Part 7: Compulsory Purchase Etc Compensation Sections 194 through 196: Making a request for advance payment of compensation; Power to make and timing of advance payment; Interest on advance payments of compensation
The purpose of advance payments is to put the claimant in a financial position, so far as is possible and as early as is possible, so that they can re-order their affairs with the minimum of disruption. In the majority of cases the claimant will find it necessary either to move house, if their home is acquired, or to move to other business premises in order to avoid closure of their business. Before this Act comes into force, an advance payment will only be paid when, or after, possession is taken by the acquiring authority.
	Sections 194 through 196 make changes to the advance payments system to facilitate clearer claims and earlier payments.  They also require the payment of interest if the acquiring authority fails to make a payment on time.
	To help enable acquiring authorities to make a faster and earlier advance payment, section 194(2) amends section 52(2) of the Land Compensation Act 1973 (1973 Act) to clarify the information that must be included in a request for an advance payment. New section 52(2A) provides that within 28 days of receiving a request an acquiring authority must request further information from the claimant (if necessary) so that there is greater certainty about the timing of the process.
	Section 194(3) makes a corresponding change to section 52ZC of the 1973 Act. Within 28 days of receiving a request for a payment to a mortgagee, the acquiring authority must require the claimant to provide any further information needed to give effect to section 52ZA or, as the case may be, section 52ZB of the 1973 Act.
	Section 194(4) inserts a new section 52ZD into the 1973 Act to give the "appropriate national authority" (being the Secretary of State in England and the Welsh Ministers in Wales) the power to make regulations detailing the form and content of a claimant’s request for an advance payment or a payment to a mortgagee under section 52ZA(3) or 52ZB(3). The regulations may also require acquiring authorities to supply the claimant with copies, at specified stages of the process, of a form to be used when making any such request.
	Section 195(2) amends section 52 of the 1973 Act to facilitate earlier advance payments by: allowing an acquiring authority to make an advance payment at any time after a request has been submitted and the compulsory acquisition has become authorised; and requiring an authority to make an advance payment if it gives a notice of entry or executes a general vesting declaration in respect of the land. The payment must be made before the end of the day on which the notice of entry is given or the general vesting declaration is executed, or, if later, before the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which the authority received the request for the payment or any further information required under section 52(2A)(b).
	New subsections (1A) and (4) of section 52 of the 1973 Act make special provision for where the compulsory acquisition is one to which the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 applies. In this case, the acquiring authority may not make an advance payment if they have not taken possession of the land, but must do so if they have. The payment must be made before the end of the day on which possession is taken, or, if later, before the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which the authority received the request for the payment or any further information required under section 52(2A)(b).
	Section 195(5) makes corresponding changes to section 52ZC of the 1973 Act to set out by when a payment to a mortgagee under section 52ZA or 52ZB must be made.
	Section 196(2) and (3) amends section 52A of the 1973 Act, and inserts a new section 52B into that Act. New section 52B provides for the payment by the acquiring authority of interest if it fails to make an advance payment when it is due. Interest will be payable on the amount of the advance payment that is paid late, and from the date it should have been paid, until payment has been made in full. New section 52B(4) requires the Treasury to make regulations to specify the rate of interest that will be payable.