The Community Right to Buy is here. Here’s what it means for your campaign.
by Rebecca Hughes | Aug 10, 2026 | Community & citizenship, Community Shares, Learn, News & Press, Stories
On 16 June 2026, the government announced a new Community Right to Buy, and if you’re trying to save a pub, a community centre, a sports ground, or any other local asset, it’s worth understanding what’s changed and what it means for how you raise money.
The short version: community groups in England now have stronger legal protections than ever before when a cherished local asset comes up for sale. But the fund that comes with it will be heavily oversubscribed, and the groups that succeed will be the ones who don’t rely on it alone.
Part of a bigger picture: Pride in Place
The Community Right to Buy doesn’t sit in isolation. It’s the government’s latest initiative within the wider £5.8 billion Pride in Place programme, which is designed to hand power and money to local communities who know their areas best. The £61m Community Right to Buy Fund forms part of a broader £301 million package for the regeneration of high streets and community spaces.
Pride in Place is the government’s flagship policy for community-driven local regeneration, committing funding to create safer, healthier neighbourhoods through programmes decided at a local level. The Community Right to Buy is the ownership piece of that strategy — the legal and financial mechanism that lets communities act, not just advise.
For groups already thinking about saving a local asset, this is the most significant shift in community ownership law since the original Right to Bid in 2011. The Pride in Place framing matters because it signals government intent: this isn’t a one-off fund. It’s part of a long-term programme, and community ownership sits at its centre.
What’s actually changed
Until now, communities had a “Right to Bid” under rules introduced in 2011. If a listed asset came up for sale, you could register your interest and get a six-month pause, but the owner could still sell to anyone. You were competing in the open market with whoever else wanted to buy it.
The new Community Right to Buy, introduced through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, goes further in two important ways.
First refusal. Once a locally listed Asset of Community Value (ACV) comes up for sale, the community group gets first refusal. The owner can’t sell to a commercial buyer while the moratorium (breathing period) is running.
More time. The moratorium has been extended from 6 months to 12. A full year to get your funding in place, your governance sorted, and your offer ready.
Alongside the legal right, the government has announced a £61 million Community Right to Buy Fund, roughly £51m for purchases and £10m for capacity-building support (business planning, legal costs, community share offers). This is targeted particularly at groups in deprived areas.
What the fund looks like
£61 million sounds significant. In practice, the previous Community Ownership Fund was more than twice this size and still couldn’t meet demand.
Several sector commentators, including Co-operatives UK and CLES, have already noted that the new fund is likely to be heavily oversubscribed. Full application guidance hasn’t been published yet (as of early July 2026), and Locality, the national body for community ownership, is still working with government on the detail.
That’s not a reason to ignore the fund. It’s a reason not to wait for it.
The groups that move fastest and build the strongest cases, with a mixed funding stack already in place, will be in the best position when guidance drops. The ones who put everything on one pot will be left behind when it’s oversubscribed.
Where community shares fit in
Community shares are one of the most powerful tools available to a group trying to buy a local asset, and the new Right to Buy makes them more relevant, not less.
Here’s why.
You now have 12 months. The extended moratorium gives you real time to run a community share offer properly. A community share offer done well takes about 3 to 5+ months; scoping, a share offer document, a launch, a campaign, a close. Six months was tight. Twelve months is workable.
Community shares demonstrate demand. A live community share offer, with real investment coming in from real members, is a strong signal that you can send to a fund assessor, a lender, or a local council. It shows the community wants this to happen and is willing to back it financially.
They diversify your funding stack. If the Community Right to Buy Fund is oversubscribed, and it will be, a group that’s already raised £50,000 through community shares and secured a matched loan from a lender like Triodos or Unity Trust is in a fundamentally different position to one that applied to the fund and waited. A mixed stack (shares, grants, loans, fund) is more resilient than any single source.
Grants are available alongside shares. Certain grants, including Locality’s Community Ownership Fund support and some local authority grants, can sit alongside a community share offer.
92% of businesses that have used community shares are still trading successfully, compared to 55% for normal businesses.
What to do now, step by step
1. Check the asset’s ACV status. If the pub, shop, or space you’re trying to save isn’t already listed as an Asset of Community Value, you need to nominate it to your local council. Explain why it has social, economic, or sporting value to your community. Under the new rules, sporting value now explicitly counts. If you’re turned down, you can now appeal; that’s new too.
2. Get it listed before it comes up for sale. Listing is what gives you the rights. Without it, you don’t get the moratorium or the right of first refusal. You can still nominate after a For Sale sign goes up, but the sooner it’s listed, the safer you are.
3. When it is up for sale. Use the 12-month window to build your funding stack. Once the asset comes up for sale, the clock starts. Use that time to: get a valuation, build your business plan, structure your community share offer, and identify your grants and loans. The Community Right to Buy Fund will be one part of that, not the whole of it.
4. Launch your community share offer. A Crowdfunder community share offer lets you raise investment from your members, capped at £100,000 per investor, with investors becoming co-owners of the asset. It sits alongside your other funding sources and builds the community mandate that funders want to see.
5. Apply for the Community Right to Buy Fund when guidance is published. Locality will publish further detail as it becomes available. Sign up to their updates and be ready to move when the application window opens.
Real community ownership on Crowdfunder
Community groups have used Crowdfunder to raise millions towards buying and saving the assets that matter to them, from village pubs to music venues to community centres. The Drewe Arms in Devon raised £547,210 through a community share offer on Crowdfunder, entirely from their local community with no match funding. The community became co-owners. The pub stayed open.
That’s the model the new legislation is designed to enable more of. Crowdfunder is how you help build the financial case to make it happen.
Get started
If you’re working on a community asset purchase and want to understand how a community share offer could work alongside the Community Right to Buy Fund*, we’re here to help.
Useful links
*Disclaimer: This article is general guidance, not legal or financial advice. The Community Right to Buy is newly introduced, and full application guidance for the fund has not yet been published. Rules, deadlines and eligibility may change — always check GOV.UK and Locality for the latest position, and take independent legal and financial advice before relying on any timeline or right described here.