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All applications to buy, lease or rent land from the City of Durham should be made in writing to:

Director of Legal and Administration Services City of Durham 17 Claypath Durham City DH1 1RH REF: Land Applications

The details that are required in the Applicants's formal letter of application are as follows:-

• Confirmation of whether the Applicant wishes to purchase or lease an area of land, gain vehicular access, have an Easement granted or in some way acquire an interest in an area of City Council land.
• A description of the area that that the Applicant wishes to purchase (or otherwise acquire).
• A description of the reason for the application, e.g. to extend a garden, to create a vehicular hardstanding, access for works or to build a house or garage etc.
• A rough sketch plan with the area in question highlighted or marked in some way. This will help us identify the area correctly and establish whether all, part, or indeed none of the area is in the ownership of the City of Durham.

Once all of these points (and any additional information relevant to the site or application or as requested by the Council) have been collated then the application will be taken to the next stage. This involves the Council's Building and Land Surveyor drawing up plans of the land applied for and bringing forward any comments on the site that he may have. Certain areas of land may be scheduled for a Village Site Appraisal (VSA) which means that the areas of Council owned land within a community are to be appraised to see if the Council can apply an overall strategy to make best and most appropriate use of the land. If land is considered a possible VSA site then the application will be terminated pending the VSA taking place. If the land is not sold or utilised for another purpose after the VSA then the Applicant may re-apply to purchase or lease the land.

Once the application passes through this initial stage, the process to obtain the Council's decision takes approximately 8 to 10 weeks. The Applicant is sent a letter setting out certain requirements and the 8 to 10 weeks period only commences when the Applicant replies to that letter with a signed undertaking (to pay costs and fees) and a £200.00 advance payment, which is non-refundable. Only then is the application considered by Officers from various Council departments, Planning Services, Environment and Leisure Services, Housing Services, Legal Services and Finance to make sure all legal and statutory requirements are met and that there is no detriment to any other surrounding Council land, property or rights enjoyed by the Council (or any of it's Tenants). The Officers comments and recommendations are then passed on to the relevant Ward Councillors, for their views.

If the Ward Councillors agree a recommendation the relevant Portfolio Holder is asked to make a final decision under delegated powers. In some cases the decision may have to be put to the Cabinet (particularly if Ward Councillors are unable to agree on a recommendation).

Once the application has been finally approved, the details are passed to Legal Services who will obtain a valuation of the land in question (carried out by the Council's retained local Surveyor). Legal Services will advise the Applicant of the valuation and if the Applicant wishes to proceed he/she should appoint a Solicitor then Legal Services will draw up the necessary contracts for sale, lease or access agreement. The Applicant will be required to bear any valuation fees incurred by the Council whether or not the Applicant decides to proceed. In the majority of cases, this is a figure of £65, but could be more. Once finalised contracts are agreed and exchanged the land transaction is then completed. In addition to the purchase price and valuation fees the Applicant also will pay the Council's legal fees of £250.00 (which can vary for Leases and Tenancies).

The land you are interested in may be outside of the City of Durham area or not in Council ownership. Additional information can be obtained from a number of sources such as Durham Land Registry or from neighbouring Local Authorities, e.g. Durham County Council, their land ownership can be checked at the County Council's website:- www.durham.gov.uk via maps within their online Geographical Information System (GIS).

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Other pages you may find useful

• Council - property register (PID 592)