Community right to buy: review

Closes 5 Oct 2025

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Petitions and ballots

Several stages of the right to buy process require evidence of community support, which is essential for a community project to succeed.   For the non-compulsory registration right (Part 2), the evidence required is in the form of a petition.  For the compulsory rights, or when the non-compulsory right is triggered, the evidence required takes the form of a ballot of the whole community.

Currently, for timeous applications, a petition is required to show that at least 10% of the members of the community are in favour of the application for a right to buy.  For late applications, legislation requires that a ‘significantly greater’ proportion of members in favour is required (which is currently set in practice at 15%).

A ballot requires that 50% of the community register a vote, and that 50% of those votes registered are in favour.  In essence, this requires a demonstration that 25% of the community are in favour of acquiring the asset.

We have received feedback that these voting thresholds can be difficult for community groups to provide and should be reduced. It is critical that applications are supported by the community, but we are considering whether any of these thresholds could be reduced while still demonstrating sufficient community support.

5a. Could some of these levels of community support and turnout required be reduced while still providing sufficient evidence that the proposals have community support?
5b. Should the demonstration of support in a ballot be solely based on the percentage of the community in support (i.e. with no separate minimum turnout requirement)—so for example a 25% threshold could be met by a 50% turnout and 50% support—or a 25% turnout and 100% support?
5c. If a ballot were based solely on the percentage of community support, with no minimum turnout, should the percentage of those against the proposals be considered, instead of just those in favour?