Community right to bid and assets of community value

Listing a building as an asset of community value buys time, not ownership. Under Part 5 Chapter 3 of the Localism Act 2011 and the Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012, a successful listing triggers a moratorium when the owner wants to sell, during which a qualifying community body can prepare a bid. It does not give a right to buy, a right of first refusal, or any power to stop the sale going to somebody else at the end of it.

Groups that understand that limit use the listing well. Groups that do not spend six months assuming the pub is saved and then watch it sell.

What listing does and does not do

A listed asset goes on a register the council must publish. When the owner intends to make a relevant disposal, usually a freehold sale or the grant of a lease of more than 25 years, they must notify the council. The disposal cannot proceed until the moratorium has run.

What the listing does not do is more important to understand at the outset.

It does not oblige the owner to sell at all, or to sell to the community group, or to accept a lower price. It does not require the owner to sell at market value or at any particular value. It does not prevent the owner from letting the building stand empty indefinitely, because the trigger is a disposal, not vacancy. And it does not, by itself, stop a change of use or demolition.

Several categories of disposal are exempt, including transfers between family members, gifts, transfers under a will, sales of a business as a going concern where the asset goes with it, and disposals by a personal representative. Owners who want to avoid the moratorium usually structure the transaction to fall within one of those, and there is nothing unlawful about doing so.

Who may nominate and on what grounds

The nomination has to come from a parish or town council, a neighbourhood forum, or a voluntary or community body with a local connection. That last category includes an unincorporated group of at least 21 local people on the electoral roll, a charity, a community interest company, an industrial and provident society or a company limited by guarantee that does not distribute profit.

The test the council applies has two limbs. An actual current use of the building or land, which is not an ancillary use, furthers the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community, and it is realistic to think that such a use can continue. Or there was such a use in the recent past, and it is realistic to think that it could resume within the next five years.

That second limb is the route for a closed pub or a shut village hall. It needs evidence, and "recent past" is not defined, so the argument has to be made rather than asserted.

What to put in a nomination:

• A plan with the boundary of the asset drawn precisely, including any car park or garden you want covered
• Evidence of the current or recent use, with dates, photographs, accounts, bookings or event records
• Why that use furthers social wellbeing or social interests, in the community's own words
• A realistic statement of how the use could continue or resume, including who would run it
• Proof that the nominating body qualifies, with the list of 21 electors if that is the route used

The owner is told and can make representations. A listing lasts five years unless removed earlier.

The moratorium and how it works

The mechanism runs in two stages and the dates matter.

From the owner's notification, an interim moratorium of six weeks runs. During that period a qualifying community body may make a written request to be treated as a potential bidder. If no request is made, the moratorium ends and the owner may sell freely for the rest of an 18 month protected period measured from the notification.

If a request is made, a full moratorium of six months runs from the notification, during which the owner may not complete a relevant disposal other than to a community body. After it ends, the owner may sell to anyone, at any price, for the remainder of the 18 month protected period. Then the cycle can begin again on a fresh notification.

Six months sounds like a long time. It is not, once you allow for forming a company, commissioning a valuation, raising finance, negotiating with a lender and completing due diligence. Groups that succeed usually started the financial work before the listing, not after the notification arrived.

Listing as a material consideration

The planning question is separate from the moratorium and often more useful.

Government guidance indicates that the listing of a building as an asset of community value may be a material consideration in determining a planning application affecting it. The weight given to it is a matter for the decision maker, and it will not on its own outweigh other considerations. Where a local plan or neighbourhood plan contains a policy on the loss of community facilities, that policy usually carries more weight than the listing itself, because it forms part of the statutory development plan.

Two practical points follow. Get the asset listed before the application is made, because a listing that arrives after the officer's report is written carries less traction. And make sure the objection explains what listing signifies about the building's role in the community, rather than simply stating that it is listed.

Public houses are worth a separate mention. Permitted development rights for the change of use and demolition of drinking establishments in England were removed in 2017, so any change of use or demolition of a pub requires a planning application, listed or not. The listing adds evidence to that application, and the marketing and viability evidence a policy on community facilities requires is usually the ground on which the case turns.

Appealing a refusal to list

If the council refuses to list, the nominating body cannot appeal. The decision is final subject only to judicial review, which is an expensive route for a nomination that can simply be resubmitted with better evidence.

The owner has the appeal rights. An owner can ask the council for an internal listing review within eight weeks of being notified, and if that fails, appeal to the First-tier Tribunal in the General Regulatory Chamber. Tribunal decisions on these appeals are published and repay reading, because they show consistently that the quality of evidence about actual use decides the outcome.

Where the asset stays listed, the owner may claim compensation from the council for loss and expense incurred because of the listing, which councils weigh when deciding borderline cases.

Where listing has changed an outcome

Be careful about the claims made for this tool. The listing itself has rarely been the decisive factor in a community purchase. What it does reliably is three things.

It creates a public record that the council has accepted the building furthers community wellbeing, which is evidence in a later planning objection. It gives a group a deadline, and deadlines make groups organise. And it forces the owner to reveal that a sale is happening, which they would otherwise have no obligation to disclose.

The purchases that complete tend to combine a listing with a share offer, grant funding, and a supportive planning policy on community facilities. The listing is one part of that, not the whole of it.

Limits people misunderstand

Four misunderstandings come up in almost every campaign.

The moratorium does not pause a planning application. Those are separate processes on separate timetables, and an application can be determined while the moratorium runs.

Listing does not freeze the use. An owner can continue to operate, change the operation, or close, subject only to whatever planning control applies to the change.

A community bid does not have to be accepted. The owner is free to reject it and sell elsewhere once the moratorium ends.

And listing does not create a legal interest in the land. It is a statutory restriction on disposal for a defined period, and a note goes on the register of title, but no proprietary right is created.

Understanding all of that is what separates a campaign that achieves something from one that spends its energy in the wrong place. If your concern is a specific application rather than a future sale, read our notes on nominating an asset of community value and on what listing does and does not do, and look at how a developer is expected to evidence consultation in a Statement of Community Involvement. Understanding the developer's documents is often the fastest way to find the weak point in their case, and you can see the full range at PlanScope.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.