14
JAMES AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUGDMENT
(vii) the value of the unexpired portion of the lease to the tenants was
said to be up to £153,750 - without taking into account the right to
enfranchise;
(viii) in 15 cases, the tenant sold the lease, after making the claim but
before enfranchising, with the benefit of the right to enfranchise;
(ix) in at least 25 out of the 80 cases, the tenant who enfranchised did not
remain in occupation of the property, but sold the freehold within one year
of acquiring it, and in 9 of these cases did not occupy after enfranchisement
at all;
(x) the profits said to have been made by the tenants on such onward sale
varied from £32,000 to £182,000, with at least 7 cases where the tenant
made over £100,000; in particular in one case, the tenant who had come into
occupation three months before publication of the 1966 White Paper (see
paragraph 18 above) - and who had paid a low price (£9,000) for the lease,
without prospect of enfranchisement at that time - was able to buy the
freehold at 28 per cent of its proper value (as assessed by the applicants),
and sold it less than a year later for a profit of 636 per cent - a profit of
£116,000.
The losses claimed by the applicants to have been sustained through
having to sell on the statutory terms as opposed to open-market conditions
range from £1,350 to £148,080 on each transaction, and total £1,479,407 for
properties in respect of which the 1967 basis of valuation obtained and
£1,050,496 for properties in respect of which the 1974 basis of valuation
obtained.
PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION
30. In their application (no. 8793/79) lodged with the Commission on 23
October 1979, the applicants claimed that the compulsory transfer of 10 of
their properties gave rise, ipso facto and/or at the price paid, to a breach of
Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (P1-1) to the Convention. They also alleged that
the circumstances of the transfer involved discrimination contrary to Article
14 (art. 14) of the Convention and that the absence of any system of appeal
against such transfer violated Article 13 (art. 13) of the Convention. In what
they termed seventeen "supplementary applications" filed between 17 April
1980 and 3 January 1984, the applicants complained of a further 70
transactions.
31. The Commission declared the application admissible on 28 January
1983. In its report adopted on 11 May 1984 (Article 31) (art. 31), the
Commission expressed the unanimous opinion that there had been no
breach of any of the Articles relied on. The full text of the Commission’s
opinion is reproduced as an annex to the present judgment.