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Community Asset Transfer

Community Asset Transfer (CAT) is a process that allows a community organisation to take over publicly-owned land or buildings in a way that recognises the public benefits that the transfer will bring. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act has defined a legal process for asset transfer, which gives new rights to communities and places duties on public bodies.

CAT can be acheived in a number of different ways at the request of the community – the transfer of title for outright ownership, the use of a long-term lease or indeed management agreements.

This section is divided into two strands with links that can be found on the left of this page:

  • Community Asset Transfer – will talk you through the nuts and bolts of making an application, the timescales involved, getting ready to make a request and what you need to do at each stage in the process.
  • Developing your project – will help you determine that your project is needed, your group is ready and willing and that it is financially viable.

A good starting point is our Route Map document which will help bring these two strands together.  It will assist you to plan the questions you need to ask and the steps you need to take at each stage in the process – from developing an initial idea to the final step of getting the keys to the building.

Route Map

It is important to work through the Route Map, see where you are and check you have completed all the different phases.  Putting in the work to develop strong foundations will pay dividends in the longer term.

Make sure you have a copy of the Guidance for Community Transfer Bodies produced by the Scottish Government, which gives full details of the CAT process within the Act.

We have developed a series of Modules and training events to help you every step of the way. The first of these written modules is entitled An Introduction to Community Asset Transfer and gives an overview of all aspects of the topic.

If you haven’t already done so, please contact your COSS Advisor who can help you throughout the asset transfer process.

You may also want to check out the COSS Events page for details of our latest training events.