Community Rights to Buy: overview

Crofting Community Right to Buy (“the Part 3 Right to Buy”)

The Crofting Community Right to Buy was introduced under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 and is colloquially known as “the Part 3 Right to Buy”.

It is a compulsory purchase right that allows crofting communities to apply for the right to buy eligible croft land, whether the owner wishes to sell or not.  

An application must show sustainable development benefits for the land and the crofting community. 

The information and links below will guide compliant crofting bodies through the process of applying for the right to buy.

Applying for the right to buy

We have produced the following guidance to help crofting communities through the process of forming a compliant crofting community body and applying for the right to buy. This is essential reading for any crofting community body wishing to submit an application:

• Crofting Community Right to Buy: guidance
• Crofting Community Right to Buy: route map
• Crofting Community Right to Buy: eligible assets

A compliant crofting community body wishing to apply is required to complete a crofting community right to buy application form and demonstrate a level of support alongside this application from the majority of both the crofting community, and those who are tenants of crofts within the land that the crofting community body has applied to buy.

• Crofting Community Right to Buy: application form

The completed application form, including maps and ballot result, and showing both the support of the crofting community and the tenants of crofts mentioned above, and supporting documentation, should be emailed to the crtb@gov.scot mailbox. 

Ballot of the community

As part of the application, the Crofting Community Body must conduct a ballot to demonstrate that they have the support of both the crofting community, and those who are tenants of crofts within the land that the crofting community body has applied to buy.

The ballot must be conducted in a fair and reasonable manner, and as a secret postal ballot. It may be advisable to make use of an independent party to conduct the ballot on behalf of the crofting community body.

The results of the ballot must be published within 14 days of the ballot deadline.

When the final application is submitted to Scottish Ministers, the applicant must also send a copy to the landowner, any tenants, and any heritable creditor for their comments. The application and supporting documents will also be entered in the Register of Crofting Community Rights to Buy, which can be found on the Crofting Commission website(crofting.scotland.gov.uk/).

Scottish Ministers will also give public notice of the application and invite comments from relevant parties.

A temporary prohibition is placed on the landowner and, where relevant, any heritable creditors. This prevents them from taking steps to transfer or dispose of the land until a decision is made on the application.

Ministers will consider all comments received when deciding whether to approve or reject the application.

Valuation of the land

If an application is approved, Scottish Ministers will appoint an independent valuer to conduct a full market valuation of the land.

The valuer will contact the community body and landowner, as well as any other relevant parties to request any views they may have on the value on the land.  The valuer will consider these views when determining the market value of the land.

The valuer has eight weeks to produce their report and the price to be paid by the crofting community body will be one of the following:

• the amount agreed between the two parties. Both parties can agree a different price to that of the valuer
• if no agreement is reached, the market value of the land as assessed by the valuer
• if the valuation is appealed, by either party, the amount determined by the Scottish Land Court

The Crofting Community Body must confirm its intention to proceed with the purchase within 21 days of receiving the valuation.

Purchasing the land