Assets of Community Value

What is an Asset of Community Value?

An Asset of Community Value (ACV) is a building or piece of land whose primary use is to further the social and economic wellbeing of the local community. Typically, this will include leisure related buildings, offering some kind of amenity to the local community.

However, not every amenity is automatically granted the status of ACV: the building must first be nominated by an eligible community group for listing by the council. Usually, these groups are local neighbourhood forums or parish councils, but they can be any community group as long as they have at least 21 members.

If their nomination meets the relevant criteria, the Local Planning Authority must list it as an ACV for at least 5 years (which has now increased to 10 years after the passing of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026), allowing these local groups to intervene should it be put up for sale.

With the introduction of the 2026 Act, a new category of ACV has been created – the Sporting Assets of Community Value (SACVs), which differs from the traditional in two ways:

1. it does not require nomination from a local group and instead will be automatically designated as an SACV; and
2. it is placed on the list indefinitely rather than requiring renewal every 5 years.

This gives sporting amenities such as grassroots football pitches, padel and tennis courts, and local gyms an even higher level of protection.

What happens once a property is listed as an ACV?

• The owner of the property must inform the Local Planning Authority if they are intending to sell.
• There is then an interim moratorium of 6 weeks, where the local community can decide if they wish to bid on the property.
• If this is the case, a full moratorium of 6 months is given to allow the community to raise funds to match the sale price.

Before the 2026 Act, being an ACV simply gave communities the ‘right to bid’ on a property. Now, local community groups have the ‘right to buy’, meaning that the landowner must offer to sell to the nominating group before they are able to offer it to the open market.

There are, however, certain properties and types of transfer which are exempt. Private residences, hotels, and Church of England owned land cannot be listed as ACVs.

Similarly, transfers made as gifts, made between members of the same family, made as part of a larger estate or as part of ongoing business are exempt from the ACV list.

What are the impacts on landowners?

Prior to the 2026 changes, landowners could simply “wait out” the moratorium period and sell to whomever they saw fit. This is no longer possible, and the new Bill proposes that landowners must now offer to sell the property and allow a 12-month period for the local community to raise funds.

The introduction of “economic wellbeing” to the Act widens the scope massively in terms of the types of land that can be classed as an ACV. It is no longer simply social interests that can be protected, but also economic interests – a community group could now argue that any commercial land which brings in a substantial amount of money to the local area should be an ACV, be it a local shop, a fast-food place or even a light industrial unit. This means that landowners will have to carefully plan the disposal of their land, adhering to the newly imposed guidelines, or face significant issues throughout the sale process.

If a person/persons have an interest in a piece of land that is likely to be deemed to have community/sporting value, it is of utmost importance that they consider their options well before choosing to sell the property.

Property experts