Who’s Buying?  Land Reform Continued – Proposals Published for Compulsory Sales Orders

The relatively newly formed Scottish Land Commission has published its proposals for the new Compulsory Sales Order (“CSOs”). CSOs are part of the Scottish Government’s land reform programme – following on from the increased community rights to buy and the soon to be introduced Register of Controlling Interests in Land. The current programme of land reform is aimed at improving the extent to which Scotland’s land is used for the benefit of public interest, and CSOs are specifically intended to support urban renewal.

Local authorities (as planning authorities) will be able to use CSOs to compel private landowners to sell their property at public auction if the authority deems it to be in the public interest to do so. The spirit behind the proposal is to enable local authorities to bring problematic vacant sites and buildings back into use and help tackle the problem of long-term vacancy (and problems associated with that such as vandalism which further blights a community) and also use existing spaces to meet the needs of the community. Local authorities of course already have CPO powers and communities have rights to buy abandoned neglected or detrimental land. However, both existing CPO powers and rights to buy require there to be a clear alternative plan for the property to be in place (from the local authority or the community body) before they can be exercised, whereas CSOs allow the authorities to invite interest from other potential owners without there already being a plan or resources in place.

The Scottish Land Commission’s proposals provide the Scottish Government with suggestions as to how the CSO powers should work, as well as raising some important questions such as how the rights of existing landowners will be protected (there is careful consideration of how a sale by compulsion fits with the right to peaceful possession of property). The Commission’s hope is that a CSO framework will be used to initiate discussions with owners of problem properties and that such discussions may stimulate development, without there being a need for the local authority to compel the sale. It is not proposed that vacancy or lack of use itself would allow a local authority to initiate a CSO – there would need to evidence that the condition of a property was having a negative impact on the local community. The Commission also notes that it expects the power to be most relevant to small properties/ sites within existing urban communities and recommends that eligibility criteria is tightly defined so as not to discourage investment.

It is now for the Scottish Government to decide how the proposals for CSOs will be taken forward. The spirit behind the proposal is undoubtedly admirable – especially given that disadvantaged communities bear the burden of vacant and derelict properties (and the anti-social behaviour they attract) most. However, it is yet to be seen how much interest there would be in such sites at auction time – and local authorities would need to consider the risk of there being no interest before initiating a CSO as by the time they get to auction significant resources will have been spent in justifying the action.