Re Green Dale Building Company

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Supreme Court
• Judgment Date: 13 May 1977
• Docket Number: [1976 No. 143 SS.]
• Date: 13 May 1977

(S.C.)

In re Green Dale Building Co

Assessment - Relevant date - Service of notice to treat - Two notices served - One served before compulsory purchase order became operative - Waiver -Estoppel - Housing Act, 1966 (No. 21), s. 79.

Section 79, sub-s. 1 of the Housing Act, 1966, provides that where a compulsory purchase order is made and confirmed under the Act and "has become operative," and the housing authority decide to acquire the land to which the order relates, the authority shall serve on the owner of the land a notice to treat; and s. 84 of the Act provides that the compensation payable to the owner in respect of the land being acquired shall be the value thereof at the time when the relevant notice to quit was served, as assessed in accordance with that section. A housing authority made a compulsory purchase order affecting (inter alia) the lands of the claimant, and the order was duly confirmed in August, 1972. On the 14th December, 1972, the housing authority served on the claimant a notice to treat. Meanwhile, a third party had applied to the High Court for a declaration that the compulsory purchase order was invalid; and on the 7th April, 1975, the High Court dismissed the application, whereupon the compulsory purchase order became operative pursuant to s. 79 of the Act of 1966. On the 14th April, 1975, the housing authority served on the claimant a second notice to treat. The value of the claimant's lands in 1975 was less than it had been in 1972. Relying upon the validity of the first notice, the claimant had arranged for a property arbitrator to be appointed to assess the compensation payable to the claimant, and the claimant...