{"id":14458,"date":"2023-07-20T05:44:50","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T05:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/?page_id=14458"},"modified":"2023-07-20T05:51:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T05:51:57","slug":"right-to-contest-property","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/business\/premises\/right-to-contest-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Right to Contest Underused or Vacant Government Property"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>RIGHT TO CONTEST<\/strong>: You must follow a set procedure to ask for publicly owned land or buildings to get sold off.<\/p>\n<p>First of all, to make a challenge, the property must either be empty or not used to its full potential.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>How to Find the Owner of Land or Buildings<\/h2>\n<p>There are several ways to find out who owns the vacant land or underused buildings. You will need to determine which one of the government entities owns the land or the building. A good place to start is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Searching for, and contacting, the actual owner of a property. It could be a government department, a local council, or one of the public bodies.<\/li>\n<li>Checking <a href=\"https:\/\/data.gov.uk\/dataset\/17209eb1-98de-4b5c-ae49-258da9faeb0e\/central-government-property-and-land-including-welsh-ministers-estate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Central Government Property and Land asset database<\/a> (includes Welsh Ministers estate).<\/li>\n<li>Performing a <a href=\"\/rules\/housing\/property\/\">search on HM Land Registry database<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Search the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/find-government-property\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Government Property Finder<\/a> to find government-owned properties for sale or to let.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Asking for the Property to be Sold<\/h2>\n<p>You must submit a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/right-to-contest-application-form\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Right to Contest application<\/a> to challenge the government into selling off land or property. As a rule, even if you feel there could a better economic use for it, no one must need the land or property.<\/p>\n<p>Download the form and fill in as many sections as you can. You should then send the completed application to the address shown on the document. The addresses will differ for government property and for local council or public body property.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: You must state why you feel the property is being underused and how it could be better used. The owner of the land or the building can accept other offers so you do not get any automatic right to buy it.<\/p>\n<p>There is no law forcing the government department or agency to sell. As a rule, they will not offer it for sale if:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The proposed use for the land or buildings is unsafe. An example might be if it forms part of army barracks, a port, or it <a href=\"\/rules\/legal\/environment\/flooding\/\">sits on a flood plain<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The department already has plans set out for the land (e.g. for a road or a railway line).<\/li>\n<li>The cost of selling it would not be good value for taxpayers in the United Kingdom. An example might be having to move a building to another site which might cost more than the property value.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: The government department or agency will send you a letter with the outcome of the application. Often, the property would go to auction if they decide to sell it.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Further Help and Contact Information<\/h2>\n<p>The Government Property Unit handles property owned by the government and its national agencies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Government Property Unit<\/strong><br \/>\nEmail: <a href=\"mailto:righttocontest@cabinet-office.gov.uk\">righttocontest@cabinet-office.gov.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cabinet Office<br \/>\n1 Horse Guards Road<br \/>\nLondon<br \/>\nSW1A 2HQ<\/p>\n<p>The Planning Casework Unit handles property owned by local councils and by any of the public bodies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Planning Casework Unit<\/strong><br \/>\nEmail: <a href=\"mailto:pcu@communities.gov.uk\">pcu@communities.gov.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>5 St Philip&#8217;s Place<br \/>\nColmore Row<br \/>\nBirmingham<br \/>\nB3 2PW<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"updated-data\"><strong>Right to Contest Publicly Owned Property in the United Kingdom<\/strong><br \/>\n<time datetime=\"2022-01-01\">Last Updated 2022<\/time><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RIGHT TO CONTEST: You must follow a set procedure to ask for publicly owned land or buildings to get sold off. First of all, to make a challenge, the property must either be empty or not used to its full potential. How to Find the Owner of Land or Buildings There are several ways to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/business\/premises\/right-to-contest-property\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Right to Contest Underused or Vacant Government Property<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":606,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Right to Contest Underused or Vacant Government Property - UK Rules<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/business\/premises\/right-to-contest-property\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Right to Contest Underused or Vacant Government Property - UK Rules\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"RIGHT TO CONTEST: You must follow a set procedure to ask for publicly owned land or buildings to get sold off. 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