Atomic Energy Act 1946

PART II Compensation

1 Where compensation is payable under section eight of this Act in respect of any article, the compensation shall be a sum equal to the price which the owner thereof might reasonably have been expected to obtain upon a sale thereof effected by him immediately before the date of the service of the notice of acquisition, and shall accrue due on that date, and shall, subject to the following provisions of this Schedule, be paid to the owner.

2 Any dispute as to whether any compensation is payable as aforesaid or as to the amount of such compensation or the persons to whom it is payable, shall be referred to an arbitrator to be appointed, in default of agreement, by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

3 Any compensation payable as aforesaid shall carry interest, as from the time at which it accrues due, until payment, at such rate as the Treasury may from time to time by order prescribe.

4 Where, immediately before the service of the notice of acquisition relating to any article in respect of which compensation is payable as aforesaid, it was in the possession of some person other than the owner by virtue of a hire purchase agreement or was subject to a mortgage, the said person or the mortgagee, as the case may be, may, by a notice served on the Minister, make a claim to have apportioned to him such part of the compensation as may be specified in his claim; and in default of agreement between the parties the last mentioned claim shall be determined by such an arbitrator as aforesaid who may apportion the compensation between them in such manner as appears to him to be just.

5 Where any compensation is paid to a mortgagee under the last foregoing paragraph, he shall be liable to account therefor as if the compensation were proceeds of sale of the article in question arising under a power of sale exercised by the mortgagee at the material time and the interest on that compensation were interest on those proceeds.

6 In this Schedule the expression " hire, purchase agreement " has the same meaning as in the [1 & 2 Geo. 6. c. 53.] Hire Purchase Act, 1938 ; the expression "mortgage " includes any pledge, lien or other similar obligation, and the expression " mortgagee " shall be construed accordingly ; and the expression " owner " means, in relation to any article, the person entitled to sell the article", it being assumed not to be subject to any mortgage.