Blight Notice UK — Compulsory Acquisition of Blighted Land by Landlords

What is Planning Blight and the Statutory Blight Triggers

Planning blight arises when a public authority's proposals for a property — set out in a development plan, infrastructure scheme, or other statutory instrument — make the property difficult or impossible to sell at its true market value. The property is not yet the subject of a compulsory purchase order, but the prospect of future acquisition has materially affected its value and saleability. The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (ss.149–171) sets out a statutory list of 'blight triggers' — circumstances in which a property is treated as blighted for blight notice purposes. These include: (i) the land is allocated in a development plan for the functions of a public authority; (ii) the land is within a highway scheme (including a trunk road scheme under the Highways Act 1980); (iii) the land is within a zone designated for development by a New Town Corporation, Development Corporation, or Urban Development Corporation; (iv) the land is affected by a safeguarded zone for a proposed airport; (v) the land is within the safeguarded lands of a railway scheme (including HS2 — governed by specific HS2 legislation); (vi) the land is subject to a resolution to acquire it compulsorily; and (vii) the land is in an area designated as an Enterprise Zone or Simplified Planning Zone where the local planning authority or statutory body has indicated it will acquire the land. The Housing and Planning Act 2016 and subsequent legislation have expanded the blight triggers in some areas (particularly around nationally significant infrastructure projects). Scotland and Wales: planning blight provisions apply under separate Scottish and Welsh statutory frameworks but follow broadly similar principles.

• Development plan allocation: land allocated for public use in an adopted or draft development plan (local plan, unitary development plan, neighbourhood plan in some cases) is a qualifying blight trigger
• Highway schemes: land within a confirmed trunk road scheme, motorway route, or compulsorily acquired highway land triggers blight; also applies to draft highway orders
• HS2 and national infrastructure: HS2 Phase 1 and Phase 2a have specific blight schemes under the relevant Acts; the Express Purchase scheme and Rural Support Zone provide different routes to purchase alongside the statutory blight notice
• Safeguarded zones: airport safeguarding zones, noise exposure contours, and public safety zones can all trigger blight for affected properties
• Resolution to acquire: where a local authority has passed a formal resolution to compulsorily acquire land, the affected property is blighted from the date of the resolution

Who Can Serve a Blight Notice — Qualifying Owner-Occupiers

Not all owners of blighted land can serve a blight notice. The right is restricted to 'qualifying owner-occupiers' — persons who own the property and occupy it (or, in some cases, who owned and occupied it within the relevant period). The key qualification criteria are: (i) the claimant must be a qualifying owner: a freeholder; the holder of a long lease (at least 3 years unexpired at the date of the notice); or, in some cases, the personal representatives of a deceased qualifying owner; (ii) the claimant must be a qualifying occupier: for a dwelling, the claimant or a member of their household must have been in occupation as a private dwelling for at least 6 months in the preceding 12 months; for a business premises, the business must have been carried on from the premises by the owner throughout the 12 months preceding the notice; (iii) the claimant must have attempted to sell the property: the claimant must have made reasonable efforts to sell the property at its unblighted open market value within the 12 months before serving the blight notice, and have been unable to do so (or only been able to do so at a substantially reduced price) due to the blight. A private investor who does not occupy the blighted property (e.g. a buy-to-let landlord of a house that falls in a highway corridor) generally cannot serve a blight notice — unless the landlord can establish that they satisfy the qualifying occupier test through the tenants (which is rare). The primary beneficiaries of the blight notice regime are owner-occupiers of residential properties and owner-occupiers of small businesses.

• Must be a qualifying owner: freeholder or long leaseholder (3+ years unexpired); personal representatives of a deceased qualifying owner also qualify
• Must be a qualifying occupier: for a dwelling — occupied as a private residence by the owner or household member for at least 6 months in the preceding 12 months; for a business — carried on from the premises by the owner for at least 12 months
• Attempted sale requirement: the claimant must prove they made reasonable efforts to sell at unblighted market value and were unable to do so (or only at a substantially reduced price) due to the blight
• Investors and buy-to-let landlords: a pure investor who does not occupy the property generally cannot serve a blight notice; the right is primarily for owner-occupiers
• Agricultural owner-occupiers: farmers and agricultural owner-occupiers can serve agricultural blight notices under a parallel regime (ss.168-171 TCPA 1990) — different qualifying criteria apply

The Blight Notice Procedure — Serving Notice and the Authority's Response

A blight notice must be served on the 'appropriate authority' — the public body responsible for the scheme that causes the blight. This may be: Highways England (now National Highways) for trunk road schemes; Network Rail or HS2 Ltd for rail schemes; the local planning authority for development plan allocations; a development corporation for urban development zone designations. The blight notice must: (i) be in writing and comply with the Compulsory Purchase of Land (Prescribed Forms) Regulations 2004; (ii) specify the land to which it relates; (iii) state the grounds on which the notice is served (the qualifying blight trigger); (iv) specify the applicant's interest in the land; (v) include evidence of the attempted sale (particulars of agents instructed; offers received; correspondence showing purchasers withdrew due to blight). The authority has three months to respond. If the authority accepts the blight notice, it must acquire the land at unblighted market value (assessed as if the scheme causing the blight did not exist) — compensation is assessed under the compulsory purchase compensation code (Land Compensation Act 1961). If the authority objects to the notice (serves a counter-notice), it must state the grounds for objection (e.g. the land is not within the qualifying area; the authority does not intend to acquire the land). The owner can then refer the matter to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) for determination. Scotland: different statutory framework under Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 ss.100-117; broadly similar principles apply.

• Serve on the appropriate authority: the public body responsible for the blighting scheme — National Highways (trunk roads), Network Rail/HS2 Ltd (railways), LPA (development plans), development corporations
• Prescribed form: the blight notice must comply with the Compulsory Purchase of Land (Prescribed Forms) Regulations 2004; include evidence of attempted sale
• Three-month response window: the authority has 3 months to accept the notice or serve a counter-notice objecting; if no response, the notice is deemed accepted
• Compensation basis: unblighted market value under the Land Compensation Act 1961 — assessed as if the blighting scheme did not exist; specialist valuation surveyors (RICS regulated) are essential
• Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber): if the authority objects via counter-notice, the owner refers to the Upper Tribunal for determination of whether the blight notice should proceed; legal and valuation costs are usually recoverable

HS2 — Specific Purchase Schemes Alongside Statutory Blight

HS2 has a particularly comprehensive range of property purchase and support schemes that operate alongside (and in many cases instead of) the statutory blight notice regime. The main HS2 property schemes are: (i) the Express Purchase scheme: allows owner-occupiers of residential properties within 60 metres of the HS2 route centreline to sell their property to HS2 Ltd at 100% of unblighted market value plus 10% bonus (up to £47,000) and reasonable home move costs; no requirement to prove attempted sale; (ii) the Need to Sell scheme: for owner-occupiers who can demonstrate a compelling reason to sell (employment, financial hardship, medical need) but are outside the Express Purchase zone; compensation at 100% of unblighted market value; (iii) the Rural Support Zone: for agricultural land and rural properties within 120 metres of the HS2 route; different eligibility criteria; (iv) the statutory blight notice: available for properties within the HS2 safeguarding area (as published under the HS2 Act) as a fallback for those who do not qualify for or cannot use the discretionary schemes. HS2 Phase 1 (London-Birmingham) is under construction; Phase 2a (Birmingham-Crewe) is authorised; Phase 2b (Crewe-Manchester and Birmingham-Leeds) has been cancelled — affected property owners whose blight was created by the now-cancelled Phase 2b have specific claims against the Government for blight compensation (no scheme was built, but the land was blighted during the planning period).

• Express Purchase: residential owner-occupiers within 60m of HS2 route centreline — 100% unblighted market value plus 10% bonus (max £47,000); no attempted sale proof required
• Need to Sell: owner-occupiers outside Express Purchase zone with compelling need to sell (employment change, health, financial hardship) — 100% unblighted market value
• Rural Support Zone: agricultural owner-occupiers within 120m of HS2 route — different eligibility; specialist HS2 Property Support team process
• Phase 2b cancellation: the cancelled Birmingham-Leeds and Crewe-Manchester legs blighted properties for years without a scheme being built; affected owners may claim compensation under the statutory blight regime for the period of blight
• Independent valuation: for all HS2 schemes, obtain an independent RICS-regulated valuer's assessment of unblighted market value before accepting HS2 Ltd's offer — HS2 Ltd's own valuation may not reflect the true unblighted value

Frequently asked questions