Compulsory Purchase Act 1965

12 Unauthorised entry. E+W

(1) If the acquiring authority, or any of their contractors, wilfully enter on and take possession of any of the land subject to compulsory purchase in contravention of subsection (4) of the last foregoing section, the acquiring authority shall forfeit to the person in possession of that land the sum of ten pounds in addition to the amount of any damage done to the land by entering and taking possession.

(2) The said sum of ten pounds, and the amount of any such damage, shall be recoverable summarily as a civil debt.

(3) An appeal shall lie to a court of quarter sessions against an order of a magistrates’ court adjudging a sum to be forfeited under the foregoing provisions of this section.

(4) If, after a sum has been adjudged to be forfeited under this section, the acquiring authority, or their contractors, remain in unlawful possession of any of the land the acquiring authority shall be liable to forfeit the sum of twenty-five pounds for every day on which they so remain in possession.

(5) A sum forfeited under the last foregoing subsection shall be recoverable by the person in possession of that land in the High Court, and in any such proceedings the decision of the magistrates’ court shall not be conclusive as to the acquiring authority’s right of entry.

(6) This section shall not subject the acquiring authority to the payment of a penalty if they have in good faith and without collusion paid the compensation agreed or awarded in respect of the land to a person whom they reasonably believed to be entitled to the compensation, or have paid it into court for the benefit of the person entitled to the land F1 ... although such person may not have been legally entitled thereto.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 12(6) omitted (13.7.2016) by virtue of Housing and Planning Act 2016 (c. 22), s. 216(3), Sch. 16 para. 4; S.I. 2016/733, reg. 3(j)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Pt. 1 modified (8.8.2017) by The Wrexham Gas Fired Generating Station Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/766), arts. 1, 23(2)(3)

C2 Pt. 1 applied (with modifications) (24.8.2017) by The National Grid (Richborough Connection Project) Development Consent Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/817), art. 1, Sch. 10 paras. 3(2), 4-9 (with art. 22)

C3 Pt. 1 applied (with modifications) (29.8.2017) by The East Anglia THREE Offshore Wind Farm Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/826), art. 1, Sch. 6 para. 3(2)-9 (with arts. 36, 37, Sch. 8 para. 34)

C4 Pt. 1 applied (with modifications) (5.9.2017) by The London Overground (Barking Riverside Extension) Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/830), arts. 1, 22 (with Sch. 8 para. 20)

C5 Pt. 1 applied (with modifications) (8.12.2017) by The Network Rail (Closure of Abbots Ripton Level Crossing) Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1074), art. 1, Sch. 1 paras. 2, 3

C6 Pt. 1 applied (8.12.2017) by The Network Rail (Closure of Abbots Ripton Level Crossing) Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1074), arts. 1, 8(2)

C7 Pt. 1 applied (with modifications) (19.12.2017) by The Network Rail (Buxton Sidings Extension) Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1150), arts. 1, 19, Sch. 7 paras. 4, 5 (with arts. 28(1)(a), 32(2))

C8 Pt. 1 modified (22.12.2017) by The M20 Junction 10a Development Consent Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1202), arts. 1, 27 (with arts. 4, 23, 37)

C9 Pt. 1 applied (with modifications) (22.12.2017) by The M20 Junction 10a Development Consent Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1202), art. 1, Sch. 6 paras. 4, 5 (with arts. 4, 37)

C10 Pt. 1 applied (with modifcations) (2.1.2018) by The Boston Barrier Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1329), arts. 1, 32 (with arts. 43(1), 55-57, Sch. 8 para. 13)

C11 Pt. 1 applied (with modifcations) (2.1.2018) by The Boston Barrier Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1329), art. 1, Sch. 3 paras. 1, 4-10 (with arts. 55-57, Sch. 8 para. 13)

C12 Pt. 1 applied (with modifications) (4.1.2018) by The Blackpool Tramway (Blackpool North Extension) Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1214), arts. 1, 27 (with arts. 58, 59)

C13 Pt. 1 applied (with modifications) (4.1.2018) by The Blackpool Tramway (Blackpool North Extension) Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1214), art. 1, Sch. 4 paras. 4, 5 (with arts. 58, 59)

C14 S. 12 modified by Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1968 (c. 34), s. 13(3), Sch. 3 paras. 4, 5

S. 12 applied (with modifications) (22.10.1991) by Greater Manchester (Light Rapid Transit System) Act 1991 (c. xvi), ss.3(1)(2),13, Sch. (with s. 14(3)(e))

S. 12 modified (24.12.1999) by S.I. 2000/428, art. 13, Sch. 3 para. 7

C15 S. 12 modified (8.8.2017) by The Wrexham Gas Fired Generating Station Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/766), art. 1, Sch. 7 para. 6

C16 S. 12(3) amended with the substitution of a reference to the Crown Court for the reference to a Court of quarter sessions by Courts Act 1971 (c. 23), s. 56(2), Sch. 9 Pt. 1