Not always. When a public agency takes the building you occupy and you have to move, Massachusetts law requires it to pay your actual, documented, reasonable moving costs, and the Appeals Court held that “documented” does not mean a receipt for every expense. A furniture business displaced by an eminent domain taking recovered its full claim, including cash paid to day laborers, because the agency never told it what records to keep or how to arrange a self-move. This is a published decision of the Appeals Court and is binding statewide.
What happened
A redevelopment authority took a Brockton building by eminent domain in 2018. A furniture business occupied the basement and seven floors of the building, which had no working elevator, and everyone agreed it was eligible for relocation assistance. The authority’s relocation consultant explained the process but never mentioned a self-move or what it required. In April 2020, the business wrote that it would move itself; the authority replied only that it could take no action until it received a claim form. Over at least three months, the business moved its property using day laborers paid in cash, without receipts, and later claimed $191,700 in labor costs, far less than the labor budget it had projected from moving company bids. The authority paid only part of the claim, and a hearing officer at the state bureau of relocation ordered it to pay the remaining $130,633.95.
What the court decided
In Brockton Redevelopment Authority v. Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, 105 Mass. App. Ct. 691 (2025), the Appeals Court affirmed the bureau’s decision for the business. The authority had sought court review under G.L. c. 30A, § 14, and the court asked whether substantial evidence supported the bureau.
The agency had to explain the rules. A relocation program must fully inform eligible people, at the earliest possible date, about the payments and assistance available, and must administer payments fairly. G.L. c. 79A, § 6. The regulations also require notice of the procedures for getting paid. 760 CMR 27.04. A business may make a self-move with the agency’s advance agreement, up to a maximum negotiated before the move. 760 CMR 27.05. The court applied the version of the regulations in effect when the building was taken. It held the authority had a duty to tell the business about those self-move rules. It never did, and it never tried to negotiate the budget the business sent. So the business could not be faulted for skipping steps it was never told about.
“Documented” does not mean receipts. The statute requires payment of actual documented reasonable moving expenses. G.L. c. 79A, § 7. The regulations say claims must be backed by reliable documentation such as paid bills, canceled checks, or other evidence that payments were made or were due, and that a displaced person must get reasonable help documenting a claim. 760 CMR 27.04. The court deferred to the bureau’s reading that the law does not demand a receipt for every expense, noting that c. 79A is functional, not formalistic. West Broadway Task Force v. Boston Housing Authority, 414 Mass. 394 (1993). If the authority wanted receipts, it should have said so in advance.
The cash labor claim was proven. The court pointed to a spreadsheet of reasonable moving costs prepared with the authority’s own relocation consultant, a memorandum computing day labor costs, a thirty-six page inventory of the property moved, the owner’s credited testimony, and receipts for trucks, equipment and disposal. Hiring day laborers was not an unsound business practice. It lowered the moving costs, and there was no evidence the business overreached.
An unexplained 20 percent cut failed. The authority paid only 80 percent of other costs, such as improvements at the new site and advertising, but never explained how it reached that figure or identified any missing charge. Its own consultants had found the expenses reasonable, so the full amounts were owed.
What this means for you
If a city, town, housing authority or other public agency takes the property where you live or run your business, you may be entitled to relocation payments for your moving costs. The agency must explain your rights and the paperwork it expects early, not after you move. Here, an agency that skipped that step could not fault the business for missing requirements it never described.
That said, records still matter. The court said receipts are encouraged, and a claimant without them risks being unable to justify an expense.
What to do now
- Ask the agency, in writing, for its relocation notice and the procedures and documentation it requires before you move.
- If you plan to move yourself, ask for a written self-move agreement and a negotiated maximum amount before you start.
- Keep every receipt, invoice, check and photo you can, plus a detailed inventory of what was moved.
- If your claim is cut, ask for the reasons in writing and use the grievance and bureau of relocation review process.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. These cases move on short deadlines.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
