Our pub's gone on the market and someone said there's a new community right to buy. Can we use it?

can I use itENG

What the rules say

Schedule 31 makes provision for a community right to buy assets of community value and for the protection of sporting assets of community value in England, and related minor and consequential amendments.

legislation.gov.uk — Section 67, English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, last updated 13 May 2026

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Not yet. The right to buy is real law - it is section 67 of an Act that passed this year - and it is NOT IN FORCE. An Act does nothing until a Minister makes a commencement regulation switching it on, and that is a separate document published without any announcement. Two have been made under this Act so far. Neither of them mentions section 67. What that means for your pub this week is that you are working under the older law - the Localism Act 2011 - which gives communities a right to BID, not a right to buy. It is worth having, it is worth doing today, and it is a different thing. The next answer says what it gets you.

ENGLAND. Section 67's own words end 'in England'. See the answer for readers in Scotland and Wales.

What to do

1. Act on the law that exists today, not the one in the headlines. Ask your council for its Asset of Community Value nomination form this week.
2. Do it before the sale completes. Listing afterwards does not undo a sale.
3. Start on the money at the same time, not after. The pause the current law gives you is short.
4. Check whether the building is already listed - your council keeps the list and has to tell you.
5. Do not wait for the new right. Nobody has published a date for it and nothing is gained by waiting.