Community right to buy: review

Closes 5 Oct 2025

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Late applications

Currently, a community right to buy application that is received after an owner has taken steps to transfer the asset is considered to be a late application. At the moment, these steps are not defined but are left to the owner to state what they are and when they were taken.  Scottish Ministers will then decide whether or not they are relevant steps to transfer. Late applications cannot be accepted if missives have already been signed.  For late applications, community groups are expected to provide evidence that they have undertaken relevant work or steps towards a right to buy application prior to the owner taking steps to transfer ownership of the asset.

Once a late application is received, the owner must suspend all transfer actions until Scottish Ministers have decided on the application.  If the application is approved, the owner must sell to the community body, and if it is rejected, they can continue with the original transfer.

At no point is this a compulsory right to buy, since at any time the owner may indicate that they no longer wish to sell the asset, even if the right to buy application is approved.  In that case, the registration of a right to buy remains (for 5 years). Should the owner sell in the future, it would be triggered as a timeous application.

Up to 1 April 2025, of the 268 applications received since 2003, 62 of these have been late applications. We have approved 26 of those late applications.  In the first five years after 2003, we received 106 applications, of which 23 were late (16 of these were approved).  In the last five years, we have received 24 applications, of which 3 were late (none were approved). 

There are many possible reasons why the percentage of late applications, and their success rates, might have dropped over the years.   Various stakeholders have, however, noted that the property market has changed significantly since 2003.  Stakeholders have told us that some properties are being sold without being marketed, communities are not being informed of sales, and rights to buy have been extended into urban areas, with a very different property market, without any changes being made to the Late Application process. We are therefore considering whether the late application process should be updated to reflect market changes.  The Land Reform Bill, that is currently in progress in the Scottish Parliament, is also seeking to make changes to allow communities to be informed of planned sales of land.

6. What level of community support should be required for a late application to be accepted? The legislation requires it to be “significantly greater” than the 10% required for a timeous application. In practice, this has been taken to be 15%.
7. Should late applications only be accepted from community groups that can demonstrate that they are compliant with the Right to Buy provisions, prior to the owner taking steps to transfer (and should we define what is considered to be a step to transfer)?
8. Should late applications still require a community group to demonstrate that they had taken steps towards acquiring the land before the owner has taken steps to dispose of it? Further details will be developed on what those steps should be as part of the review.
9. Should it be a requirement of a late application that a detailed business plan for the asset be included, and should we define how much detail is required?
10. If a late application is approved, should the owner be prohibited from removing the asset from sale (given that they were already in the process of selling it)?