Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1963

Section 17.

SCHEDULE 2 Acquisition of Houses as being unfit for Human Habitation

1 (1) The provisions of this paragraph shall have effect in relation to any compulsory acquisition, being—

(a) an acquisition under Part III of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947, or

(b) an acquisition under section 13 of the Housing and Town Development (Scotland) Act 1957, or

(c) an acquisition in pursuance of Part IV of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1959, or

(d) an acquisition of land within the area designated by an order under section 1 of the New Towns Act 1946 as the site of a new town, or

(e) an acquisition by a development corporation or a local highway authority or the Secretary of State under the New Towns Act 1946 or under any enactment as applied by any provision of that Act,

and being (in any such case) an acquisition where the land in question comprises a house which, in the opinion of an appropriate local authority, is unfit for human habitation and not capable at reasonable expense of being rendered fit for human habitation.

(2) The local authority may make and submit to the Secretary of State an order, in such form as may be prescribed by regulations made under section 172 of the Act of 1950, declaring the house to be in the state referred to in the preceding sub-paragraph; and if—

(a) that order is confirmed by the Secretary of State, either before or concurrently with the confirmation of a compulsory purchase order for the acquisition of the land, or

(b) in a case where the acquisition is in pursuance of a notice to treat deemed to have been served in consequence of the service of a notice under section 17 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947 or the provisions of that section as applied by or under any other enactment or in consequence of the service of a notice under section 6(4) of the New Towns Act 1946 or under Part IV of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1959, the order is made before the date on which the notice to treat is deemed to have been served and is subsequently confirmed by the Secretary of State,

the provisions of section 36(2) of the Act of 1950, and the provisions of section 40 of that Act as read with section 20 of the Housing and Town Development (Scotland) Act 1957 (which relate to certain payments in respect of houses purchased or demolished under the Act of 1950) shall apply as if the house had been purchased under Part III of the Act of 1950 as being in the state referred to in the preceding sub-paragraph, and as if any reference in those sections to the local authority were a reference to the acquiring authority.

(3) Before submitting to the Secretary of State an order under this paragraph, the local authority by whom the order was made shall serve on every owner, and (so far as it is reasonably practicable to ascertain such persons) on the superior of, and the holder of every heritable security over, the land or any part thereof, a notice in such form as may be prescribed as mentioned in the last preceding sub-paragraph, stating the effect of the order and that it is about to be submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation, and specifying the time within which, and the manner in which, objection thereto can be made.

(4) If no objection is duly made by any of the persons on whom notices are required to be served, or if all objections so made are withdrawn, the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, confirm the order; but in any other case he shall, before confirming the order, consider any objection not withdrawn, and shall, if either the person by whom the objection was made or the local authority so desires, afford to that person and the authority an opportunity of appearing before and being heard by a person appointed by the Secretary of State for the purpose.

(5) Section 24 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1962 shall have effect in determining for the purposes of this paragraph whether a house is unfit for human habitation as it has effect in so determining for the purposes of the Act of 1950.

(6) In this paragraph " appropriate local authority " means a local authority who, in relation to the area in which the land in question is situated, are a local authority for the purposes of the provisions of Part III of the Act of 1950 relating to clearance areas; and " owner," in relation to any land, includes any person who under the Lands Clauses Acts would be enabled to sell and convey the land to the promoters of an undertaking and includes also a lessee under a lease the unexpired period of which exceeds three years.

2 (1) Where in relation to a compulsory acquisition any of the provisions of the Act of 1950 as to site value apply (whether by virtue of that Act or of an order under paragraph 1 of this Schedule) and—

(a) the relevant land consists of or includes the whole or part of a house (in this paragraph referred to as " the relevant house ") and, on the date of the making of the compulsory purchase order in pursuance of which the acquisition is effected, the person then entitled to the relevant interest was, in right of that interest, in occupation of the relevant house or part thereof as a private dwelling, and

(b) that person either continues, on the date of service of the notice to treat, to be entitled to the relevant interest, or, if he has died before that date, continued to be entitled to that interest immediately before his death,

the following provisions of this paragraph shall apply in relation to the acquisition; and in those provisions " the dwelling" means so much of the relevant house as the said person occupied as aforesaid.

(2) Subject to the next following sub-paragraph, the amount of the compensation payable in respect of the acquisition of the relevant interest shall not in any event be less than the gross annual value of the dwelling.

(3) Where a payment falls to be made under section 40 of the Act of 1950 to the person entitled to the relevant interest, and that payment is attributable to the relevant house, any reference in the last preceding sub-paragraph to the amount of the compensation payable in respect of the acquisition of the relevant interest shall be construed as a reference to the aggregate of that amount and of the amount of the payment.

(4) For the purposes of this paragraph the gross annual value of the dwelling shall be determined as follows:—

(a) if the dwelling constitutes the whole of the relevant house, the gross annual value of the dwelling shall be taken to be the value which, on the date of service of the notice to treat, is shown in the valuation roll then in force as the gross annual value of that house for rating purposes ;

(b) if the dwelling is only part of the relevant house, an apportionment shall be made of the gross annual value of the relevant house for rating purposes, as shown in the valuation roll in force on the date of service of the notice to treat, and the gross annual value of the dwelling shall be taken to be the amount which, on such an apportionment, is properly attributable to the dwelling.

(5) Any reference in this paragraph to the compensation payable in respect of the acquisition of the relevant interest shall be construed as excluding so much (if any) of that compensation as is attributable to disturbance or to severance or injurious affection.

(6) Nothing in this paragraph shall affect the amount which is to be taken for the purposes of section 20 of this Act (which relates to the consideration payable for the discharge of land from feu-duty and incumbrances) as the amount of the compensation payable in respect of the acquisition of the relevant interest.

3 (1) Where, in the case of any compulsory acquisition.—

(a) any of the provisions of the Act of 1950 as to site value apply (whether by virtue of that Act or of any order under paragraph 1 of this Schedule); and

(b) the relevant land consists of or includes a hereditament, or part of a hereditament, which has sustained war damage, and any of that damage has not been made good at the date of service of the notice to treat,

there shall be added to the compensation which, apart from this paragraph, would be payable in respect of the acquisition an amount calculated in accordance with sub-paragraph (2) of this paragraph.

(2) The said amount shall be an amount equal to the value, as at the date of service of the notice to treat, of the prospective right to receive such payment (if any) under the War Damage Act 1943 in respect of that hereditament or part of a hereditament, as might reasonably have been expected to become payable if the relevant' land had not been compulsorily acquired.

(3) In this paragraph " hereditament" has the same meaning as in the War Damage Act 1943.

4 (1) Where a local authority have before the commencement of this Act made and submitted to the Secretary of State an order under paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1959 (which contains provisions similar to those of paragraph 1 of this Schedule), but the Secretary of State has not confirmed that order before the commencement of this Act, sub-paragraphs (2), (4) and (5) of paragraph 1 of this Schedule shall apply in relation to that order as if—

(a) the order had been made under paragraph 1 of this Schedule, and

(b) the reference in sub-paragraph (4) of paragraph 1 of this Schedule to persons on whom notices are required to be served were a reference to persons on whom notices are required to be served under sub-paragraph (3) of paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the said Act of 1959.

(2) Any reference in paragraph 2 or paragraph 3 to this Schedule to an order under paragraph 1 thereof shall be construed as including a reference to an order—

(a) made and confirmed under paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the said Act of 1959, or

(b) made under the said paragraph 1 and confirmed under the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Schedule applied by sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph.

5 (1) In this Schedule "Act of 1950" means the Housing (Scotland) Act 1950; and "house" has the meaning assigned to it by section 184 of the Act of 1950.

(2) Any reference in this Schedule to the provisions of the Act of 1950 as to site value is a reference to the following provisions of that Act, that is to say, sections 12(2), 17(4) and 36(2) (which relate respectively to the compensation to be paid on the compulsory acquisition of closed houses, of houses subject to notices relating to the execution of works, and of houses unfit for human habitation).