FAQs for purchasing Council owned land or property

Firstly, the Council must decide if it wishes to sell or keep the area of land in question. This involves an internal process of consultation with Council Officers and Ward Members before a decision is made and before any negotiations can take place.

Your application must be submitted in writing to Corporate Landlord Services, Place Directorate*, preferably with a sketch plan identifying the land/property, stating why you wish to purchase the land/property and its intended use, or what you wish the Council to consider, together with the non-refundable administration fee. Please see the fee list and contact details provided. You may submit *your* application and plan by email if you would prefer.

If you require information from us before you decide to submit a full application, please put this in writing, together with a cheque for the amount of Fee 1.

Should the matter go forward for consultation by a Property Manager, Fee 2 will be payable before further work commences.

Should your application be for temporary consent to cross-Council owned land to, for example, repair your boundary fence, please submit your application in writing with Fee 3.

All other applications will require the payment of Fee 2 before work can commence.

Fees can be paid by cheque at the time of submission of your application made payable to D.M.B.C and sent to Ms Linda Clift (see Contact Details) or by debit/credit card payment once all of the required information has been received by the Council to process your application. Credit/debit card payments will be taken over the phone by Ms Linda Clift and we can also call you to take the payment once a completed application has been received.

Please note that the Council may refuse any application to:

• Purchase or lease land that is considered to be a corner plot within a Council housing estate.
• Purchase or lease land that forms parts of Council tenancies.
• Grant, extinguish or vary rights across land held for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).
• Grant, extinguish or vary rights reserved to the Council across the privately owned property.
• Enforce clauses within leases which seek to restrict the range of goods and use of shops sold or let by the Council and located in housing estates.

If you are unsure whether the matter you are interested in falls within one of the above categories, you may still make an application but you must submit Fee 1 with your application before it can be considered. Should you then wish to make a full application, a further fee of £359.70 (inc VAT) is required before we can proceed.

If you want to find out who owns a piece of land you should check with The Land Registry at:

Land Registry Citizen Centre
PO Box 74
Gloucester
GL14 9BB

Tel: 0300 006 0411
Website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry 

If you request to purchase land involves changing the use of that land (for example, from open space to private garden land) then it is recommended that you seek advice of the Council’s Planning Policy and Development Control teams before you submit your application. See contacts list below.

No, “Right to Buy” applies only to your Council house tenancy. Applications to buy additional land have to be dealt with using the procedure we are describing. 

We will acknowledge receipt of your application and non-refundable administration fee payable. Your application will be taken to the next available meeting between Officers and the Cabinet Member for Planning & *Economic Development*.

If it's agreed that your application can be considered then you will be informed in writing of the name and contact details for your Property Manager who will begin the required consultation process with Officers and Ward Members.

Each Ward in the Borough has 3 elected Councillors who are your Ward Members.

In some cases, the Ward Members or the Strategic Director may wish to refer the matter for consideration by the local Community Forum before a decision is made and this will mean that it will take considerably longer for a decision to be made.

Each Community Forum meets 4 times a year and is an opportunity for elected Members and the general public to meet to discuss issues affecting the area. There are currently 9 Community Forums within the Borough. Further details regarding the Community Forums can be obtained from the Councils web site.

Please be aware that information regarding your application may be made available to this public meeting unless it contains sensitive information that is considered exempt as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.

The Community forum won't make the decision regarding your application, it is for consultation only.

Your Property Manager will prepare a briefing note for the next available Development Co-Ordination Group Meeting and Cabinet Member for Planning & *Economic Development* informing them of the outcome of the consultation.

Following their consideration, a decision will be made by the Strategic Director for Place.

Once the decision has been authorized it can then be implemented by Council Officers.

If the decision is to refuse your application, you will be advised in writing.

There is no appeals procedure, but if you feel that you have additional information, or justification to support your application that has not already been considered, or if you amend your application in some way, we may be able to process your application again, based on the new information.

Please note that you may be charged a further administration fee if your revised application involves undertaking the consultation process again.

If the decision is to approve your application, your Property Manager will advise you in writing and instruct the Council’s Surveyor.
We will ask for a plan of the land to be drawn up by the Councils Land Surveyor. It will show the measurements of the site and any constraints (i.e. public services). 

The Surveyor will not normally contact you until these plans have been completed.

• The Surveyor will normally wait until the Land Surveyors plans have been received and then prepare a valuation of the land/property.
• The Surveyor may also make a site visit in the course of this preparation work.
• The Surveyor will then make contact with you to agree to the terms and conditions of the sale.
• Once all of the terms and conditions have been agreed with you, the Council’s Solicitors will be instructed to prepare the legal documents.

At this stage, you should think about contacting your own Solicitor.

Next, your Solicitor will send a set of Preliminary Enquiries to the Council. This is a set of questions covering matters such as, who is responsible for the boundaries and what fixtures and fittings are included in the sale price.

Once the contract terms are agreed and your Solicitor has received satisfactory replies to all of the Preliminary Enquiries, Contracts for Sale can be signed and formally exchanged. It is at this point that the transaction becomes “binding”.

The signed contract will include a completion date. This is the date when the land/property becomes yours.

At the point of exchange of contracts you are likely to have to pay a deposit to the Council through your Solicitor, usually, this is 10% of the sale price.

Your Solicitor will prepare the Transfer Deed, which is the document that records you as the new legal owner of the land/property at HM Land Registry. The transfer will be sent to the Council’s Solicitor who will arrange for it to be sealed on behalf of the Council, in readiness for completion. On the day of completion, the Transfer will be handed to your Solicitor, together with the Title Deeds (and any keys) in return for the purchase monies, which your Solicitor will have received from you and/or your funder.

This is likely to be the last contact your Solicitor will need to have with the Council unless he requires the Council to assist him with dealing with any enquiries that may arise on his application for registration at HM Land Registry.

You will also need to insure the land/ property from the date of Exchange of Contracts (as per your Solicitors advice), as our policy will not cover it from that time.

Completion marks the end of the process so far as the Council is concerned but there are still some matters for you and your Solicitor to deal with before the property can be properly regarded as being in your ownership, including completion of a Land Transaction Return for the Inland Revenue, payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax if appropriate and registration at HM Land Registry.

1) Public open space:

 If the land you wish to purchase is held as Public Open Space, the Local Government Act 1972 requires the Council to advertise the disposal of Public Open Space in a local newspaper for two consecutive weeks and to consider any objections received. You will have to pay for the cost of advertising and will be given an estimate of the likely cost at the time. You will then be invoiced for the advertising costs. If we receive any objections to the disposal, these will have to be considered before a decision is made.

2) Open market sale:

The Council is obliged by law, under the Local Government Act 1972, to sell land for the best price reasonably obtainable. This means that in some cases if, following consultation, it is considered that the land you have asked to purchase could be of interest to other parties or could be sold for development land, the Council must advertise it for sale on the open market. In such a case you will be sent sales details once prepared and will be able to make an offer for the land along with any other interested party. Please note that your admin fee will not be refundable in such cases.

3) Administration fee:

 Before we can start work on your application, you will need to pay the appropriate non refundable administration fee. It is payable to offset some of the costs involved in processing your application, but it does not cover the full cost. Payment of the fee will not guarantee that your application is approved and it is entirely separate to the valuation of the land. This fee is reviewed each year and effective from 1st April. There are no exemptions.

4) Planning consent:

 Planning consent may be required for change of use or development of the land, or for other matters such as fencing and boundary treatment. You are responsible for finding out if planning consent is required and you should make your own enquiries about this aspect of your proposals with Development Control Planning Officers. See contacts list.

It is your responsibility to ensure that any consents required are gained. Should you submit a planning application to include the Councils land you must serve the appropriate notice and you may address this to the relevant Property Manager. Please note that the Council as Land owner is different from the Planning Authority. Therefore although you may be granted planning consent, this does not guarantee that your application to the Council as land owner will be approved.

5) Other Fees:

 Once a sale has been agreed, you will be required to pay the agreed price for the land together with the Council’s Legal and Surveyors fees incurred in the matter, as well as your own fees. For guidance please refer to the fee list attached to this leaflet.

No, it’s not a legal requirement but is advisable to protect your own interests. The Councils legal team cannot advise or assist you as they are employed to protect the Councils interests in the transaction.

Once the Council’s Solicitor has been instructed, a Contract for Sale will be drawn up. This will be sent to your Solicitor for approval.

You should talk to your Solicitor directly about the service on offer, but generally, it will involve the consideration of the draft contract and undertaking Local Authority Searches, asking questions about plans for new roads, planning consents and other matters that could affect the value of the land/property in the future. The local authority charges a fee for providing Local Land Charge information and the cost of this Search will be included in your Solicitor’s bill. You may have to pay for this in advance of submitting the Search.