COMPULSORY SALE ORDERS AS A RESPONSE TO HARDCORE URBAN VACANCY AND DERELICTION

It is believed that over a quarter of all brownfield land in England has been vacant or derelict for at least nine years. In Scotland, over 40% of the 11,000 hectares of vacant and derelict land officially recorded in 2013, had been in that same condition for at least 22 years. This paper argues such hardcore vacancy is due as much to institutional factors as economic or physical ones. Among the most problematic of these are unrealistic owner expectations of what the land is worth, especially when reinforced by conventional valuation practices. To resolve these difficulties, the paper proposes the introduction of statutory Compulsory Sale Orders, under which any land idle for an undue length of time could be required to be sold by public auction. The paper sets out how CSOs could be implemented, explores what they might achieve, and considers some of the challenges likely to be involved in their