Nominations
To nominate an Asset of Community Value please use the Assets of Community Value Nomination Form available to download on the right of this page. Once completed, it should be emailed to community@swdevon.gov.uk along with the associated documents.
Please read the guidance before you complete and return the nomination form as there is specific information you must provide as part of the application.
Important Information - A landowner may request to view this nomination form following any decision to list the asset concerned as an Asset of Community Value. If you feel that the information contained within this form is of a confidential, commercial and /or personal nature, please contact the Community Team for further guidance.
Moratorium
Once an asset has been listed nothing further will happen unless and until the owner decides to dispose of it, either through a freehold sale, or the grant or assignment of a qualifying lease (i.e. originally granted for at least twenty-five years).
Unless an exemption applies, the owner will only be able to dispose of the asset after a specified window has expired.
The first part of this window is a 6-week interim period, which will apply in all cases, from the point the owner notifies the local authority. This will allow community interest groups to make a written request to be treated as a potential bidder. If none do so in this period, the owner is free to sell their asset at the end of the 6 weeks.
During the 6-week interim moratorium period a community interest group may request in writing to be treated as a potential bidder for the asset; this will bring the full moratorium period into force. The community interest group does not have to provide any evidence of intention or financial resources to make such a bid. A community interest group must have one or more of the following structures:
- (a) A charity
- (b) A community interest company
- (c) A company limited by guarantee that is non-profit distributing
- (d) An industrial and provident society that is non-profit distributing. (These groups will be renamed as community benefit societies by the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies and Credit Unions Act 2010.)
If a community interest group does make a request during this interim period, then the full 6-month moratoria (again from the point the owner notifies the local authority) will operate. During this period the owner may continue to market and negotiate sales, but may not exchange contracts (or enter into a binding contract to do so later). There is one exception. The owner may sell to a community interest group during the moratorium period.
After the moratorium period - either the 6 weeks if there has been no community interest, or the full 6 months - the owner is free to sell to whomever they choose and at whatever price. No further moratorium will apply for the remainder of a protected period lasting 18 months. This 18-month period runs from the same start date of when the owner notified the local authority of wishing to sell.
Assets of Community Value
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