Moratorium Periods
Once the owner of a listed property makes the decision to sell an asset of community value, they must inform the Council so that local community interest groups can be made aware. From the date that the owner notifies the Council of their intention to sell, various moratorium periods will apply.
Interim moratorium
This is a period of 6 weeks commencing from the date that the Council is notified. During these 6 weeks, community interest groups can write to the Council to request that they be treated as a potential bidder.
Full moratorium
This is a period of 6 months commencing from the date that the Council is notified. The purpose of the full moratorium is to give those community interest groups that registered as potential bidders time to put forward a formal bid for the property. This period will only apply should a qualifying community interest group make a written request to be treated as a potential bidder during the interim moratorium.
Protected period
This is a period of 18 months from the date that the Council is notified. After the moratorium periods come to an end, no further moratorium will apply during this 18 month period.
The owner of the property may only sell the property once these periods come to an end - If no requests are made during the interim moratorium then after 6 weeks or after the full 6 months if a request has been made. Once these periods end, the owner is free to sell the property as they see fit and is under no obligation to sell it to a community interest group. No further moratorium periods will apply until the end of the protected period.
The only exception to the above is if the owner wishes to sell to a community interest group. If they do, they may do so at any point during the process including within the moratorium period.
To see if the Council has been notified of an owner’s intention to sell a registered property, please view the Councils Assets of Community Value: Successful Register. When the Council is notified, the entry for that property is updated with the moratorium and protected period dates.