(a) Whenever the acquisition of real property for a program or project undertaken by a public authority will result in the displacement of any person, the public authority shall make a payment to any displaced person upon proper application as approved by the public authority for:

(1) actual reasonable expenses in moving himself, his family, business, farm operation, or other personal property;

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 55-15-20

  • business: means any lawful activity conducted primarily (1) for the purchase and resale, manufacture, processing, or marketing of products, commodities or any other personal property; (2) for the sale of services to the public; or (3) by a nonprofit organization. See South Carolina Code 55-15-10
  • displaced person: means any person who moves from real property as a result of the acquisition or reasonable expectation of acquisition of such real property, which may have been or is subsequently acquired, in whole or in part, for an airport, or as the result of the acquisition for an airport of other real property on which such person conducts a business or farm operation. See South Carolina Code 55-15-10
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • family: means two or more individuals living together in the same dwelling unit who are related to each other by blood, marriage, adoption, or legal guardianship. See South Carolina Code 55-15-10
  • farm operation: means any activity conducted solely or primarily for the production of one or more agricultural products or commodities for sale and home use, and customarily producing such products or commodities in sufficient quantity to be capable of contributing materially to the operator's support. See South Carolina Code 55-15-10
  • person: means (1) any individual, partnership, corporation or association which is the owner of a business; (2) any owner, part owner, tenant, or sharecropper who operates a farm; (3) an individual who is the head of a family; or (4) an individual not a member of a family. See South Carolina Code 55-15-10
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • public authority: means the Division of Aeronautics of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, a municipality, a county or other political subdivision of this State, separately or jointly, authorized to acquire land, air rights, safety markers, and lights as provided in Chapter 9 of Title 55. See South Carolina Code 55-15-10
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.

(2) actual direct losses of tangible personal property as a result of moving or discontinuing a business or farm operation, but not to exceed an amount equal to the reasonable expenses that would have been required to relocate such property, as determined by the public authority; and

(3) actual reasonable expenses in searching for a replacement business or farm.

(b) Any displaced person eligible for payments under subsection (a) of this section who is displaced from a dwelling and who elects to accept the payments authorized by this subsection in lieu of the payments authorized by subsection (a) of this section may receive a moving expense allowance, determined according to a schedule established by the public authority not to exceed three hundred dollars; and a dislocation allowance of two hundred dollars.

(c) Any displaced person eligible for payments under subsection (a) of this section who is displaced from his place of business or from his farm operation and who elects to accept the payment authorized by this subsection in lieu of the payment authorized by subsection (a) of this section, may receive a fixed payment in an amount equal to the average annual net earnings of the business or farm operation, except that such payment shall be not less than two thousand five hundred dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars. In the case of a business no payment shall be made under this subsection unless the public authority is satisfied that the business (1) cannot be relocated without a substantial loss of its existing patronage, and (2) is not a part of a commercial enterprise having at least one other establishment not being acquired by the public authority, which is engaged in the same or similar business. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "average annual net earnings" means one half of any net earnings of the business or farm operation, before federal, state, and local income taxes, during the two taxable years immediately preceding the taxable year in which such business or farm operation moves from the real property acquired for such project, or during such other period as the public authority determines to be more equitable for establishing such earnings, and includes any compensation paid by the business or farm operation to the owner, his spouse, or his dependents during such period.