I need to assent a house to a local hospice, they are both a charity and a company registered at Companies House. Can I name the charity itself as the new owner (as it is a company) and not trustees, and does an officer of the charity need to sign the assent in addition to the executors, or just the executors?
Marie Granby
Maxwell Hodge
I would expect the charity to advise to whom title should be transferred, such instructions to be supported by a copy of the charity’s constitution if the instruction is other than to transfer to the trustees.
If the declaration of trust within the Land Registry form AS1 is to be completed, I note the transferee also needs to execute the form.
Paul Saunders
You should treat it as an assent to a normal company - the trustees are directors in company law and should not be holding any charity assets in their own name. A trustee will only need to sign if that is required by property law for some reason (e.g. if there are covenants).
The one exception is that the assent will probably need to include the mandatory wording required by s.122(8) of the Charities Act 2011 for land to be held by charities. There is precedent wording in LR Practice Guide 14 (and EFP etc).
Andrew Goodman
Osborne Clarke LLP