Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003

[F1 97C Right to buy eligible land S

(1) The land which may be bought by a Part 3A community body under this Part is eligible land.

(2) Land is eligible for the purposes of this Part if in the opinion of Ministers—

(a) it is wholly or mainly abandoned or neglected, or

(b) the use or management of the land is such that it results in or causes harm, directly or indirectly, to the environmental wellbeing of a relevant community.

(3) In subsection (2)(b)—

(a) “harm”—

(i) includes harm the environmental effects of which have an adverse effect on the lives of persons comprising the relevant community mentioned in that subsection,

(ii) does not include harm which, in the opinion of Ministers, is negligible,

(b) “relevant community”, in relation to a Part 3A community body making an application under section 97G in relation to the land, means—

(i) the community defined as mentioned in subsection (9) of section 97D to which the Part 3A community body relates (reading that subsection as if paragraph (b)(ii) were omitted), or

(ii) where the Part 3A community body is a body mentioned in section 97D(1)(b), the community to which the body relates.

(4) In determining whether land is eligible for the purposes of this Part, Ministers must have regard to prescribed matters.

(5) Eligible land does not include—

(a) land on which there is a building or other structure which is an individual's home other than a building or other structure which is occupied by an individual under a tenancy,

(b) such land pertaining to land of the type mentioned in paragraph (a) as may be prescribed,

(c) eligible croft land (as defined in section 68(2)),

(d) any croft occupied or worked by its owner or a member of its owner's family,

(e) land which is owned or occupied by the Crown by virtue of its having vested as bona vacantia in the Crown, or its having fallen to the Crown as ultimus haeres,

(f) land of such other descriptions or classes as may be prescribed.

(6) Ministers may prescribe—

(a) descriptions or classes of building or structure which are, or are to be treated as, a home for the purposes of paragraph (a) of subsection (5),

(b) descriptions or classes of occupancy or possession which are, or are to be treated as, a tenancy for the purposes of that paragraph.

(7) In subsection (5)(d), the reference to a croft being occupied includes—

(a) a reference to its being occupied otherwise than permanently, and

(b) a reference to its being occupied by way of the occupation by its owner of any dwelling-house on or pertaining to it.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Pt. 3A inserted (30.6.2017 for specified purposes, 27.6.2018 in so far as not already in force) by Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 (asp 6), ss. 74, 142(1); S.S.I. 2017/192, art. 2; S.S.I. 2018/139, art. 2(a)