Q&As

Do you have a any guidance notes on the making of a deed poll after the expiry of the notice to treat or notice to enter where land comprised within a compulsory acquisition of land is in unknown ownership?

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Produced in partnership with Harriet Townsend of Cornerstone Barristers
Published on: 14 February 2020
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According to section 5(1) of the Compulsory Purchase Act 1965 (CPA 1965), a notice to treat must be served on ‘all the persons interested in, or having power to sell and convey or release, the land, so far as known to the acquiring authority after making diligent inquiry’.

A notice to treat cannot be served on an unknown owner. However, where an owner remains unidentified ‘after making diligent inquiry’, CPA 1965, s 5(3) provides that CPA 1965, Sch 2 applies. CPA 1965, Sch 2 sets out the procedure for the payment of compensation where the owner of the land subject to compulsory purchase is absent or untraced.

It should be noted that there are considerable advantages in using general vesting declaration as an alternative to the notice to treat, where ownership is not known, but the comparative

Harriet Townsend
Harriet Townsend

Cornerstone Barristers

Harriet is a barrister with some 25 years' experience. Her principal areas of practice concern planning and environment law, and related property matters.

Recent work includes major compulsory purchase and compensation disputes; contentious residential proposals and related problems of housing land supply; high value basement development in London; and environmental impact assessment raising some of the most complex environmental issues of the day including heritage impact, habitats and species protection, and air quality concerns.

Harriet is frequently engaged to provide advice ' often on difficult questions of law, but also on strategy, procedure, and the conduct of negotiations. Recent instructions include the conduct of local authority Councillors, compensation claims under Part 1 of the Land Compensation Act 1973, reform of compulsory purchase law, and current legal issues in waste management.

On Climate Change, Harriet is the author of two articles in the Journal of Planning Law (2008 and 2009) and is following policy developments in this area with interest.

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United Kingdom
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Key definition:
Deed poll definition
What does Deed poll mean?

A deed poll is another term for a deed of declaration, and works like a contract rather than a trust.

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