The Community Right to Bid is one of the new community rights introduced by the Localism Act 2011 and the Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012 and came into force on 21 September 2012.
Voluntary or community groups with a local connection can nominate a building or land as an asset of community value. It does not matter whether the property is in public or private ownership. However, the law says that certain buildings or land cannot be listed and these include residential property in general and land connected with the residence such as gardens and outbuildings.
If the Council agrees that the principal use of the property furthers the social wellbeing or social interests (including in particular, cultural, recreational and sporting interests) of the local community then the property will be listed as an asset of community value.
Making a nomination
It is important that your community group is eligible to nominate, you can only do this if you answer yes to the two questions below:
- Do you have a local connection to the property you are wishing to nominate? and;
- Are you an unincorporated community group with at least 21 members who are registered to vote in the East Staffordshire area, a parish council, charity, industrial & provident society, local neighbourhood forum, company limited by guarantee or community interest company?
To nominate you must inform us of the address of the property, details of the owner, the extent of the site and why you feel it is an asset of community value. You must also provide evidence of your eligibility to nominate.
To assist you, we have created a nomination form which should be returned it to righttobid@eaststaffsbc.gov.uk
Alternatively, you may send your nomination by post to Community Right to Bid, Assets & Estates, East Staffordshire Borough Council, The Town Hall, King Edward Place Burton upon Trent, DE14 2EB.
Further guidance on completing the nomination form can be obtained by reading through the guidance document.
What we will do next
Once we have received the completed form, we will consider and check the eligibility of the nomination and if we feel the property does have community value it will be added to the List of Assets of Community Value. Assets will remain on the list for five years and a land charge will be registered against the property. We aim to assess nominations within eight weeks of receipt.
You will be advised that the property has been listed and the date in five years time when it will be removed. When the five years have expired you can submit a new nomination.
If we decide to list a property the property owner can ask for a review and there will be a process for an appeal to an independent body. Further guidance will be provided in the letter to the property owner.
We will notify the nominee should the nomination be ineligible and provide an explanation as to why it was unsuccessful. In such circumstances the property will be added to the list of Unsuccessful Community Nominations and will remain on the list for five years.
Nominees are not able to appeal the decision made in respect of the property however, a complaint can be made, if you feel we have not followed the correct procedure, through the Council's complaint procedure.
Viewing nominated properties
You are able to view properties that have been successfully listed on the List of Assets of Community Value and properties that have not been successful on the Assets Nominated - Unsuccessful page.
Making a bid
It is important to note that not all groups mentioned under 'making a nomination' above are eligible to place a bid. All groups can nominate but only unincorporated groups cannot bid as they unable to legally own property.
The owner of the property must advise us when they intend to sell the property and we will publicise this on our website as well as informing the nominator.
If you want to make a bid you must inform us within six weeks of us telling you the property is available to purchase. You will then have six months to put together the bid (please note - this is not from when you inform us but six months from when the owner advises us of their intention to sell (this is known as the moratorium period). If there is more than one community group interested in purchasing the property we would encourage the groups to work together.
At any point before the end of the six months you may enter into negotiations with the property owner providing the owner is willing to do this. We would ask that we are kept informed of developments.
At the end of the moratorium period, if you have successfully put a bid together, the owner will have the option to either accept your bid or sell the property freely on the open market.
For details about the definition of asset of community value, sales outside the Act and land owner compensation please refer to the frequently asked questions section.