The Metropolitan Borough Council of Stockport v Unknown Owners

Where an acquiring authority cannot identify an owner after diligent inquiry, Compulsory Purchase Act 1965, s.5(1) does not require service of a notice to treat on that owner or posting of such a notice on or near the land. The statutory provisions governing service regulate the method of serving notices that are otherwise required; they do not create an independent obligation to serve a notice to treat. Instead, the authority must follow Schedule 2. Once compensation has been determined by the Tribunal, the authority may pay it into court and execute a deed poll vesting the land in itself. No further judicial or administrative determination is required, although the Tribunal may give a confirmatory direction where the Court Funds Office requests one.

The acquiring authority held compulsory purchase powers over five small parcels of land required for a relief road. Despite the statutory publicity and diligent inquiries, the owners could not be identified. The Tribunal had already determined the compensation under Schedule 2 to the Compulsory Purchase Act 1965.

The Court Funds Office refused to accept payment into court because the authority could not provide dates on which notices to treat had been served. The central issue was whether notices to treat, or notices of entry, were required before the compensation could be paid into court and the acquisitions completed by deed poll.

1. The references concerned the final steps in acquiring land under compulsory purchase powers where the owners were unknown. The Tribunal had jurisdiction under paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Compulsory Purchase Act 1965 because diligent inquiries had established that the owners could not be found.
2. Section 5(1) of the 1965 Act requires notice to treat only to persons interested in the land who are known to the acquiring authority after diligent inquiry. It therefore imposes no requirement to serve a notice to treat on an owner whose identity remains unknown.
3. Section 30 of the 1965 Act, which incorporates the service provisions in s.6 of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981, does not alter that conclusion. Those provisions regulate the method of serving notices required or authorised under the legislation. They do not independently require a notice to treat to be given.
4. The separate statutory procedure for unknown owners is found in Schedule 2. After the Tribunal has determined compensation, paragraph 2(1) entitles the authority to pay it into court. On payment, paragraphs 2(2) and (3) permit execution of a deed poll and vest the estate and interests in the authority, with immediate possession as against the persons for whose use the compensation was paid.
5. Section 9 of the 1965 Act provides a different route where the owner is known but refuses compensation or cannot establish title. Those circumstances generally involve a notice to treat and did not arise here.
6. The Tribunal accordingly directed that the previously determined compensation could be paid into court notwithstanding the absence of notices to treat or notices of entry, and that the authority could then execute a deed poll for each parcel.