Part  V. Compulsory Purchase of Land

Chapter  I. General Provisions

Article 208
To meet the requirements of the following public undertakings the State may compulsorily purchase private land according to the Provisions of this Act, but the area of land to be compulsorily purchased shall be limited to what is strictly required for the said undertakings:
(1) Installations of national defense.
(2) Communication enterprises.
(3) Public utility enterprises.
(4) Water conservancy enterprises.
(5) Public health.
(6) Government office buildings, office buildings of local self-governing bodies and other public buildings.
(7) Educational, academic, and philanthropic undertakings.
(8) Enterprises operated by the State.
(9) Other undertakings sponsored by the Government in the public interest.

Article 209
For the implementation of national economic policies, the government may compulsorily purchase private land, provided that such compulsory purchase is provided for by law.

Article 210
Scenic spots and historic remains shall not, as far as possible, be compulsorily purchased.
Scenic spots and historic remains that have been included in the area to be compulsorily purchased shall, as far as possible, be preserved.

Article 211
In applying for the compulsory purchase of land, the applicant shall show evidence that the undertaking sponsored has been authorized by law or decree.

Article 212
Zone purchase may be effected in the compulsory purchase of land for any one of the following purposes:
(1) For the implementation of national economic policies.
(2) For the creation of new cities and municipalities.
(3) For the promotion of undertaking specified in Section (1) or (3) of Article 208.
Zone purchase referred to in the preceding paragraph shall mean the compulsory purchase of all the
lands within a given area, whereof replanning and consolidation are required.

Article 213
Lands may be reserved for compulsory purchase for any one of the following undertakings:
(1) The opening of communication lines.
(2)The promotion of public utility enterprises.
(3)The creation of new cities and municipalities.
(4)The installation of national defense.
Land reserved for compulsory purchase, as referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall mean those lands that are to be required by the said undertakings for their future use and are prior to their actual use approved, upon the request of the organization responsible for the said undertakings, and publicly announced by the competent authorities as lands that are subject to compulsory purchase in future and shall not be put to any use that hinders their eventual compulsory purchase.

Article 214
The period in which any land is reserved for compulsory purchase according to the provisions of the preceding Article shall not exceed three years. Failure to effect compulsory purchase within the said time limit shall result in the cancellation of the reservation. But in the case of any undertaking mentioned in Section (1) or (4) of the preceding Article, the period in which any land is reserved for compulsory purchase may be extended with the approval of the competent authorities upon the request of the agency responsible for the said undertakings, provided that the period thus extended be no longer than five years.

Article 215
When any land is compulsorily purchased, all improvements thereon shall also be so purchased, unless any one of the following conditions applies:
(1) There exists any provision to the contrary.
(2) The owner of the said improvements requests to remove them and to effect the removal himself.
(3) The constructional improvements thereon were built when the Act provided did not allow such
construction.
(4) The types and volume of the agricultural improvements are not in conformity with normal cultivation conditions.
Identification of conditions (3) and (4) above shall be undertaken by the Municipal or County (City) Land Office together with other government authorities concerned.
After the expiration of the period of public announcement for compulsory purchase, the Municipal or County (City) Land Office may notify the landowners or users of the improvements referred to in conditions (3) and (4) above to demolish or to remove the said improvements within a time limit. After the expiration of the prescribed time limit, the Municipal or County (City) Land Office may dispose of them without compensation.

Article 216
In case the use of a compulsorily purchased land produces such adverse effects on the adjacent land as to make it unfit for its original utilization or to impair the efficiency of its original utilization, the owner of the adjacent land may demand due compensation from the user of the compulsorily purchased land.
The compensation referred to in the preceding paragraph shall not exceed the mount of depreciation in the value of the adjacent land caused by the use to which the compulsorily purchased land is put.

Article 217
In case the remaining portion of a compulsorily purchased land is unsuitable for proper use owing to the smallness of its size or the irregularity of its shape, its owner may request, within six months after the expiration of the period of public announcement, that it be compulsorily purchased altogether.

Article 218
  (Cancelled).

Article 219
The original owner of a compulsorily purchased private land may, within six years of the day following the completion of the payment of compensation, apply to the Municipal or County (City) Land Office for its redemption at the purchase price originally paid him, if any one of the following conditions applies:
(1) It is not used according to the approved plan one year after the completion of the payment of compensation.
(2) It is not used for the undertaking of the business of which compulsory purchase was originally approved.
The competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office shall submit all applications that are found upon examination to be covered by the preceding paragraph to the original approving authority for approval, and shall then notify the original landowners to pay back the original amount of the compensation within six months. The redemption right shall be deemed to have been waived if the said original landowner does not exert his right after the expiration of the time limit.
If the said original landowner is responsible for the matter referred to in Section (1) of Paragraph one, he cannot apply to redeem his land.
After private land has been compulsorily purchased and used according to the approved plan, if its use is changed according to the city planning project, the public authority, which is entrusted with the care of the land, shall publicly announce for one month whenever the said authority plans to sell the land by public tender. The said original landowner or his inheritor shall have the preferential right to purchase the said land on the same terms as are bid by any other person. But the preferential right shall be deemed to have been waived if the landowner or his inheritor does not express his intention to make the purchase within ten days of the closing of the public tender.

Article 220
Land that is being currently used for any of those undertakings enumerated in the different Sections of Article 208 shall not be compulsorily purchased, unless its compulsory purchase is unavoidable for the promotion of some more important undertaking. However, this provision shall not prevent the compulsory purchase of a small portion of the land so used, if such purchase does not hinder in any way the continued development of the present undertaking.

Article 221
The liabilities borne by any land under compulsory purchase shall be liquidated, and the amount of the liabilities so liquidated shall be limited to the amount of compensations payable for the said land and shall be paid off by the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office when the said compensations are paid.

Chapter  II. Procedure of Compulsory Purchase

Article 222
The compulsory purchase of land shall be subject to the approval of the Executive Yuan.

Article 223
  (Cancelled).

Article 224
In applying for the compulsory purchase of land, the applicant shall prepare a detailed project of compulsory purchase, a map with explanatory notes of the land to be compulsorily purchased and a blueprint showing how the land it to be used, and submit them for approval according to the provisions of the preceding two Articles.

Article 225
Upon the approval of any application for the compulsory purchase of land, the Central Land Office shall transmit all the details of the case to the Land Office of the competent Municipality or County (City) where the land is situated.

Article 226
In case two or more applicants apply for the compulsory purchase of the same land, the comparative importance of the undertakings sponsored shall be the criterion whereby approval is to be granted. In case the nature of the undertakings sponsored happens to be of equal importance, the order in which the applications have been made shall be the criterion whereby approval is to be granted.

Article 227
On receipt of instructions from the Central Land Office concerning the approval of any application for the compulsory purchase of land, the Municipal or County (City) Land Office shall make a public announcement thereon and notify the owner of the said land and other obligees having rights over it accordingly.
The period of the public announcement referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be 30 days.
Any person with interests in such land may raise objections thereto by submitting a written statement to the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office within the announcement period.

Article 228
In case the land to be compulsorily purchased is a land whereof the registration of ownership is completed, only such land ownership or other rights over it shall be recognized as are recorded in the land register on the last day when the period of public announcement expires, unless the land ownership or other rights have been acquired through inheritance, special performance or judicial decision, and the matter has been referred to the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office for record.
In case the land to be compulsorily purchased is a land whereof the registration of ownership is not yet completed, the holders of other rights over it shall, within the expiration of the period of public announcement referred to in the preceding Article, apply to the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office for the official recording of their rights.

Article 229
In case the land to be compulsorily purchased is a land whereof the registration of ownership is not yet completed according to Act and over which the holders of other rights fail to apply for the recording of their rights according to the provisions of the preceding Article, such rights shall not be regarded as liabilities borne by the land under compulsory purchase.

Article 230
The competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office requiring the use of the land to be compulsorily purchased may, after the public announcement has been made, go onto the land to make inspections or surveying. But in making inspections or surveying in buildings or on land with obstacles, the owners or users have to be informed in advance.

Article 231
The applicant requiring the use of the land to be compulsorily purchased shall not go unto the said land to begin construction work before the compensation for the land value and other compensations have been fully paid. But this provision shall not apply to the urgent need of the undertakings of water conservancy enterprises based on the ground of public security.

Article 232
After public announcement has been made of the impending compulsory purchase of any land, neither the transfer of ownership nor the creation of encumbrance shall be implemented, unless the land ownership or other rights over land have been acquired through inheritance, special performance or judicial decision, and the registration of their rights has been applied for within the period of the public announcement. The landowner or user shall not add any improvement thereon, and the construction of any improvement which is in progress at the time of the public announcement, shall cease immediately.
But if the competent Municipality or County (City) Land Office considers that the addition or continued construction of the improvements, referred to in the preceding paragraph, will not hinder the execution of the compulsory purchase project, special permission may be given, at the request of the obligee concerned, for the addition or continued construction of such improvements.

Article 233
Compensation for the value of a compulsorily purchased land and other compensations therefor shall be paid within 15 days after the expiration of the period of public announcement. But in the case of lands compulsorily purchased for the implementation of national economic policies or for those undertakings mentioned in Section (1), (2) or (4) of Article 208, the compensations may be paid, upon approval of the Executive Yuan, partly with land bonds.

Article 234
After all the compensations for a compulsorily purchased land have been duly paid, the Municipality or County (City) Land Office may fix a time limit within which the said land shall be vacated by the original obligee or user thereof.

Article 235
The rights and obligations of the original owner in respect of his land that is compulsorily purchased shall terminate when the compensations he is entitled to are paid in full. Pending the full payment of the said compensations, he shall have the right to continue to use the said land except in those cases covered by the proviso of Paragraph one of Article 231.

Chapter  III. Compensations for Compulsory Purchase

Article 236
Compensation for land value, other compensations, and removal fees to be paid for the compulsorily purchased land shall be fixed by the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office.
Compensation for land value, other compensations, and removal fees referred to in the preceding paragraph shall all be borne by the applicant requiring the use of the land to be compulsorily purchased and shall be paid through the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office.

Article 237
In effecting the payment of the compensation for land value and other compensations, the Municipal or County (City) Land Office may deposit the sum of money in the local court in either of the following cases:
(1) In case the rightful recipient refuses or is unable to accept the payment.
(2) In case the whereabouts of the rightful recipient is unknown.
The deposit of money in the local court, referred to in (2) above, shall be made in the names, and to the addresses, of the landowners or the holders of other rights over the land registered in the land registry.

Article 238
Under any one of the following conditions, the Municipal or County (City) Land Office may remove the improvements on a compulsorily purchased land on behalf of their owners or purchase them together with the land:
(1) If the rightful recipient of the removal fee refuses or is unable to accept the payment.
(2) If the whereabouts of the rightful recipient of the removal fee is unknown.
(3) If the rightful recipient of the removal fee fails to remove the said improvements within the prescribed time limit.

Article 239
The compensation for land value payable for the land to be compulsorily purchased shall be determined according to the following provisions:
(1) Where the value of the land to be compulsorily purchased has been assessed according to Act and the ownership thereof has undergone no transfer, the compensation therefor shall be based on its statutory value.
(2) Where the value of the land to be compulsorily purchased has been assessed according to Act and the ownership thereof has been transferred, the compensation therefor shall be based on its value at the last transfer.
(3) Where the value of the land to be compulsorily purchased has not been assessed according to Act, the compensation therefor shall be based on the land value as assessed by the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office.

Article 240
The compensation for the value of land reserved for compulsory purchase shall be based on its value at the time of compulsory purchase.

Article 241
The compensation for improvements on land that are compulsorily purchased shall be based on their value as assessed by the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office.

Article 242
Where the agricultural improvements on a compulsorily purchased land are also compulsorily purchased and where the yields thereof are due to ripen within one year from the date of compulsory purchase the compensation for such improvements shall be based on the assessed value of the ripened yields. Where the yields thereof are due to ripen more than one year from the date of compulsory purchase the compensation for such improvements shall be based on the expenses of their planting and cultivation at current value.

Article 243
  (Cancelled).

Article 244
A due amount of removal fee shall be paid for the removal of the improvements on any land if such improvements thereon have to be removed elsewhere as a result of the compulsory purchase of the said land.

Article 245
In case all the improvements on any land have to be removed elsewhere owing to the compulsory purchase of a part of the said land, the owner of the said improvements may request that removal fee be paid him for all the improvements .

Article 246
Where graves and other commemorative objects on a compulsorily purchased land have to be removed elsewhere, the removal fee payable therefor shall be the same as that payable for the removal of improvements therefrom.
The applicant requiring the use of the land to be compulsorily purchased shall have all ownerless graves thereon safely removed and re-interred elsewhere, and make a detailed statement in tabulated form there-anent and submit it to the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office for record.

Article 247
In case any objection should be raised as to the amount of compensation fixed according to the provisions of Article 239, 241, or 242, the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office shall refer the matter to the Committee on Standard Land Values for decision.