Land Compensation Act 1973

54 Effect of counter-notice under section 53.E+W

(1)If the acquiring authority do not within the period of two months beginning with the date of service of a counter-notice under section 53 above agree in writing to accept the counter-notice as valid, the claimant or the authority may, within two months after the end of that period, refer it to the [F1Upper Tribunal]; and on any such reference the Tribunal shall determine whether the claim in the counter-notice is justified and declare the counter-notice valid or invalid in accordance with its determination of that question.

(2)Where a counter-notice is accepted as, or declared to be, valid under subsection (1) above the acquiring authority shall be deemed—

(a)to be authorised to acquire compulsorily, under the enactment by virtue of which they are empowered to acquire the land in respect of which the notice to treat was served, the claimant’s interest in the land to which the requirement in the counter-notice relates; and

(b)to have served a notice to treat in respect of that land on the date on which the first-mentioned notice to treat was served.

(3)A claimant may withdraw a counter-notice at any time before the compensation payable in respect of a compulsory acquisition in pursuance of the counter-notice has been determined by the [F2Upper Tribunal] or at any time before the end of six weeks beginning with the date on which the compensation is so determined; and where a counter-notice is withdrawn by virtue of this subsection any notice to treat deemed to have been served in consequence thereof shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

(4)Without prejudice to subsection (3) above, the power conferred by section 31 of the M1Land Compensation Act 1961 to withdraw a notice to treat shall not be exerciseable in the case of a notice to treat which is deemed to have been served by virtue of this section.

(5)The compensation payable in respect of the acquisition of an interest in land in pursuance of a notice to treat deemed to have been served by virtue of this section shall be assessed on the assumptions mentioned in section 5(2), (3) and (4) above.

(6)Where by virtue of this section the acquiring authority become, or will become, entitled to a lease of any land but not to the interest of the lessor—

(a)the authority shall offer to surrender the lease to the lessor on such terms as the authority consider reasonable;

(b)the question of what terms are reasonable may be referred to the [F3Upper Tribunal] by the authority or the lessor and, if at the expiration of three months after the date of the offer mentioned in paragraph (a) above, the authority and the lessor have not agreed on that question and that question has not been referred to the Tribunal by the lessor, it shall be so referred by the authority;

(c)if that question is referred to the Tribunal, the lessor shall be deemed to have accepted the surrender of the lease at the expiration of one month after the date of the determination of the Tribunal or on such other date as the Tribunal may direct and to have agreed with the authority on the terms of surrender which the Tribunal has held to be reasonable.

For the purposes of this subsection any terms as to surrender contained in the lease shall be disregarded.

(7)Where the lessor refuses to accept any sum payable to him by virtue of subsection (6) above, or refuses or fails to make out his title to the satisfaction of the acquiring authority, they may pay into court any sum payable to the lessor by virtue of that subsection; and subsections (2) and (5) of section 9 of the M2Compulsory Purchase Act 1965 (deposit of compensation in cases of refusal to convey etc.) shall apply to that sum with the necessary modifications.

(8)Where an acquiring authority who become entitled to the lease of any land as mentioned in subsection (6) above are a body incorporated by or under any enactment the corporate powers of the authority shall, if they would not otherwise do so, include power to farm that land.

(9). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F4