Working out everything you're owed — then fighting to get it.
Valuation and negotiation is the heart of what we do. We build your claim head by head, value it properly, and negotiate hard with the acquiring authority so you walk away with the full amount you're entitled to.
Resident owners · Landlords · Zero cost to you
Fair compensation isn't just "what the house is worth"
When an authority takes your property, the law doesn't owe you a single figure — it owes you a properly built claim made up of several distinct parts.
Miss one of those parts, undervalue another, and you're left short — often by tens of thousands of pounds. The authority's surveyor won't volunteer the difference. Our job is to make sure every element of your claim is identified, evidenced and negotiated to its full value, so nothing you're entitled to slips through.
The building blocks of your compensation
Most claims are built from several main parts. They stack together — and we make the case for every one.
Market value
What your property would have sold for on the open market if the scheme behind the acquisition didn't exist — the “no-scheme world”. We value it on real, completed sales of comparable properties — hard transactional evidence, not optimistic asking prices — and make sure any effect of the scheme itself is properly disregarded.
Statutory loss payments
A fixed payment set by law, paid on top of your market value, to recognise the upheaval of losing your property. Resident owners receive a home loss payment (a higher percentage of value); owners who don't live there receive a basic loss payment (a smaller percentage). Each is capped — though the cap is rarely reached. See the rates below.
Disturbance
The costs the acquisition forces on you — paid on top of the above. What you can claim depends on whether you live there. Resident owners can claim the wide range of costs of being made to move home. For investment owners it's narrower — broadly the reasonable costs of acquiring an equivalent replacement property.
Professional fees
Your reasonable surveyor's and solicitor's fees — met by the acquiring authority, on top of your compensation, because you're a forced seller. We handle the surveying, and we can help you find a solicitor with genuine compulsory purchase experience too.
An extra payment on top — set as a percentage of value
Statutory loss payments are paid in addition to your market value. The rate depends on whether the property is your home or an investment.
Resident owners — home loss payment
10% of your property's market value, paid on top. It is subject to a maximum cap, but in practice that cap is rarely reached.
Non-resident owners — basic loss payment
2.5% of market value, paid on top. This is also capped, and again the cap is rarely reached.
What you can claim depends on how you owned it
Disturbance is where the detail matters most — and where resident owners and investment owners are treated very differently.
If you live there
Resident owners
You can claim the wide range of unavoidable costs of being made to move home — removals, legal and professional fees, survey costs, mortgage and financial costs, and the other losses the move forces on you.
If it's an investment
Non-resident owners
Your disturbance is narrower. Under section 10A of the Land Compensation Act 1961, it broadly covers the reasonable costs of acquiring an equivalent replacement investment property — not the full range a resident owner can claim.
Evidence they can't argue with, pressure they can't ignore
A number is only worth what you can defend. Our negotiating strength comes from doing the groundwork properly:
- Building your claim on completed-sale evidence, not asking prices
- Accounting for the “no-scheme world” the law entitles you to
- Capturing every head of claim, not just the obvious ones
- Knowing the authority's tactics — we deal with them daily
- Pressing for scheme concessions wherever they're possible
- Standing firm through to a settlement that's genuinely fair
And because our fee is typically a percentage of what we recover for you — paid on top by the authority, never taken from your money — the more we win for you, the better we've done. Your best result is our best result.
Don't leave money — or time — on the table
There's a six-year time limit
Claims for compensation generally must be made within six years. Miss that window and your right to have your compensation independently assessed can be lost altogether. The earlier we're involved, the more of your claim we can protect — so it's always worth a call sooner rather than later.
The terms you agree can govern your disturbance
Where a sale is agreed by contract, the terms of that contract can shape what disturbance you're entitled to. Signing the wrong wording can quietly limit your claim. We make sure what's agreed protects your entitlements rather than eroding them.
You should be left no worse off — and no better off
Compensation is built on the principle of equivalence: you should be restored to the financial position you were in before the acquisition — neither worse off nor better off. Everything we claim is anchored to that principle, which is exactly why a thorough, evidenced claim matters so much.
One honest word on the market value part of your claim, though: it is exactly that — market value. It's what your property would genuinely sell for on the evidence, which isn't always the same as what you feel it's worth, or what a similar-looking property nearby might achieve. Two homes can look alike and still carry genuinely different values. We'll always be straight with you about what the evidence supports — the aim is your true position, fully and fairly claimed, not a figure that wouldn't stand up.
Nothing — the authority pays your fees
Because you're a forced seller, the acquiring authority is responsible for your reasonable surveyor's and solicitor's fees. They're paid on top of your compensation, not deducted from it.
So you get expert valuation and hard-nosed negotiation on your side, in full — and it doesn't cost you a penny. More on what it costs →
Let's find out what you're really owed.
Speak to a chartered surveyor for friendly, no-obligation advice. We'll explain the parts of your claim, what they could be worth, and how we'll fight for every one — at zero cost to you.