Community Rights to Buy: overview

The Scottish Government has published Guidance on 'Community Rights to Buy' - the legal powers for communities across Scotland to acquire land.

Community Rights to Buy are a collection of legal powers, one of several community ownership mechanisms available to communities across Scotland.

The guide serves two functions:

• to provide a comprehensive overview of each of the four right to buy powers

• to act as the single source and portal to all the guidance books, forms, and model templates for each of the rights to buy

Introduction to the Community Right to Buy

The Community Right to Buy allows communities across Scotland to apply to register a community interest in land or buildings, and to be given the first right of refusal should the landowner decide to put the land up for sale.

It provides communities, who have identified a need within their community for an area of land or a building and have successfully registered an interest on that land or building, with the first option to buy that asset.

The next three rights can be exercised at any time, and are compulsory purchases, i.e. a successful application results in the land being acquired compulsorily.

Crofting Community Right to Buy (“the part 3 Right to Buy”)

The Crofting Community Right to Buy gives crofting communities the right to acquire and control the croft land where they live and work, and to acquire the interest of the tenant in tenanted land (interposed lease).

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 allows communities across Scotland to apply to Scottish Ministers for consent to exercise a compulsory purchase of land or a building, which is wholly or mainly abandoned or neglected, or where the use or management of the land is causing harm to the environmental wellbeing of the community.

Right to Buy Land to Further Sustainable Development (“the part 5 Right to Buy”)

The Right to Buy Land to Further Sustainable Development allows communities across Scotland to apply to compulsorily purchase land or buildings for the purposes of furthering the achievement of sustainable development.

Alternative mechanisms for community ownership

Other legal powers and mechanisms available to communities but which are not covered in this guide include:

• Community Asset Transfer
• ​Participation Requests
• Ownerless Property Transfer Scheme

Where to find information regarding existing applications