Compulsory Purchase is the formal process by which the government (including your local government or a specifically authorised body) takes land or rights from an individual, because of an overriding public need for the land.

Compensation

Once a Compulsory Purchase Order has been made, the next stage will be for you to notify the governing body that you wish to make a claim for compensation for the land being taken. It is important that you engage the services of an experienced RICS chartered surveyor. On the face of it, the amount you could receive will be for a surveyor to assess, but the rules are complex and it is often very important to take legal advice before your case is settled.

It is important that your advisor ensures that your claim includes all of your losses arising out of the Compulsory Purchase.

The Heads of Claim that can be taken in to account include:-

  1. Market Value of the Land Acquired,
  2. Losses due to the Acquisition: Disturbance. This is wide ranging and can include compensation for damage to your land, crop loss, the cost of repair and maintenance and your time for dealing with your claim. Essentially, all of your costs and losses incurred by being “disturbed” in your occupation of the land as a result of the compulsory purchase.
  3. Loss of value due to severance and injurious affection. This means the depreciation in the value of the land you retain, where only part of your land is acquired. You can claim for Injurious Affection even if your land has not been acquired but the value of your land has been affected by the “interference.”
  4. Supplementary payments (home loss payment, basic loss payments and occupier loss payments).

If your compensation is not agreed through negotiations, you can then refer your claim to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber). The Surveyor and legal fees you have incurred are recoverable from the Acquiring Authority in your claim for compensation.

Time Limitation

A reference to the Upper Tribunal (Land Chambers) for the assessment of compensation is subject to the time limit of six years after the land was compulsory purchased.

How to contact us

If you have an enquiry or simply want to speak to a member of our expert Litigation Department for further information or guidance, please get in touch with us on 01524 846846.