Land Acquisition Act 1993

An acquiring authority must – take all reasonable steps to ascertain all owners of any land the authority proposes to take and the addresses of those owners; and cause a notice to treat to be served on every owner so ascertained whose address has also been ascertained.

A notice to treat is to – be in a form approved by the Secretary; and identify the land to be taken; and contain particulars of the authorized purpose for which that land is being taken; and contain such other particulars as may be prescribed; and specify that the acquiring authority is willing to negotiate for the purchase of the land but, if agreement for the purchase of the land is not reached within 30 days after the service of the notice, the authority may take the land compulsorily; and specify that the owner of the land is entitled to compensation determined in accordance with this Act if the land is taken compulsorily; and specify that the owner is required by this Act to supply the authority with particulars of – the owner's estate in the land; and all other estates in the land of which the owner has notice; and specify that the owner is prohibited by this Act from carrying out works on, or doing any other act or thing in, or in relation to, the land that will materially vary the nature or value of the land unless the authority has consented to those works or that act or thing.

Land is to be identified in a notice to treat by a plan of survey or by any other means that will enable the owner receiving the notice to know the approximate location and extent of the land.

An owner who has been served with a notice to treat – must supply the acquiring authority with particulars of the owner's estate in the subject land; and must supply the authority with particulars of all other estates in the subject land of which the owner has notice; and must not, without the consent of the authority, carry out works on, or do any other act or thing in, or in relation to, the subject land that will materially vary its nature or value.

The relationship between an owner on whom a notice to treat has been served and the acquiring authority is, except where otherwise provided in this Act, the same as it would have been if, when the notice was served, the owner had agreed to sell to the authority the estate to which the notice related for an amount to be determined under Part 4.

An acquiring authority or an owner on whom a notice to treat has been served does not have any right to enforce performance of the notional contract of sale created by subsection (5) otherwise than as provided by this Act.

Where a notice to treat is served on an owner as provided in this section, any other owner of the land to which the notice relates who is unknown, or whose address is unknown, to the acquiring authority is taken to have been served with a notice to treat in respect of that land.