Expropriation and De Facto Expropriation Without Process

How the expropriation process works

After taking the public interest decision, the administration has the value of the property determined by its own valuation commission and invites the owner to negotiation. If agreement is reached, the transfer is made at the land registry. If not, the administration brings an action for determination of compensation and registration before the civil court of first instance.

In this action the court has a court-appointed expert examination carried out and determines the compensation. Article 11 of the Expropriation Law (No. 2942) lists the criteria the expert must take into account:

• The type and surface area of the property and all qualities and elements affecting its value
• For agricultural land, the net income method (based on the crops grown in that locality and their yield)
• For building plots, comparison of comparable sales (official sales on the date of expropriation)
• For structures, official unit prices and depreciation
• Tax declarations, official records and the location of the property

The critical point is this: the distinction between agricultural land and building plot fundamentally changes the compensation to be paid. A property being within municipal boundaries, being included in a zoning plan or having in fact been opened to development brings it closer to the character of a building plot; this debate is the most important part of the expert report, and objections to the report usually concentrate here.

Challenging the act: thirty days

If the owner wants annulment of the expropriation act (unlawfulness of the public interest decision, a procedural defect, wrong identification of the property and the like), the action must be brought within thirty days of the court notification under Article 10, or the statutory publication where notification cannot be made (Article 14). This period is a forfeiture period. Once it is missed, the act itself can no longer be disputed; only the compensation can.

The action for determination of compensation is not a determination in the owner's favour; it is an action brought by the administration, and what the owner must do is object to the report within the time limit and with reasons. Merely saying "the compensation is low" is not enough; the objection must be supported with comparable sales, zoning status and yield data.

De facto expropriation without process

If the administration has physically taken the property without expropriating it and without paying compensation (built a road across it, made a park, put up a facility), the owner may choose one of two routes:

• Removal of the interference: return of the property. Where a public facility has been built, in practice this route mostly produces no actual result.
• Claim for the value: claiming the value of the property on the date of the action as compensation. In practice this is the predominant choice.

Legal interference (hukuki el atma) concerns a planning restriction reserving property for a public service without completing expropriation. Under the current jurisdictional framework, a claim for the property’s value due to legal interference is distinguished from an action to annul the administrative planning act: the former is pursued before the civil court of first instance, while the latter belongs to administrative judicial review. The nature and date of the claim and any transitional issue must be checked.

Urgent expropriation

In certain cases the administration may take possession of the property without waiting for the determination of compensation (Article 27 of Law No. 2942). In that case the court has the value of the property determined and orders that this amount be blocked and that the administration take possession. In urgent expropriation too, the owner's right to object to the compensation continues; the possession order does not mean that the compensation has become final.

For general information purposes; service dates and administrative acts must be examined separately in every file.