What is a Compulsory Purchase Order?

You may think that you own your purchased property and especially if it comes under freehold. You own whatever is on that land (freehold) be it buildings, crops or even a fishing lake… but, you don’t always so I need to explain to you the meaning of Compulsory Purchase Orders. It’s rather rare – though it does happen!

Upon purchasing your property be it leasehold or freehold and everything in between, you will be comforted in knowing that you are now the new owner and that no one can take that away from you be it a straight cash purchase or so long as you keep up with your monthly payments such as for your mortgage. Unless you decide to sell or default on loans then you will remain the king of your own castle. As much as that rings true for most of us, there are countless horror stories where owners of property have lost whole or part of their land/property under a compulsory purchase order and they never had a say in the proceedings.

A Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) is where the government or other public bodies are able to take part or all of your property for what is classed as the greater good. You will be paid compensation though this is usually no where near the correct financial amount required. Situations where CPO’s occur is for the likes of transport (new roads / rail tracks) or utility services where land or buildings are needed in order to facilitate new routes / widening of routes etc.

It is highly unlikely that you get a knock on the door with a demand to acquire your property there and then, prior notice is given and even then the party in question will have to take their case through councils and if needed parliament for large CPO’s. You can challenge CPO’s and there are legal teams that specialise in such cases – You can challenge a CPO in the High Court under the Acquisition of Land Act 1981.

The public body in question will have to approach the purchase of your house just like any other sale procedure and if you are fully prepared for such dealings then at times, depending on the advice you have been given, you can achieve a decent price of sale. There are times where part CPO’s can heavily effect the value of a property and especially for such cases where new routes are placed alongside existing land / property – Again, compensation can be sought. Another area which can devalue property is when proposed CPO’s which are lengthy to come to fruition put what is termed as a blight notice which is a reduction of home / land value due to looming CPO. Businesses can also suffer such as for instance where part of farming land is acquired that may have held valuable crops such as vines for wine making.

 

EAN Content

Content shared by this account is either news shared free by third parties or sponsored (paid for) content from third parties. Please be advised that links to third party websites are not endorsed by Estate Agent Networking - Please do your own research before committing to any third party business promoted on our website. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

You May Also Enjoy

Home and Living

High Quality Modular Homes for the UK

Are you looking for added accommodation space in your garden / on your land? Modular Living Homes by tutumHOUSE offer a new way to live – minimalist in form, rich in experience. “There are approximately 9.6 million homes in the UK with a garden shed, and around 52% of the population owns one.” asgardsss There…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

The most stressful places to move to in the UK

With more people in the UK moving homes during summer than any other season and the average cost of moving in the UK rising to over £14,000, picking the right place to move to has become more crucial than ever. Luckily, new research from Pay Less for Storage reveals the UK cities that make life easiest…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Time-Traveling Estate Agent Sequel Climbs Amazon Charts

A UK Estate Agent Currently Bringing Joy to People’s Lives – Shame He’s Fictional…   Eric Meek, the fictional estate agent created by author Dale Bradford, is back for a second outing in The Time‑Travelling Estate Agent 2, a sequel that is already climbing Amazon’s bestselling time‑travel rankings. Estate agents were recently highlighted as the third…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Is it finally time for lenders to back green homes?

Andrew Smith weighs the risks and rewards Property developers are increasingly pitching green homes to lenders; however, with sales cycles slowing down and repair costs rising, is now the right time to back sustainable builds and at what price point is there market demand? Sustainability is continuing to shape our future of construction with the…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 24/07/25

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   OpticWise – digital infrastructure in commercial real estate If your building were a product, how would it perform on the user experience scale?  Week 9: Experience as Infrastructure – Designing for Human-Centric Buildings Welcome to Week 9 of our 52-week journey into the future…
Read More
new build homes colchester essex
Breaking News

UK Housebuilding Falters as Construction Hiring Flatlines

New research from Inventory Base reveals that UK construction industry employment has increased by almost 11% in the past five years, but there has been less than 1% growth in the past 12 months. Inventory Base’s analysis of the UK construction industry shows that in 2024 (latest data available) it employed an estimated total of…
Read More