A. In addition to amounts otherwise authorized by the Relocation Assistance Act, the displacing agency shall make a payment to or for any displaced person displaced from any dwelling not eligible to receive a payment under Section 42-3-6 NMSA 1978 when that dwelling was actually and lawfully occupied by the displaced person for not less than ninety days immediately prior to the initiation of negotiations for acquisition of the dwelling or in any case in which the displacement is a direct result of acquisition or other event as the displacing agency shall prescribe.

B. The payment in Subsection A of this section shall consist of the amount necessary to enable the displaced person to lease or rent for a period not to exceed forty-two months a comparable replacement dwelling, but at no time shall this payment exceed seven thousand two hundred dollars ($7,200). At the discretion of the displacing agency, a payment under this subsection may be made in periodic installments. Computation of a payment under this subsection to a low-income displaced person for a comparable replacement dwelling shall take into account that person's income.

C. Any person eligible for a payment under Subsection A of this section may elect to apply the payment to a down payment on, and other incidental expenses pursuant to, the purchase of a comparable replacement dwelling. That person may, at the discretion of the displacing agency, be eligible under this subsection for the maximum payment allowed under Subsection B of this section, except that, in the case of a displaced homeowner who has owned and occupied the displacement dwelling for at least ninety days immediately prior to the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the dwelling, this payment shall not exceed the payment the person would otherwise have received under Subsection A of Section 42-3-6 NMSA 1978 had the person owned and occupied the displacement dwelling ninety days immediately prior to the initiation of such negotiations.

History: 1978 Comp., § 42-3-7, enacted by Laws 1989, ch. 121, § 7; 2015, ch. 136, § 3.

Repeals and reenactments. — Laws 1989, ch. 121, § 7 repealed former 42-3-7 NMSA 1978, as enacted by Laws 1972, ch. 41, § 8, relating to additional payment to tenant, and enacted a new section, effective March 30, 1989.

The 2015 amendment, effective April 10, 2015, increased the amount authorized as an additional payment to a person displaced by an agency program or project when the person is not eligible for a payment under Section 42-3-6 NMSA 1978; in Subsection B, after "this payment exceed", deleted "five thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($5,250)" and added "seven thousand two hundred dollars ($7,200)"; and in Subsection C, after "Subsection B", deleted "of this section", after "ninety days", deleted "but not more than one hundred eighty days", and after "displacement dwelling", deleted "one hundred eighty" and added "ninety".