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Community Right to Buy

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The Community Right to Buy provisions under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 enable  communities with a population of less than 10,000 (in rural Scotland) to register an interest in acquiring land, with the opportunity to have first option to buy that land when it comes up for sale.

You may have identified that your community needs a play park or wants to build a new community centre on a piece of unused land, or perhaps you can see the potential for the community to manage local woodland. If you have already got a community group together and registered your interest, the Community Right to Buy provision would be a means of ensuring that the community is first in line to buy that land and that it will not end up paying any more than market value for acquiring it.

Community Right to Buy also extends to any buildings(for example churches, disused schools and community centres), salmon fishing and mineral rights associated with the land already owned or being purchased.

Community Right to Buy is not a structure in itself. To register an interest you must be incorporated as a Company Ltd by Guarantee with:-

  • a constitution (Articles) based on the model for Community Right to Buy. This sets out  specific clauses and the permissions required for you to proceed with land purchase in this way
  • no fewer than 20 members – the majority of whom should be from the local community  (in very small communities where it may be prohibitive to have 20+ members, the Scottish Ministers may agree a smaller number if it is in the public interest)
  • a clear definition of the community it serves (this is usually by postcode units)

Advantages of Community Right to Buy

  • opportunity that amounts to ‘first refusal’  to buy land for community ownership without having to compete with other private bidders or pay inflated private sale prices

Disdvantages of Community Right to Buy

  • the process requires registration prior to the land actually coming up for sale
  • once a community group owns the land, any future consideration for re-sale will depend on it being passed to another community group, crofting body or charity.  Permission for this will need to be sought from the Scottish Ministers

How to Register interest

Once you have established community interest in acquiring a specific piece of land, and have researched current ownership, you will need to set up as a Company Ltd by Guarantee, using the Community Right to Buy Articles.

Registration of interest is by application to the Scottish Executive and should be accompanied by a map showing the location and boundaries of the land in question. You are not required at this stage to set out a detailed project proposal for the intended community use of the land but it may help to set down some ideas on how you would intend to raise the funding required to purchase the land.

The Scottish Executive will notify the landowner of your interest (and any other interested parties) for comment. When the landowner chooses to sell the land, they are required to notify the Scottish Ministers and your community group.  The Scottish Ministers will check that your group is still interested and you will have a ‘first refusal’ period of 30 days. Once you agree to proceed, land purchase must be completed within 6 months.

Contact the Community Toolkit Editor

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Last Updated 19/10/2011 15:57

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