The Council own and are responsible for a wide range of land across the District which is used every day by our residents for anything from formal recreation to walking. There are however a number of small pieces of land adjacent to homes that have no specific use and potentially could be better served being used for extensions to gardens etc. We may consider offers to purchase these small parcels of amenity land from adjacent property owners. Generally, we don’t sell Public Open Space but we would consider an application by conducting a thorough report.
If you are looking to buy land owned by the Council, you will need to make an application. Although we are under no obligation to sell any small pieces of land, this guidance outlines our adopted procedure for dealing with requests from prospective purchasers and the fees and costs that may be involved.
How to apply:
All applications will be subjected to the costs set out at each stage of the process. The timelines below are based on our best endeavours. Please read the Guidance notes and Summary of Fees and Timescales for more information.
Stage 1: Please complete the initial enquiry form, providing us with a location plan of the land you wish to purchase outlined in red (A site plan identifying the land at a scale of 1:200 or 1:2500 is required) There is a non-refundable fee of £50.00 at this stage which covers our administration costs in dealing with the application. This stage may take up to 8 weeks as a result of some of the in depth legal checks required.
Stage 2: Once we have received your initial enquiry, we will then complete a brief assessment of the proposed land which involves checking the ownership and land status. We will contact you to let you know if the purchase is unable to progress to the next stage. (In some cases the land may not be owned by ourselves or may not be legally sold in which case the enquiry cannot proceed further).
Stage 3: If our preliminary assessment indicates, we can proceed to the next stage with your application you will be contacted and requested to complete an application form and pay the administrative fee £450.00 + VAT to continue. This fee is non-refundable and covers our administration costs in dealing with the application. Payment of the fee will not guarantee that your application is approved, and it is entirely separate to the valuation of the land.
Stage 4: When the payment and application form is received, we will contact you to confirm receipt of these and advise next steps.
Stage 5: The first consultation process will commence.
Stage 6: At this stage you will be notified if your application is unable to progress any further following the first consultation. We will then conduct a second consultation process and prepare a valuation report for internal approval.
Stage 7: You will be notified of the outcome of the consultation processes and if successful we will contact you to request a contribution towards the preliminary advertising and legal costs. Please note that if payment is not received by 14 days your application may be closed and you will need to reapply.
Stage 8: When the payment is received, we will contact you to confirm receipt of these and advise next steps. At this stage your application will be transferred to our legal services team to commence statutory advertising and sale proceedings. All further communication will take place between our solicitors and yourself or your nominated solicitor.
Stage 9: Your application will now be subject to the statutory advertising and sale proceedings process.
Additional Information
If we are unable to proceed with the sale, then you will be notified by email.
We are obliged by law to obtain the best price for any property, or parcel of land, which we sell. If we wish to proceed, our solicitors will commence statutory advertising Requirements & Sale Proceedings. You will have to pay for the cost of advertising and will be given an estimate of the likely cost at the time. If we receive any objections to the disposal, these will have to be considered before a decision is made.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to conduct all planning enquiries and satisfy themselves that all planning matters are resolved and in place. This is in addition to making this application for purchasing land.
For queries relating to your application please contact MinorLandEnquiries@sstaffs.gov.uk
Additional Costs:
Additional costs must be paid in advance and are non – refundable. You will need to pay our legal fees in advance of any legal work on your application.
If the sale proceeds, on the completion date, you will also have to pay the agreed purchase price.