Land Compensation Act 1961

4 Costs

(1) Where either—

(a) the acquiring authority have made an unconditional offer in writing of any sum as compensation to any claimant and the sum awarded by the Lands Tribunal to that claimant does not exceed the sum offered; or

(b) the Lands Tribunal is satisfied that a claimant has failed to deliver to the acquiring authority, in time to enable them to make a proper offer, a notice in writing of the amount claimed by him, containing the particulars mentioned in subsection (2) of this section;

the Lands Tribunal shall, unless for special reasons it thinks proper not to do so, order the claimant to bear his own costs and to pay the costs of the acquiring authority so far as they were incurred after the offer was made or, as the case may be, after the time when in the opinion of the Lands Tribunal the notice should have been delivered.

(2) The notice mentioned in subsection (1) of this section must state the exact nature of the interest in respect of which compensation is claimed, and give details of the compensation claimed, distinguishing the amounts under separate heads and showing how the amount claimed under each head is calculated.

(3) Where a claimant has delivered a notice as required by paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section and has made an unconditional offer in writing to accept any sum as compensation, then, if the sum awarded to him by the Lands Tribunal is equal to or exceeds that sum, the Lands Tribunal shall, unless for special reasons it thinks proper not to do so, order the acquiring authority to bear their own costs and pay the costs of the claimant so far as they were incurred after his offer was made.

(4) The Lands Tribunal may in any case disallow the cost of counsel.

(5) Where the Lands Tribunal orders the claimant to pay the costs, or any part of the costs, of the acquiring authority, the acquiring authority may deduct the amount so payable by the claimant from the amount of the compensation payable to him.

(6) Without prejudice to any other method of recovery, the amount of costs ordered to be paid by a claimant, or such part thereof as is not covered by such a deduction as is mentioned in subsection (5) of this section, shall be recoverable from -him summarily as a civil debt.