Ask the government to sell property

UK residents can ask for publicly owned land and buildings to be sold if they think that the property is vacant or underused.

You will need to track down the owner of the land and ask for the property to be sold. Your application will not entitle you to purchase the land, the owners may want to consider other offers.

The government department that owns the land will not sell if:

  • the land or buildings aren’t safe for your proposed use, for example if they’re part of a port, army barracks or on a flood plain,
  • they have plans for the land, such as for a railway or road,
  • the cost of selling wouldn’t be good value for the taxpayer, for example if moving to another site would cost more than the value of the property.

You will receive a letter telling you the result of your application.

Initially, you could contact the Government Property Unit righttocontest@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk to start the ball rolling.

Latest Blog
04
Dec

Do not Sack Your Spell Checker

Artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, have...

Read More
03
Dec

Autumn Budget 2025 – Personal Tax changes

The chancellor Rachel Reeves announced as part of the Autumn Budget measures that the...

Read More
03
Dec

Autumn Budget 2025 – Minimum Wage increases

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves announced increases to the Minimum Wag...

Read More
03
Dec

Autumn Budget 2025 – Pension changes

The Chancellor has kept the main pension allowances unchanged but has confirmed a new...

Read More