A property investor has been awarded almost £100,000 compensation after an end-of-terrace house on one of Britain’s most deprived housing estates was compulsorily acquired by a local authority as part of a regeneration scheme. The Upper Tribunal ruled that the pay-out represented a fair assessment of the property’s market value at the time of its acquisition by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.
The two-storey, pitched roof, ‘Wimpey home’ was constructed in the early 1950s and was very similar to hundreds of others on the Camp Hill estate, near Nuneaton, which was in the top 10 most deprived wards in the country. It was compulsorily acquired by the council in August 2011 as part of a very substantial regeneration plan for the area, involving the purchase and demolition of numerous homes.
Resolving a dispute between the council and the property’s owner, a private investor, as to the amount of compensation payable, the tribunal performed a detailed analysis of prices achieved for other similar homes in the area. It ruled that the open market value of the property at the date of acquisition was £84,000, substantially more than the local authority had contended for.
The tribunal also awarded the investor significant sums for the ‘disturbance’ he had suffered due to the compulsory acquisition, the costs of finding and purchasing an alternative property, various other expenses and for the time that he had spent in dealing with the matter. The total award came to £99,794.45. The local authority was also directed to pay the investor’s costs on the standard basis.
Lewicki v Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council. Case Number: ACQ/132/2011