Board of Contract Appeals
                    General Services Administration
                         Washington, D.C. 20405
 
 
 
                        _______________________
 
                           September 2, 1999
                        _______________________
 
 
                            GSBCA 15046-RELO
 
 
                     In the Matter of JOHN P. WALSH
 
 
        John P. Walsh, Boston, MA, Claimant.
 
        Lafon  Lewis,   Chief,  Travel  Payments   Section,  Finance
   Division,  Bureau   of  the   Census,  Department  of   Commerce,
   Washington, DC, appearing for Department of Commerce.
 
   DeGRAFF, Board Judge
 
        In early 1999, John P.  Walsh, an employee of the Department
   of  Commerce,  transferred  from  Washington,   D.C.  to  Boston,
   Massachusetts.   Mr.  Walsh  discovered  that  it  was  virtually
   impossible to  find an apartment  for rent in Boston  without the
   assistance of a real estate agent.  Mr. Walsh paid an agent a fee
   of  $850 to  help  him find  an apartment  and asked  Commerce to
   reimburse  him for  the fee  as a  relocation expense.   Commerce
   decided to  deny Mr. Walsh s claim because it could not find that
   there was any  precedent for paying  such a fee  in Boston.   Mr.
   Walsh asks us to review the agency s decision.
 
        Although there is no authority that would permit Commerce to
   reimburse  Mr. Walsh  for the  fee as a  real estate  expense, it
   might be  able to  reimburse him for  the fee as  a miscellaneous
   expense.  An  employee who is transferred in the  interest of the
   Government  is  entitled  to  be   reimbursed  for  miscellaneous
   expenses,  within  certain  limits.   Reimbursable  miscellaneous
   expenses are those which are  common to living quarters and other
   expenses inherent in relocating a residence.  5 U.S.C.   5724a(f)
   (Supp.  III  1997);  41  CFR  pt.  302-3  (1998).    The  General
   Accounting  Office, which  considered relocation  claims such  as
   this one until mid-1996, recognized that a payment made to a real
   estate  agent for  finding an  apartment can  be reimbursed  as a
   miscellaneous  expense   if  such  payments  are  an  established
   practice  in the  area.   Junet  M. Bledsoe,  B-177395 (Mar.  27,
   1973).
 
        Mr. Walsh provided us with  a newspaper article to show that
   when he  transferred to Boston  in early 1999, the  Boston rental
   vacancy rate was the third-lowest in the country,  surpassed only
   by New York, New York,  and San Francisco, California.  According
   to  the article,  it  was  difficult  for a  tenant  to  find  an
   apartment without the  assistance of a real estate  agent, and it
   was the usual practice  for a tenant to  pay an agent to  find an
   apartment.   The information contained in the  article shows that
   the payment  of a  fee to  a real  estate agent  by a tenant  was
   common in  the Boston area  and was inherent  in relocating  to a
   rented residence there in early 1999.  In other words, payment of
   such a fee was an established practice.  Commerce did not provide
   any information to contradict the  facts set out in the newspaper
   article.  
 
        Even though  Mr. Walsh has  shown that paying a  real estate
   agent a fee to find an apartment was an established practice when
   he transferred to Boston, we cannot say for certain whether he is
   entitled to be  reimbursed for the fee that he  paid, because our
   file does not  show how much Commerce has  already reimbursed Mr.
   Walsh for his miscellaneous expenses.  If he has not received the
   maximum allowable reimbursement  for miscellaneous expenses, then
   Commerce  should reimburse  him for the  fee that he  paid to the
   real  estate  agent,  up to  that  maximum.   If  he  has already
   received  the maximum  allowable reimbursement  for miscellaneous
   expenses,  then  Commerce  cannot reimburse  him  any  additional
   amount.  41 CFR 302-3.3(a), (b).  
 
        The claim is  granted, provided that  Mr. Walsh receives  no
   more  than   the   maximum  allowable   reimbursement   for   his
   miscellaneous expenses.
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                                      MARTHA H. DeGRAFF
                                      Board Judge