Land and Estate Developments UK Limited v Nottingham City Council

A statutory limitation period for referring disputed compulsory-purchase compensation claims cannot be extended or shortened by procedural rules unless Parliament has provided for that result. Where the statutory period expires on a particular day, a notice of reference is in time if the claim is referred by sending or delivering the notice during that day. A procedural rule requiring acts to be completed by 5pm applies only to an act required by the Rules, a practice direction or a direction to be done by a particular day. It does not impose a 5pm limit on the statutory limitation period where the relevant rule sets no such deadline. An emailed notice is received when recorded in the Tribunal’s inbox where the applicable guidance so provides.

The claimant sought compensation for compulsory acquisition of its long leasehold interest in land affected by the Nottingham Express Transit System. The interest vested in Nottingham City Council on 1 July 2014. The claimant’s notice of reference was received in the Tribunal’s email inbox at 5.08pm on 30 June 2020.

The acquiring authority argued that the reference was eight minutes late because Rule 12(1) imposed a 5pm deadline. The preliminary issue was whether the notice had been referred within the six-year period prescribed by section 10(3) of the Compulsory Purchase (Vesting Declarations) Act 1981.

1. The notice of reference was received within the six-year limitation period and was valid.

2. Under section 10(3) of the Compulsory Purchase (Vesting Declarations) Act 1981, time began to run on 1 July 2014, the first full day on which the land was vested in the acquiring authority. The limitation period therefore expired on 30 June 2020, not 1 July 2020.

3. The Tribunal had no power to extend the statutory period by resorting to its procedural Rules after the period had expired. Equally, the Rules could not truncate the six years allowed by Parliament.

4. Section 10(3) referred to a claim being “referred” to the Tribunal, while Rule 28(1) provided that proceedings were started by sending or delivering a notice of reference. These were unilateral acts which could be performed when the Tribunal’s administrative offices were closed.

5. Rule 12(1) imposed a 5pm deadline only on an act required by the Rules, a practice direction or a direction to be done by a particular day. Rule 28(1) set no time limit for the sending or delivery of a notice of reference which engaged Rule 12(1). The Tribunal’s Rules could not override the statutory limitation period.

6. The Chamber President’s Covid-19 guidance confirmed that documents emailed to the Tribunal were treated as received when recorded in its inbox. The notice was therefore delivered on 30 June 2020 and before expiry of the limitation period.