Expropriation: The Valuation Letter First, and Objections Go on a Form

When a property is expropriated for public benefit, the owner does not start with compensation but with a document called the valuation letter. Every service at this stage sits with the Ministry of Finance, spread across two addresses rather than one.

First: collecting the valuation letter

The condition: the property must actually be expropriated. What is required: a copy of the civil ID, the original deed and a copy, and a copy of the inheritance declaration if the person concerned has died.

The place: Mirqab, Abdullah Al Mubarak Street, Souq Al Museel, block 10/B, fourth floor — the expropriation for public benefit department.

Second: objecting

An objection to the valuation committee’s assessment is not made by turning up or by telephone but on an objection form submitted at the same address, with a power of attorney if the applicant is an agent. There is no fee.

Third: the certificate

A “to whom it may concern” certificate about an expropriated property is issued from a different address: the ministries complex in Mirqab, block 1, building 11, ground floor — the expropriated properties section. The fee is one dinar, the only fee in this whole sequence.

Fourth: payment

To be paid the full valuation amount you need: the inheritance declaration, the contract of sale to the government, and a bank statement. Where some heirs have been paid and others not, the withheld amount is paid to them on their civil IDs and account numbers.

And the shop owner inside the property

This is the heaviest file in the sequence. Six documents are required: a clearance from the Ministry of Electricity and Water, a receipt certificate from the expropriated properties section, a licence from the Ministry of Commerce, the tenancy contract, the last rent receipt from the landlord, and a waiver from the licence holder on the fit-out value to the valuer. That last item is the one usually overlooked, and without it the file is incomplete.

Photo: an excavator demolishing an old building. By Estormiz, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: Kuwait’s e-government portal, expropriation and valuation services at the Ministry of Finance.