Sec. 18.
(1) If any agency acquires property without commencement of an action or abandons its efforts to acquire property after making the jurisdictional good faith written offer required by section 5 to the owners of the property and if the owners of the property reasonably relied upon the agency's action, the owners shall be reimbursed by the agency for the reasonable expenses incurred in evaluating the agency's good faith written offer, in preparing for trial, or in negotiating a settlement, if those expenses would have been taxable as costs under section 16. For the purpose of this section, the jurisdictional written offer includes only written offers made under threat of institution of judicial proceedings to acquire the property.
(2) The rights created by this section may be enforced in a court having jurisdiction over claims for damages against the agency, or in a court in which an action under this act for the acquisition of the property could have been filed.
(3) The claim for reimbursement of expenses shall be filed within 1 year after the date on which the property is acquired or after the date on which notice of abandonment of the intention to acquire the property is mailed to the owner.
History: 1980, Act 87, Imd. Eff. Apr. 8, 1980 ;-- Am. 1996, Act 474, Imd. Eff. Dec. 26, 1996