HS2 and rail scheme compensation for nearby homeowners

• You held a qualifying interest in the property before the first claim day.
• The works are new or altered public works carried out under statutory powers, and are in use.
• One or more of the seven physical factors — noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, artificial lighting, discharge of a substance — reaches your property from that use.
• A buyer would pay less for the property because of it.

Rail and high-speed rail schemes generate published noise modelling, and authorities keep detailed records of alignments, cuttings, gantries and lighting. That evidence usually works in a claimant’s favour: the effect on your property can be demonstrated from the authority’s own documents rather than argued from impression.

Construction-phase disruption, loss of a view, loss of privacy and worry about later phases are outside Part 1. Nor does Part 1 buy your house — it pays the loss in value while you keep it. Discretionary purchase and need-to-sell arrangements run separately.

Can I claim compensation for HS2 if my land is not being bought?

Once the railway is in use, a claim for the fall in your property's value can arise under Part 1 of the Land Compensation Act 1973 where noise, vibration, lighting or other named physical factors from its use have reduced what a buyer would pay. No land needs to be taken from you.

When can I claim for a new railway or tram line?

Not until the works have been in use for twelve months. That date is the first claim day, values are assessed as at that date, and claims should be submitted within six years of it.

Do the discretionary HS2 schemes affect a Part 1 claim?

Statutory compensation and an authority's own discretionary purchase or need-to-sell arrangements are different things with different tests. Tell us what you have already applied for or received and we will check how it interacts with a Part 1 claim.