Marvin Mandel, Governor                       1087

(c)    Right of tenant to remove improvement or installation.—
For the purpose of determining the extent of the taking and the
valuation of the tenant's interest in a proceeding for condemnation,
no improvement or installation which would otherwise be deemed
part of the realty shall be deemed personal property so as to be
excluded from the taking solely because of the private right of a
tenant, as against the owner of any other interest in the property
sought to be condemned, to remove such improvement or installa-
tion, unless the tenant exercises his right to remove the same prior
to the date when his answer is due, or elects in his manner to
exercise such right.

(d)    Churches.—The damages to be awarded for the taking of a
structure held in fee simple, or under a lease renewable forever, by
or for the benefit of a religious body and regularly used by such
religious body as a church or place of religious worship, shall be
the reasonable cost as of the valuation date, of erecting a new struc-
ture of substantially the same size and of comparable character and
quality of construction as the acquired structure at some other
suitable and comparable location within the State of Maryland to be
provided by such religious body. Such damages shall be in addi-
tion to the damages to be awarded for the land on which the
condemned structure is located.

12-106. Fair Market Value; Assessed Value.

(a)   The fair market value of property in a proceeding for condem-
nation shall be the price as of the valuation date for the highest and
best use of such property which a seller, willing but not obligated
to sell, would accept for the property, and which a buyer, willing
but not obligated to buy, would pay therefor excluding any incre-
ment in value proximately caused by the public project for which
the property condemned is needed, plus the amount, if any, by which
such price reflects a diminution in value occurring between the effec-
tive date of legislative authority for the acquisition of such property
and the date of actual taking if the trier of facts shall find that
such diminution in value was proximately caused by the public proj-
ect for which the property condemned is needed, or by announce-
ments or acts of the plaintiff or its officials concerning such public
project, and was beyond the reasonable control of the property
owner.

(b)   If the condemnor is vested with a continuing power of condem-
nation, the phrase the effective date of legislative authority for the
acquisition of such property, as used in this section, shall mean the
date of specific administrative determination to acquire such property.

(c)    It shall further be proper, for the defendant property owner
who so elects, to present as evidence in a condemnation proceeding, the
assessed value of the property, as determined by the Department
of Assessments and Taxation, if such assessed value is greater than
the appraised value placed on the property by the condemning
authority.

12-107. Costs; Interest on Award, Removal of Property from
Tax Rolls.

(a) The plaintiff shall pay all of the costs in the trial court.