerson Birr before the inspection.

How Can Jimerson Birr Help When FDOT Wants to Appraise Your Property?

If FDOT wants to appraise your property, Jimerson Birr’s eminent domain and condemnation attorneys represent Florida property owners, including businesses, in condemnation cases brought by cities, counties, utilities, and state agencies. We review the appraisal, the offer, and your documents with real estate appraisers and other experts. Call (904) 389-0050 or request a free consultation. You have at least 30 days after the offer arrives, and a business has 180 days from its notice to submit a good faith damages offer. Waiting uses up time you cannot get back.