Community Rights to Buy: overview

Guidance on Community Rights to Buy - legal powers for communities across Scotland to acquire land.


Community Right to Buy Abandoned, Neglected or Detrimental Land (“the Part 3A Right to Buy”)

The Community Right to Buy Abandoned, Neglected or Detrimental Land was introduced under Part 3A of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 and is colloquially known as “the Part 3A Right to Buy”.

It is a right which allows compliant community bodies to apply to Scottish Ministers for consent to exercise a compulsory purchase of land or a building that is wholly or mainly abandoned or neglected or where the use or management of the land results in or causes harm directly or indirectly to the environmental wellbeing of the community.

Where Ministers grant consent, the community body has the right to buy the land or building compulsorily.

Warning

As a compulsory purchase, the right to buy is not intended to be used as a first resort and, prior to submitting an application for a right to buy, the process requires the community body to send a written offer to purchase the asset to the landowner, as well as conducting a ballot of the defined community.

The right to buy process takes at least 12 months from start (the initial offer to the owner) to finish (concluding the sale).

An application under consideration by Scottish Ministers does not (whilst the application is being considered) prevent the current owner from exercising any of their rights over the land, including the right to develop or lease their land or buildings, or to obtain planning permission.

As a compulsory purchase, the requirements for the right to buy are complex and a community body is required to demonstrate, within its application, that the transfer of land:

  • is in the public interest
  • is compatible with furthering the achievement of sustainable development in relation to the land

Depending on the reason for submitting an application, the community body must also demonstrate:

  • if its application relates to abandonment or neglect, that sustainable development is unlikely to be furthered by the owner of the land continuing to be its owner; or
  • if an application relates to a harm to the environmental wellbeing of the community, that the right to buy is compatible with removing, or substantially removing, that harm

The information and links below will guide compliant community bodies through the process of completing the required pre-application steps and applying for the right to buy.

Pre-application steps: preparing to submit an application

There are pre-application steps that a community body must undertake before it can submit an application under Part 3A.

A community body must not undertake any of these steps unless and until it has received a letter from Scottish Ministers confirming that the body is a compliant community body.

Confirmation of the body’s incorporation must also have been received from the relevant regulator:

  • Companies House
  • the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
  • the Financial Conduct Authority

It is essential that these steps be carried out in the order presented. Failure to follow these steps, prior to undertaking the pre-application work, could result in any subsequent application being rejected.

Step 1: Written offer to purchase the asset and, if applicable, contacting the relevant regulator

 

The compliant community body must have written to the landowner, at least six months prior to submitting an application, with an offer to purchase the land. 

It is recommended that you send the written offer by recorded delivery, in order for you to be able to track and retain evidence of the receipt of form by the landowner. If the landowner doesn’t respond or doesn’t accept the community body’s offer to purchase the land, the community body may apply for consent to exercise a right to buy the land under the Part 3A right to buy.

If your application for a right to buy relates to an environmental harm to the wellbeing of the community,  prior to submitting an application, the community body must also contact all relevant regulators (if any) to take action in relation to the land in exercise of its (or their) relevant regulatory functions that could, or might reasonably be expected to, remedy or mitigate the harm. The community body should retain all correspondence they have had with any relevant regulators, as this evidence may be helpful, should an application be required. 

Step 2: Ballot of the community

 

Within the six months prior to the submission of an application, the community body must establish community approval for its proposal to exercise the right to buy.

This must be demonstrated by undertaking a secret postal ballot of the community body’s defined community.

It is the responsibility of the community body to undertake the ballot and to meet the associated costs under the Part 3A Right to Buy.

Communities are strongly advised to discuss their plans for undertaking a ballot with the Community Land Team. 

If a ballot is not undertaken in strict accordance with Regulations  SSI 2018 No. 140,  Scottish Ministers will decline to consider the application.

Once a signed and dated application form is received by Scottish Ministers the community body can apply for reimbursement for the expense of conducting its ballot.

The 2003 Act requires a secret postal ballot to demonstrate the following level of support:

  • That at least half of the members of the defined community have voted, or where fewer than half of members of the community have voted, the proportion which voted is sufficient to justify the community body proceeding to buy the land; and
  • The majority of those voting have voted in favour of the proposition that the Part 3A body buy the land

An independent observer must be appointed to oversee the counting and recording of the votes. Only secret postal vote ballots are acceptable. Online ballots will not be accepted.

It is possible to contract out the running of the ballot, should the community body feel that this is a better option.

There are organisations that can be contracted to carry out the ballot, or the electoral services team at your local council may be able to help with this. As indicated earlier, you will be required to meet the costs associated with the ballot and can only submit a claim for the reimbursement of ballot costs once you submit an application.

Further information on the ballot process, including the identification of eligible voters and the information which must be issued to voters, can be found in the Part 3A guidance.

Step 3: Notification of the ballot result

 

Once a ballot has been undertaken the community body must, within 14 days of the ballot,  publish the result in a local newspaper (paper or digital edition) circulating in the defined community.

The community body will be asked to provide information to the Community Land Team about where the result has been published.

The community body must also publish the results on a webpage or website that is operated by, or on behalf of them, if one exists.

This notice must be publicised in the format prescribed in the Schedule 3 form:

The community body is also required to provide notice to Scottish Ministers, within 21 days of the ballot (or if the application for consent is made within 21 days of the ballot, with the application), the results and details in the format prescribed in Schedule 4:

Further details can be found in the Part 3A guidance.

Applying for the right to buy land

We have produced guidance, which is essential reading for any community body wishing to submit an application:

As the Part 3A Right to Buy is a compulsory purchase it is important that communities are aware that Scottish Ministers will be looking for fully developed proposals for the land when considering an application.

A community body’s proposals should be evidenced as much as possible via a business plan and/or feasibility study and there should be an indication from where  the community body will source the funding to purchase the land.

A compliant community body wishing to apply for the right to buy land is required to complete a right to buy application form:

An application must be received by Scottish Ministers within the 6-month period following the date of the ballot result. An application received outwith this period will not be considered by Ministers.

The completed application form, including maps and any supporting documentation should be emailed to the crtb@gov.scot mailbox. 

It is recommended that you first submit a full draft application to the Community Land Team to review for any compliance issues. 

An application is not deemed to have been officially accepted until the final, signed and dated version is received in full.

At the same time as submitting the final application to Ministers, the community body must send the application and the accompanying information to:

  • the owner of the land to which the application relates
  • the creditor, where there is a standard security in relation to the land

Where there is a creditor, the community body must invite them to notify the community body and Scottish Ministers, within 60 days from the sending of the invitation about any calling-up notice or notice of default, whether any notice of default has been upheld or varied by the court or that a warrant has been granted by the court to the creditor in relation to the land, or any part of it.

Views on the right to buy application

Once a signed and dated application is received by Ministers, a temporary prohibition is placed on the landowner and, where relevant, the creditor, preventing them from taking steps to transfer or dispose of the land.

At the same time, Ministers will invite the following parties to give their views on the application:

  • the owner of the land
  • the tenant if there is one
  • the creditor, where there is a standard security over the land or any part of it
  • any other person whom Ministers consider having an interest in the application
  • owners of all neighbouring land, to which the application relates

All parties will have 60 days after the date of the sending of the invitation in which to respond with their views.

Ministers are also required to give public notice of an application. On receipt of an application, public notice will be given on the Scottish Government website.

Any views in response to a public notice must be sent to Ministers, in writing, no later than 60 days after the publication of the notice.

Copies of any views received by Ministers will be sent to the community body who will then have 60 days to respond to Ministers.

Decision on the right to buy application

Ministers will consider all views received before they reach a decision on the application.

Ministers cannot make a decision any earlier than 180 days after the date of the submission of the application.

Ministers will give notice, in writing, of their decision to consent or to refuse consent to the community body’s application. The notice will also give reasons for their decision.

The notice will be sent to the community body, the owner of the land and, if included in the application, the tenant. They will also send it to any other person who was invited to send their views on the application.

Valuation of the land

Should Ministers grant consent to an application, an independent valuer will be appointed, within 7 days of their decision, to conduct a full market valuation of the land. 

The definition of “market value” is set out at section 97S(5) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. The valuation is the combination of:

  • the value on the open market if the sale were between a willing seller and a willing buyer
  • any depreciation in the value of other land or interests belonging to the seller which may result from the transfer of the land or tenant’s interest, including depreciation caused by the division of the land or interests by the transfer of the land to the Part 3A community body
  • the amount attributable to any disturbance to the seller which may arise in connection with the transfer of the land

The valuation may also take into account any factor attributable to the known existence of a person who would be willing to pay a higher price for the land or tenant’s interest because of a characteristic of the land that relates peculiarly to that person’s interest in buying it.

The valuer will invite the community body and the landowner, to make written representations about the value of the land.

If the valuer receives representations from the owner, they will invite the community body to send views on those representations.

Similarly, the owner will be invited to send views on representations made by the community body.

The valuer will consider all written views when considering the market value of the land.

If the community-body and the landowner have come to an agreement on the valuation of the land or (at any point in the process), they must notify the valuer in writing of that agreed valuation.

The valuer has 8 weeks from the date of their appointment (or longer if decided by Ministers on appointment of the valuer) to notify all relevant parties of the assessed value of the land.

The price to be paid for the land is either:

  • a price agreed between the relevant parties
  • if no price is agreed, the valuation price provided by the valuer; or
  • if the valuation figure is appealed, the price determined by the Lands Tribunal

Once all relevant parties have been notified of the valuation figure the community body has 21 days to send notice confirming that they intend to proceed with the right to buy.

This must be sent to Ministers and the landowner.

Ministers then have 7 days in which to acknowledge receipt of and send a copy of that acknowledgement to the landowner and to the Keeper of the Register of Applications by Community Bodies to Buy Land (RoACBL).

Purchasing the land

If Ministers grant consent to an application, the owner of the land is obliged to make available to the community body such deeds and other documents as are sufficient to enable the community body to proceed to complete the transfer of the title accordingly.

The community body is required to prepare the documents necessary to:

  • effect the transfer of the land
  • include any conditions Ministers require to be imposed upon the title to the land

The services of a solicitor will be required to complete the conveyance of the land.

The community body must pay the purchase price within 6 months from the date on which Ministers consented to the application.

In certain circumstances, this date can be extended, e.g. if all parties agree to a different settlement date. For full prescribed reasons for an amended settlement date, please see sections 97R of the Act.

Further information and details on the transfer process is available in the ‘Transfer of the land’ section of the right to buy guidance book.

Compensation

Any person, including the landowner, who has incurred loss or expense is entitled to claim compensation for that loss or expense from the community body.

Full details of the types of costs that might be covered are in section 97T of the Act.

A Part 3A community body is not liable to pay compensation where an application for consent has been refused by Scottish Ministers.

In this case, the landowner is entitled to recover the amount of any losses or expenses incurred in complying with the requirement of the Part 3A of the Act from Scottish Ministers.

The process for making a claim for compensation and the period in which a claim can be made is set out in the Community Right to Buy (Abandoned, Neglected or Detrimental Land) (Compensation) (Scotland) Order 2018.

Grants towards the payments of compensation

In given circumstances, Ministers may pay a grant towards a Part 3A community body’s liability for compensation.

To apply for such a grant, the Part 3A community body needs to demonstrate that:

  • after payment of outstanding liabilities incurred by the purchase of the land, the community body does not have sufficient funds to pay in full the compensation it is liable to pay;
  • the community body has taken all reasonable steps to try to obtain the compensation amount required but have been unable to do so; and
  • it is in the public interest that Ministers pay the grant.

The Part 3A community body must make an application to Ministers within 90 days of the date on which the community body and the claimant agreed the amount of compensation payable or the date on which the Lands Tribunal determined the amount of compensation payable.

A schedule 5 form must be completed by the community body should it wish to apply for a grant towards compensation:

Contact

Email: crtb@gov.scot 

Tel: 0300-244-9822

Post:
Community Land Team
Q Spur
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
Edinburgh
EH11 3XD

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