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Section 4A: Vesting date: expedited procedure

Compulsory Purchase (Vesting Declarations) Act 1981 · 1981 c. 66View on legislation.gov.uk

Part II: Execution of Declaration

The expedited procedure is available in relation to a general vesting declaration if—

the specified land is unoccupied,
the acquiring authority considers that, by reason of disrepair, neglect, contamination, or risk to health or safety, the specified land is unfit for its ordinary use, and
Schedule A1 does not apply to the declaration.

The expedited procedure is also available in relation to a general vesting declaration if the acquiring authority has been unable to identify any person with an interest in the specified land.

Land is not to be regarded as occupied for the purposes of subsection (1)(a)—

if it is occupied only by persons who do not have a right to occupy it;
because of the presence of chattels on the land if the chattels appear to the acquiring authority to be of no significant value.

The ordinary use of land is to be taken for the purposes of subsection (1)(b) to be—

so far as the land comprises buildings or other features designed or adapted for a particular use, that use, and
so far as the land does not comprise such buildings or features, its most recent lawful use.

If the specified land includes one or more dwellings, the acquiring authority may decide that it is unfit for its ordinary use only if it considers that the dwelling, or each of those dwellings, is unfit for human habitation within the meaning of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (see section 10 of that Act).

In this section—

  • "dwelling" means a building or part of a building designed or adapted for occupation as a separate dwelling;

  • "the specified land" means the land specified in the general vesting declaration.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.