Land Compensation Act 1973
| Year | 1973 |
Land Compensation Act 1973
1973 CHAPTER 26
An Act to confer a new right to compensation for depreciation of the value of interests in land caused by the use of highways, aerodromes and other public works; to confer powers for mitigating the injurious effect of such works on their surroundings; to make new provision for the benefit of persons displaced from land by public authorities; to amend the law relating to compulsory purchase and planning blight; to amend section 35 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1970; and for purposes connected with those matters.
[23rd May 1973]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Compensation for Depreciation Caused by use of Public Works
1 Right to compensation.
(1) Where the value of an interest in land is depreciated by physical factors caused by the use of public works, then, if—
(a ) the interest qualifies for compensation under this Part of this Act; and
(b ) the person entitled to the interest makes a claim within the time limited by and otherwise in accordance with this Part of this Act,
compensation for that depreciation shall, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, be payable by the responsible authority to the person making the claim (hereafter referred to as ‘the claimant’).
(2) The physical factors mentioned in subsection (1) above are noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke and artificial lighting and the discharge on to the land in respect of which the claim is made of any solid or liquid substance.
(3) The public works mentioned in subsection (1) above are—
(a ) any highway;
(b ) any aerodrome; and
(c ) any works or land (not being a highway or aerodrome) provided or used in the exercise of statutory powers.
(4) The responsible authority mentioned in subsection (1) above is, in relation to a highway, the appropriate highway authority and, in relation to other public works, the person managing those works.
(5) Physical factors caused by an aircraft arriving at or departing from an aerodrome shall be treated as caused by the use of the aerodrome whether or not the aircraft is within the boundaries of the aerodrome; but, save as aforesaid, the source of the physical factors must be situated on or in the public works the use of which is alleged to be their cause.
(6) Compensation shall not be payable under this Part of this Act in respect of the physical factors caused by the use of any public works other than a highway unless immunity from actions for nuisance in respect of that use is conferred (whether expressly or by implication) by an enactment relating to those works or, in the case of an aerodrome and physical factors caused by aircraft, the aerodrome is one to which section 41(2) of the Civil Aviation Act 1949 (immunity from actions for nuisance) for the time being applies.
(7) Compensation shall not be payable under this Part of this Act in respect of physical factors caused by accidents involving vehicles on a highway or accidents involving aircraft.
(8) Compensation shall not be payable under this Part of this Act on any claim unless the relevant date in relation to the claim falls on or after 17th October 1969.
(9) Subject to section 9 below, ‘the relevant date’ in this Part of this Act means—
(a ) in relation to a claim in respect of a highway, the dale on which it was first open to public traffic;
(b ) in relation to a claim in respect of other public works, the date on which they were first used after completion.
2 Interests qualifying for compensation.
(1) An interest qualifies for compensation under this Part of this Act if it was acquired by the claimant before the relevant date in relation to the claim and the requirements of subsection (2) or, as the case may be, subsection (3) below are satisfied on the date on which notice of the claim for compensation in respect of that interest is served.
(2) If and so far as the interest is in land which is a dwelling, the said requirements are—
(a ) that the interest is an owner's interest; and
(b ) where the interest carries the right to occupy the land, that the land is occupied by the claimant in right of that interest as his residence.
(3) If and so far as the interest is not in such land as aforesaid, the said requirements are—
(a ) that the interest is that of an owner-occupier; and
(b ) that the land is or forms part of either—
(i) a hereditament the annual value of which does not exceed the prescribed amount; or
(ii) an agricultural unit.
(4) In this section ‘owner's interest’ in relation to any land, means the legal fee simple therein or a tenancy thereof granted or extended for a term of years certain of which, on the date of service of the notice of claim in respect thereof, not less than three years remain unexpired.
(5) In this section ‘owner-occupier’, in relation to land in a hereditament, means a person who occupies the whole or a substantial part of the land in right of an owner's interest therein and, in relation to land in an agricultural unit, means a person who occupies the whole of that unit and is entitled, while so occupying it, to an owner's interest in the whole or any part of that land.
(6) In this section ‘the prescribed amount’ means the amount for the time being prescribed for the purposes of section 192(4)(a ) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 (interests qualifying for protection under planning blight provisions) and ‘annual value’ and ‘hereditament’ have the meanings given in section 207 of that Act taking references to the date of service of a notice under section 193 of that Act as references to the date on which notice of the claim is served.
(7) This section has effect subject to sections 10(4), 11 and 12 below.
(8) In the application of this section to Scotland—
(a ) for subsection (4) there shall be substituted—
(4) In this section ‘owner's interest’, in relation to any land, includes the interest of—
(a ) the lessee under a lease thereof, being a lease the unexpired period of which on the date of service of the notice of claim in respect thereof is not less than three years; and
(b ) a crofter, a landholder, a statutory small tenant and a cottar in the land;’
(b ) in subsection (6) for the references to sections 192(4)(a ), 193 and 207 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 there shall be substituted respectively references to sections 181(4)(a ), 182 and 196 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972 .
3 Claims.
(1) A claim under this Part of this Act shall be made by serving on the responsible authority a notice containing particulars of—
(a ) the land in respect of which the claim is made;
(b ) the claimant's interest and the date on which, and the manner in which, it was acquired;
(c ) the claimant's occupation of the land (except where the interest qualifies for compensation without occupation);
(d ) any other interests in the land so far as known to the claimant;
(e ) the public works to which the claim relates;
(f ) the amount of compensation claimed;
(g ) any land contiguous or adjacent to the land in respect of which the claim is made, being land to which the claimant was entitled in the same capacity (within the meaning of section 6 below) on the relevant date.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this section and of sections 12 and 14 below, no claim shall be made otherwise than in the claim period, that is to say, the period of two years beginning on the expiration of twelve months from the relevant date.
(3) Subsection (2) above shall not preclude the making of a claim in respect of an interest in land before the beginning of the claim period if—
(a ) the claimant has during the said twelve months made a contract for disposing of that interest or (in so far as the interest is in land which is not a dwelling) for the grant of a tenancy of that land; and
(b ) the claim is made before the interest is disposed of or the tenancy is granted;
but compensation shall not be payable before the beginning of the claim period on any claim made by virtue of this subsection.
(4) Where notice of a claim has been served on a responsible authority, any person authorised by that authority may, on giving reasonable notice, enter the land to which the claim relates for the purpose of surveying it and ascertaining its value in connection with the claim; and any person who wilfully obstructs a person in the exercise of the powers conferred by this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 20.
(5) Where compensation is payable by a responsible authority on a claim there shall be payable by the authority, in addition to the compensation, any reasonable valuation or legal expenses incurred by the claimant for the purposes of the preparation and prosecution of the claim; but this subsection is without prejudice to the powers of the Lands Tribunal or the Lands Tribunal for Scotland in respect of the costs or expenses of proceedings before the Tribunal by virtue of section 16...
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