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INTRODUCTION
One of the numerous issues that trustees of religious institute charities come to deal with – and one that they may not have come across much before – is property. This chapter tries to give some simple introductory steers as to how this area of interest for trustees operates in law and practice and also tries to pick out one or two areas of particular interest, from our experience of supporting religious institutes with their property matters.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
As well as being an area that will be less familiar to trustees in most cases, there are other factors that often make property especially signi cant.
It is very often critical for the operational delivery of the religious institute’s mission: location can really matter. The quality of buildings can also really matter
Land in this country, is generally speaking, a high value asset and can form a disproportionate amount of the balance sheet of a number of religious institute charities
Land and buildings can also be expensive and have a signi cant effect on the income and expense side of the charity’s accounts
The expression “property” covers a wider ranging of potential property types and legal contexts, calling on different skills and approaches
The variety of property types also draws in a wide range of legal frameworks, which can make the legal context for property quite complex
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