Have you ever had questions about which property disposal method local governments can use to sell a piece of government-owned land?  Or have you wondered what steps are required to sell property by upset bid?  Or have you wondered how a local government may convey property to a nonprofit?  

The answers to these questions and more are answered in Article 12 of Chapter 160A, and they’re described in detail in David Lawrence’s Local Government Property Transactions in North Carolina.  But if you want a quick reference guide to those statutes, you can now find a property disposal chart on the School of Government’s Local Government Purchasing and Contracting website.  Click on the “Tools” link on the left-hand side of the page.  The chart is titled “Property Disposal Chart,” and is available as a PDF.

Three important notes about the Chart:

1. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the procedures in this Chart apply to cities, counties, ABC boards, schools, community colleges (although schools and community colleges also have the option of disposing of property under procedures adopted by the N.C. Department of Administration), airport authorities, sanitary districts, and joint municipal assistance agencies.  Other local governments may follow these procedures, or may develop their own procedures for disposing of property.
2. Confiscated property (and abandoned property that has been turned over to the sheriff or police department) must be disposed of using special procedures found in Article 2 of Chapter 15.  These procedures are not covered in the Chart.  (I plan to develop a similar chart for these statutes soon.)  Abandoned property that has not been turned over to the sheriff or police department may be disposed of using the procedures in the Chart, or by using other procedures developed by your local government.
3. If the property was purchased with federal funds (in whole or in part), then you will need to ask the federal agency that provided the funds for instructions on disposing of the property.

If you are looking for a more complete discussion of property disposal methods and procedures, the best resource is David Lawrence’s  Local Government Property Transactions in North Carolina, which you can purchase here (free sample property disposal forms from the book are also available through the same link).