January 17, 1997
                                                  


                             GSBCA 13648-RELO


                       In the Matter of KIM R. KLOTZ


     Kim R. Klotz, West Jordan, UT, Claimant.

     Deborah A. Osipchak, Manager, Financial Services Branch,
Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC, appearing for
Department of Transportation.

DANIELS, Board Judge (Chairman).

     Mr. Kim R. Klotz, an employee of the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), was transferred in October 1994 from Kansas
City, Missouri, to Salt Lake City, Utah.  Mr. Klotz was authorized
temporary quarters subsistence expenses (TQSE) in conjunction with
this permanent change of station.  After seven days in Salt Lake
City, he moved from a motel to an unfurnished apartment.  The
agency rejected his voucher for TQSE for the remainder of the
month.  The question posed by this case is whether this move ended
Mr. Klotz' entitlement to TQSE.

     Under statute and the Federal Travel Regulation, an agency
which transfers an employee from one permanent duty station to
another shall, within specified parameters, pay the subsistence
expenses the employee and his or her immediate family incur while
occupying temporary quarters.  5 U.S.C.  5724a(a)(3) (1994); 41
CFR ch. 302.  The regulation defines "temporary quarters" as
follows:

     Generally, the term temporary quarters refers to lodging
     obtained from private or commercial sources for the
     purpose of temporary occupancy after vacating the
     residence occupied when the transfer was authorized. 
     However, occupancy of temporary quarters that eventually
     become the employee's permanent residence shall not
     prevent payment of the temporary quarters allowance if,
     in the agency's judgment, the employee shows
     satisfactorily that the quarters occupied were intended
     initially to be only temporary.  In making this
     determination, the agency should consider factors such as
     the duration of the lease, movement of household effects
     into the quarters, type of quarters, expressions of
     intent, attempts to secure a permanent dwelling, and the
     length of time the employee occupies the quarters.

41 CFR 302-5.2(c) (1994).

     In applying this guide to the situation in question, we find
the following facts to be pertinent.  Before leaving Kansas City,
Mr. Klotz told the FAA that he intended to purchase a house in the
Salt Lake City area.  Once in Utah, he lived first in a motel room,
which the agency agrees constituted temporary quarters.  The daily
cost of the room was greater than the claimant's TQSE lodging
allowance, however.  To reduce his spending, Mr. Klotz, at the
suggestion of the FAA's local administrative officer, moved into an
apartment while he continued to search for a house which might
serve as his permanent residence.  The administrative officer
assured him that his TQSE would continue, notwithstanding the move,
because he intended to pursue buying a house.  He signed a six-
month lease and had his household goods moved into the apartment. 
At the present time, more than two years later, Mr. Klotz continues
to reside in this apartment.  As a result of his search, he has
learned that housing in the Salt Lake City area is too expensive
for him; he says that he will stay in the apartment "pending
availability of affordable housing."

     Did the apartment constitute "temporary quarters" in October
1994?  Applying the factors cited in the regulation, we find that
Mr. Klotz' expressions of intent (both before and after the
transfer), and his attempts to find a suitable, affordable house
clearly support a conclusion that the quarters were temporary, but
that his movement of household effects into the apartment and the
long amount of time he has lived there suggest that the quarters
were permanent.  The facts that Mr. Klotz lives in an apartment and
signed a six-month lease might support either position.  Apartments
are temporary homes for some people and permanent residences for
others; we have been given no indication that this particular
apartment is an inappropriate dwelling for an individual in the
claimant's circumstances.  Six months is hardly a permanent period
of time, but it is also longer than generally necessary to find and
purchase a modest-priced house.

     The regulation makes clear that the decision as to whether
quarters are temporary or permanent should revolve primarily around
the employee's intention at the time the living arrangement was
entered into.  This perspective tips the balance in favor of the
factors which suggest that the apartment was originally intended to
be temporary quarters.  The long duration of his stay in the
apartment is the result of his having learned, after October 1994,
that he cannot afford to move; it thus has no impact on our
judgment of his intention at that time.

     We are also inclined to Mr. Klotz' position because of the
involvement of an agency official in this matter.  The local FAA
administrative officer assured the claimant that his move to the
apartment would not affect his ability to receive TQSE since it did
not alter his intention to purchase a house as a permanent
residence.  Her assessment of intention is entitled to greater
weight than the agency's later judgment because it was made at the
relevant time for discerning the claimant's intention.

     The FAA should pay Mr. Klotz the TQSE to which he is entitled
throughout the month in question.





                                   _________________________
                                   STEPHEN M. DANIELS
                                   Board Judge