The Directorate Generals Doctrine on the Reversion of Land Expropriated from Landowners Who Do Not Belong to a Property Owners’ Joint Development Board

Abstract

This commentary concerns the handling of the right of reversion in the case of expropriations from property owners who do not belong to a property owners' joint development board. The Directorate General's decision of 30 March 2016 addresses the alternatives for cancelling registration in such cases. The decision also considers the necessary admission of the question in its initial, latent state, subject to subsequent acknowledgement on the basis of the fact that expropriation is at all events compulsory. This standpoint the DG upholds, above and beyond the configuration of reversion as an exception in expropriation for development, the undeniable importance of the owners consent as the trigger for government action to obtain land via expropriation, the interplay of legal duties inherent in the compensation system in connection only with the members of the property owners'   joint development board and, last of all, the need by law to adjust the reversion procedure to mesh with the underlying fact that reversion in development action can be acknowledged only when the development action is taken through the expropriation system.