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B-221059 1 (1986-08-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadmkt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UThe Comptroller General of the United States Washington, D.C. 20548 Decision Matter of: Guenther Moehrke - Relocation Expenses - Escrow Closing Fee - Title Insurance File: B-221059 Date: August 18, 1986 DIGEST 1. A transferred employee claims expenses for an escrow closing fee incident to his purchase of a residence at his new official duty sta- tion. His agency denied the claim based on erroneous United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) information on the local customs. Based on independent inquiry to the local HUD office, we allow the claim as being consonant with the local custom and within the local customary amount. 2. A transferred employee claims an expense for title insurance incident to his purchase of a residence at his new official duty station. His agency denied the claim because it was owner's title insurance and also based on erroneous United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) information on the local customs. While Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) para. 2-6.2d(2)(a) generally prohibits reimbursement of title insurance obtained primarily for the protection of the employee, FTR para. 2-6.2d(l)(i) allows reim- bursement if it is a prerequisite to the financing or the transfer of property. Here, a portion of the owner's title insurance expense was a prerequisite to the financing. Based on independent inquiry to the local HUD office, we allow this portion of the claim as being consonant with the local custom and within the customary amount. DECISION Colonel M. S. Sirkis, Director, Per Diem, Travel, and Transportation Allowance Committee (PDTATAC), United States Department of Defense, has transmitted to us a request for an advance decision on the claim of Mr. Guenther Moehrke (PDTATAC Control No. 85-35). The claim is for the costs of an escrow closing fee and title insurance incurred in purchas- ing a residence incident to a transfer. The issue is whether the costs of the escrow closing fee and the title insurance are reimbursable in a sale-by-owner transaction. We conclude that these costs are reimbursable to the extent they do not exceed the amounts customarily paid in the locality of the residence.

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