The words in your documents, defined

Condemnation paperwork uses a small vocabulary precisely. Knowing what each term means makes an offer letter and an appraisal considerably easier to read.

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Terms you will meet

Term	What it means
After value	What the remainder is worth once the taking has happened and the project is built. Subtracted from the before value to give compensation in a partial taking.
Appraisal review	A formal professional critique of another appraiser’s report, assessing whether its method and data support its conclusion. Usually the cheapest way to test an agency valuation.
Before value	What the whole property was worth immediately before the taking, valued as one unit.
Before and after method	The standard approach to valuing a partial taking: before value minus after value equals compensation, including damage to the remainder.
Condemnation	The legal process by which eminent domain is exercised against a particular property. Also, unrelatedly, a building official declaring a structure unfit for occupancy.
Condemnor	The entity doing the taking: an agency, a municipality, a utility or any other holder of the power.
Cost to cure	The expense of correcting a problem the taking created. A valid substitute for damages only where the cure genuinely restores what was lost and costs less than the loss.
Deposit	Money paid into court by an agency, usually its estimate of compensation, often as a condition of taking early possession.
Easement	A right to use land without owning it. In condemnation, a permanent easement restricts what an owner may do while leaving title in place.
Eminent domain	The power of government to take private property for public use on payment of just compensation.
Fair market value	The price a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, neither compelled, both informed, with the property exposed for a reasonable time. A defined legal standard, not a general sense of worth.
Fee simple	Full ownership of land. A fee taking transfers title; an easement does not.
Highest and best use	The reasonably probable use that produces the highest value, subject to being legally permissible, physically possible and financially feasible. The premise the whole valuation rests on.
Inverse condemnation	A claim by an owner that government action has taken or damaged property without any formal proceeding.
Just compensation	The constitutional measure of what must be paid, interpreted as fair market value plus damages to any remainder.
Larger parcel	The property treated as one unit for valuation, determined by unity of ownership, unity of use and contiguity. It decides whether damage to adjoining land is compensable.
Loss of access	Removal or substantial impairment of the right of access to an abutting road. Compensable; mere inconvenience of a longer route generally is not.
Partial taking	Acquisition of part of a property, leaving the owner with a remainder.
Petition	The document filed in court that begins a condemnation action. Its service starts a response deadline, which in some states is very short.
Project influence	The rule that value is measured as though the project causing the taking were not planned, so neither side gains or loses from it.
Quick take	A procedure allowing an agency to deposit its estimate and take possession before compensation is determined.
Relocation assistance	A statutory programme covering moving costs, replacement housing payments and business reestablishment expenses. Separate from compensation for the property.
Remainder	What an owner keeps after a partial taking.
Right of way agent	The agency representative who handles the acquisition. Usually professional, and not neutral.
Severance damages	The reduction in value of the remainder caused by a partial taking. Part of just compensation, and the item most often missing from an agency offer.
Taking	The constitutional event of property passing from private to public use.
Temporary construction easement	A right to use part of a property during construction, compensated as rent for the period plus restoration.
Uneconomic remnant	A remainder too small or awkward to be usable. Agencies are generally required to offer to acquire one.
Uniform Relocation Act	The federal statute governing acquisition practice and relocation assistance where federal funds are involved.
USPAP	The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, which govern appraisal work and are enforced through state licensing.
Yellow Book	The Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions, which apply to federal and federally assisted acquisitions.

Six that matter most

If you only learn a handful

Highest and best use

The use the valuation assumes. Set it wrong and every figure after it is wrong.

Before and after

The method behind almost every partial taking, and where the disputes live.

Severance damages

Loss to the land you keep. Most often omitted from an offer.

Larger parcel

What counts as your property for valuation. It decides what damage is in scope.

Quick take

Why you can lose possession long before anyone decides what you are owed.

Relocation assistance

A separate programme from compensation, and widely unclaimed.

The terms are the easy part

What they mean for your property depends on the appraisal. Start with the document the offer was based on.

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