Compulsory acquisition of land: Lessons to be learnt from the Desane case

The Supreme Court of NSW has recently upheld a challenge brought by property developer, Desane, against an attempt by Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) to acquire its land for the WestConnex motorway project.¹

In May 2017, RMS served a Proposed Acquisition Notice (PAN) upon Desane which would enable RMS to compulsorily acquire Desane's property by 1 September 2017. However, Desane did not want to surrender the property to RMS and subsequently applied to the Court seeking a declaration that the PAN was invalid.

Essentially, Desane argued that the PAN was ineffective because:

• it did not comply with the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 (Just Terms Act) as it was not in the approved form