News Land Registry
Government is less likely to resort to expropriation
The number of expropriations has decreased in the past 27 years, but the expropriated area is about the same. This is apparent from a survey by the Land Registry. The instrument 'expropriation' is used relatively little. In most cases, the government acquires the land in consultation with the owner.
From 1995 to September 2021, 2.254 expropriation sentences were handed down. It concerned 5.388 plots, with a total area of 3.008 hectares. However, approximately 89% - or 18.120 land owners - transferred the land in consultation with the government before or during the expropriation procedure. That equates to approximately 30.000 plots, together it concerns 15.000 hectares.
Living and roads
Most land is expropriated for the construction of infrastructure, such as highways, canals or railways and spatial development (especially housing). The state expropriates mainly for nature compensation and infrastructure. Municipalities have a share of 53% in the total number of expropriation judgments. If we look at surface area, the State is the largest expropriating body with 39%. Of all expropriated land, 62% - or 1.866 hectares - was agricultural land. That is 0,1% of the available agricultural land in the Netherlands. About 71% of the expropriated plots were undeveloped. Calculated in terms of area, that is even 91%.
The least land was expropriated in the provinces of Drenthe and Groningen and the most in the provinces of South Holland and North Brabant. In the period under investigation, a number of years stood out in which a relatively large amount of expropriation took place. The researchers mention the construction of the Betuweroute and the high-speed line South (late 1990 early 2000) and the Hertogin Hedwigepolder (2018) as an explanation.
"We see that expropriation receives a lot of attention in the media," says Paul Peter Kuiper, real estate and land expert at the Land Registry at the Land Registry. "We also know that the current Expropriation Act will be merged into the Environment and Planning Act, which means that a number of procedural changes are made. This study looks back and provides an overview of the deployment and distribution of expropriation in the Netherlands over the past 27 years."
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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