Requisitioned Land and War Works Act 1945

PART VIII Adjustment of Compensation on Acquisition of Land.

40 Application of Part VIII.

The provisions of this Part of this Act shall have effect where, in pursuance of a notice to treat given between the passing of this Act and the expiration of two years from the end of the war period, or by virtue of section nine of the [4 & 5 Geo. 6. c. 50.] Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1941, or of Part II of this Act, either—

(a) land is compulsorily acquired by a Minister; or

(b) land is compulsorily acquired under the provisions of Part V of this Act by a local authority or combination of local authorities; or

(c) land, which, at the date of the notice to treat, is, by virtue of an exercise of emergency powers, in the possession of a Minister or a person acting under the authority of a Minister, is compulsorily acquired otherwise than by virtue of, the said Part V by a local authority or combination of local authorities; or

(d) land, which, at the date of the notice to treat, is, by virtue of an exercise of emergency powers, in the possession of or in use for the purposes of a drainage board, is compulsorily acquired by that board,

and, subject to the adaptations specified in this Part of this Act, shall also have effect where compensation is payable on the discharge or modification of a restriction under Part II of this Act or on the acquisition under the Defence Acts of an easement over or right restrictive of the user of land.

41 Elimination of value due to government war work, and &c.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, in assessing the compensation such adjustment shall be made therein (so far as it depends on the value or changes in the value of any land) as is necessary to offset any increase or diminution of the compensation attributable directly or indirectly to, or to a combination of, any of the following factors, that is to say—

(a) any damage occurring to the land acquired or any contiguous or adjacent land while the land acquired was, during the war period, in the possession of a Minister or of a person occupying or using it under the authority of a Minister;

(b) any work done at any time since the beginning of the war period on the land acquired or any contiguous or adjacent land by or by arrangement with a Minister or the acquiring authority or combination of authorities or in the exercise of emergency powers;

(c) any prohibition or restriction imposed in the exercise of emergency powers on the doing of any work on the land acquired or on any contiguous or adjacent land:

Provided that, in assessing any compensation for injurious affection of land other than the land acquired, account may, notwithstanding anything in this subsection, be taken of the actual state and circumstances of the land acquired as existing at the date of the notice to treat in so far as they may be expected to persist after the purchase.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, where any such work as is mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) thereof was done wholly or partly at the expense of, or in pursuance of an agreement with, any person having an interest in the land acquired, any increase of value attributable to the expenditure incurred by, or consideration moving from, that person shall, notwithstanding anything in the said subsection (1), be taken into account in assessing the compensation payable in respect of that interest.

(3) Where, in connection with any previous proposal to acquire any of the land acquired, a payment in respect of the value of any works has been made to a Minister under Part II of this Act in pursuance of a report of the Commission, any increase of value attributable to the construction of the works shall, notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of this section, be taken into account in assessing any compensation payable in respect of the land.

(4) Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to work done, under such circumstances that a payment of cost of works falls to be made in respect thereof, for making good war damage, unless that war damage is such damage as is mentioned in paragraph (a) of that subsection:

Provided that where the work done included alterations or additions and the cost thereof was greater than the permissible amount in relation to a payment of cost of works, such deduction, if any, as may be just shall be made from the compensation in respect of the additional value, if any, of the land ascribable to the excess.

(5) Where the land acquired or any contiguous or adjacent land consists of or includes the whole or any part of a hereditament which has suffered war damage, and a payment falls to be made under the War Damage Act, 1943, in respect of that damage—

(a) paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to so much of that damage as has not been made good at the date of the notice to treat; and

(b) where section seventeen of the War Damage Act, 1943 (which provides that value payments in the case of requisitioned land are to be computed by reference to the state of the land before the requisition) applies, subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to any change (whether for the better or the worse) occurring in the hereditament in question which, under the said section seventeen, affects the amount of the value payment.

(6) In the last two preceding subsections, expressions have the same meanings as they have for the purposes of Part I of the War Damage Act, 1943.

(7) The preceding provisions of this section shall not apply in relation to any such supplement to compensation as is provided for in Part II of the [7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 47.] Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, but, in considering whether, in the case of any interest in land, any such supplement can be made and, if so, what can and should be the amount thereof, any changes in the land attributable directly or indirectly to, or to a combination of, any of the factors mentioned in subsection (1) of this section shall, to such extent as is reasonable in the case of that interest, be left out of account.

(8) The preceding provisions of this section shall apply to compensation for the acquisition of an easement or restrictive right or for the discharge or modification of a restriction subject to the following adaptations, that is to say—

(a) for the references to the land acquired there shall be substituted references to the land the value of which is diminished by the acquisition, discharge or modification; and

(b) the proviso to subsection (1) shall not apply; and

(c) the last preceding subsection shall not apply, and for the purposes of Part II of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, the compensation shall be treated as if it were compensation for damage sustained, within the period of five years from the commencement of that Act, by reason of land being injuriously affected by the execution of works,

42 Adjustment where compensation paid or payable under Compensation (Defence) Act, 1939, or otherwise.

(1) Such adjustment shall be made in any compensation to which this Part of this Act applies as may be just having regard to any payment of, or right to, compensation by reason of the exercise of emergency powers.

(2) Any such adjustment may, if the arbitrator thinks fit, take the form of a direction that the compensation to which this Part of this Act applies which is payable to any person shall be wholly or partly -conditional on his relinquishing, to such extent as is specified in the direction,' any right to compensation by reason of the exercise of emergency powers.

43 Forfeitures.

Where by reason of the exercise of emergency powers any interest in land has become or might become forfeited or liable to forfeiture, any compensation to which this Part of this Act applies shall be determined as if no such forfeiture or liability to forfeiture had arisen or might arise.

44 Repeal of certain provisions of Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Acts, 1941 and 1943.

Subsections (3) and (4) of section nine of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1941, paragraph 3 of the Fourth Schedule to that Act, and paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Second Schedule to the [6 & 7 Geo. 6. c. 16.] Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1943 (being provisions applicable to compulsory purchases of land under those Acts which are rendered superfluous by the provisions of Part II of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, and this Part of this Act), are hereby repealed.