Michael Harman, Partner and specialist compulsory purchase solicitor at Holmes & Hills acted for a number of homeowners facing compulsory purchase due to a large scale regeneration scheme in London.
Hackney Council supported a large scale regeneration of the Woodberry Down area in London. The scheme required demolishing large numbers of existing homes and replacing them with mixed residential and commercial premises and community spaces. Whilst a very many of the existing residential properties were owned by the local authority, them being social housing, there were still a number of privately owned properties to be affected.
To facilitate the scheme moving forward, the local authority invoked compulsory purchase powers. Property owners were written to by Hackney Council explaining their intentions and setting out their plans for the scheme. Subsequently, Hackney Council began communicating with private property owners with a view to the Council making offers and negotiating purchase prices. Accepting the need for public authorities to demonstrate “best value” to the public purse (i.e. maximise returns from public money spent), the offers made were not satisfactory to the private property owners, with the owners arguing that the offers made did not represent true market value but, instead, were at an undervalue.
Key to the legislation surrounding compulsory purchase powers is the concept of equivalence. This concept means property owners upon whom compulsory purchase powers are imposed should be no worse- or better-off as a result of the scheme. In practice, the equivalence concept provides for the acquiring authority of a scheme reaching agreements with private property owners, such that the property owners’ land and/or property is valued as if the relevant scheme were not being proposed.
Many of the private property owners had already been receiving advice from a London based surveyor, but when the property owners felt their properties were being undervalued, a material number of them approached Holmes & Hills Solicitors’ specialist Compulsory Purchase and Development Consent Division for advice and representation.
Working with the London based surveyors, Michael Harman, Partner and Head of the Compulsory Purchase and Development Consent Division was able to secure the private property owners settlements that were, on average 25%, greater than the initial offers received from the acquiring authority. In one instance, working with the surveyors, Holmes & Hills Solicitors was able to secure a settlement for a private property owner which was more than 100% higher than the initial offer they received from Hackney Council (noting that such was an exceptional case where the basis of valuation was erroneous).
In addition to securing favourable settlements on behalf of the private property owners, but for all of the owners impacted by the scheme which Holmes & Hills represented, Holmes & Hills was successful in negotiating that Hackney Council cover 100% of the costs of professional advice sought by the property owners. Therefore, the fees of Holmes & Hills and the surveyor were met by the Council rendering the successful outcomes were achieved without cost to the individual clients.
A Mackman Group collaboration - market research by Mackman Research | website design by Mackman
