Guide
Compulsory purchase compensation: the heads of claim
Compulsory purchase compensation is not one payment but several, each with its own basis. If land is being bought from you, the list below is the map. If nothing is being taken and your property has simply lost value, the route is Part 1 of the Land Compensation Act 1973.
- Land taken
- Compulsory purchase compensation, several heads of claim
- No land taken
- Part 1 claim for the fall in value from the works in use
- Principle
- Equivalence — you should be no worse off in money terms
- Fees
- Reasonable professional fees reimbursed by the authority
The heads of claim
01Value of the land taken
The open-market value of the interest acquired, assessed under the Land Compensation Act 1961 rules and ignoring any effect of the scheme itself on value.
02Severance and injurious affection
Where only part of your land is bought, the loss in value of what you keep — both from being cut off from the rest and from the works the authority will build on what it acquired. Claimed under section 7 of the Compulsory Purchase Act 1965.
03Disturbance and disruption
Reasonable costs actually caused by being made to move: removal, professional fees on a replacement purchase, redirecting post, adapting equipment, and for a business the loss of profits or total extinguishment.
04Home loss and basic loss payments
Statutory recognition of being displaced from a home, or of the disruption to an owner or occupier of any interest, paid in addition to the value of the property.
05Professional fees
The reasonable surveyor and legal costs of preparing and negotiating the claim, which the acquiring authority normally reimburses on settlement.
The principle behind all of them
Compensation aims at equivalence: putting you, so far as money can, in no worse a position than if the scheme had never happened. That is why the scheme’s own effect on value is disregarded when the land taken is valued, and why consequential losses are recoverable rather than absorbed by you.
Where Part 1 fits
Part 1 of the Land Compensation Act 1973 was created for the owners the older sections left out: those who lose no land at all, but whose property is worth less once the finished works are in use. It covers noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, artificial lighting and the discharge of substances, and it opens twelve months after the works come into use.
That is the claim we handle. If land has also been acquired from you, tell us — heads of claim can run alongside each other and should be assessed together.
Find out where you stand
The eligibility check takes about a minute and needs no account. The acquiring authority pays the professional fees when a claim settles.