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Nominate a Property

The purpose of this guidance is to set out the process with regards to the new Community Right to Bid/Assets of Community Value.

It is not a legal interpretation of the regulations. If you have any questions please email acv@dover.gov.uk

We will update this guidance as required.

Background

The Community Right to Bid, which is also known as Assets of Community Value is one of the new community rights derived from the Localism Act, 2012, all of which have a stated aim of devolving power to local communities.

The aim of the Right is to empower communities wishing to protect valuable local assets (land and buildings) by requiring the Council to maintain a list of assets in its area which are of community value, so that upon sale, the community will have a chance to delay a sale in order to prepare a bid to buy it.

The Right does not restrict in anyway who the owner of the asset can sell the property to, or at what price and it does not confer a right of first refusal to community interest groups.

The Right does not apply to residential property or operational land as defined in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 Part 2.

The Process

The Government has published an Assets of Community Value Policy Statement and Statutory Regulations, which set out statutory elements of how the Right should operate; however, they do not specify how the Right should be administered by individual local authorities.

This guidance note explains our local process.

Who can nominate a site?

  • Neighbourhood Forums
  • Parish Councils
  • Unincorporated bodies of 21 named members
  • A Charity
  • Company Limited by Guarantee
  • Industrial or Provident Society
  • Community Interest Company

The process has 3 stages

Listing an asset of Community Value

Stage 1 - Nomination

You can nominate a property or land by completing the nomination form

The information we require is:

  • I. A description of the nominated land including its proposed boundaries. We ask that you provide us with a map that defines the boundary. These boundaries do not have to be the same as ownership boundaries, for instance as shown on the Land Registry plan if the land is registered; nor is it necessary for all parts of the nominated site to be in the same ownership.
  • II. Any information that you have about the freeholders, leaseholders and current occupants of the site.
  • III. The reasons for nominating the asset, explaining why you believe the asset meets the definition in the Act.
  • IV. Confirmation that you are eligible to make the nomination.

Stage 2 – The Council verifies the nomination

I. We check that all of the information has been provided and will contact you if there is anything else we require

II. We notify the owner of the site that their site has been nominated.

Stage 3 – The Council assesses the nomination

I. We assess the nomination to ensure it meets the criteria as set down in regulations

II. We will make a decision and enter the site on our list. We keep two lists, sites that are assessed as assets of community value and those that are not.

III. We will notify all parties of our decision. This decision will appear on any future land search for the site.

These three stages together should take no more than eight weeks

Seeking a review of our decision

Only the landowner can ask us to review our decision.

The landowner must present a case for removing the asset from the list based on whatever evidence they consider appropriate, but it should be relevant to the following issues:

  • Whether or not the asset is eligible to be listed
  • Whether or not the asset was nominated by an eligible group

The landowner should present this in writing in the first instance. The review will be undertaken by a Senior Officer of the Council who was not party to the original decision.

Selling a listed site

The landowner must let the Council know that they are going to dispose of the site. We will advertise sites on this website.

There is an interim moratorium period of six weeks.

If a relevant community interest group wants to place an offer, a Full Moratorium Period of 6 months is launched to enable the group to develop an offer to purchase the site.

During the moratorium period the landowner cannot dispose of the site unless they accept the bid from the community interest group.

Following the end of the Full Moratorium Period, the landowner is free to dispose of the site without further delay within 12 months. This is called the ‘Protected Period’.

Compensation

The owner of the listed asset may make a claim for compensation for any loss or expenses incurred at a time when the land was listed, which he would not have incurred had the land not been listed.

Contact

Email: acv@dover.gov.uk