Settled Land Act 1925

29 Charitable and public trusts. E+W

(1) For the purposes of this section, all land vested or to be vested in trustees on or for charitable, ecclesiastical, or public trusts or purposes shall be deemed to be settled land, and the trustees shall, without constituting them statutory owners, have in reference to the land, all the powers which are by this Act conferred on a tenant for life and on the trustees of a settlement.

In connexion only with the exercise of those powers, and not so as to impose any obligation in respect of or to affect—

(a) the mode of creation or the administration of such trusts; or

(b) the appointment or number of trustees of such trusts;

the statute or other instrument creating the trust or under which it is administered shall be deemed the settlement, and the trustees shall be deemed the trustees of the settlement, and, save where the trust is created by a will coming into operation after the commencement of this Act, a separate instrument shall not be necessary for giving effect to the settlement.

Any conveyance of land held on charitable, ecclesiastical or public trusts shall state that the land is held on such trusts, and, where a purchaser has notice that the land is held on charitable, ecclesiastical, or public trusts, he shall be bound to see that any consents or orders requisite for authorising the transaction have been obtained.

(2) The said powers shall be exercisable subject to such consents or orders, if any, being obtained as would, if this Act had not been passed, have been requisite if the transaction were being effected under an express power conferred by the instrument creating the trust, and where the land is vested in . . . F1 persons having no powers of management, the said powers shall be exercisable by the managing trustees or committee of management, and the . . . F1 persons aforesaid shall not be liable for giving effect to directions given by the managing trustees or committee of management:

Provided that where—

(a) a disposition or dealing is to be effected for a nominal price or rent, or for less than the best price or rent that can be reasonably obtained or gratuitously; or

(b) any interest in land is to be acquired;the like consent or order (if any) shall be required in reference to the disposition, dealing or acquisition, as would have been requisite if the intended transaction were a sale.

(3) Nothing in this section affects the jurisdiction of the court, Charity Commissioners, Board of Education, or other competent authority, in regard to the administration of charitable, ecclesiastical, or public trusts.

(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

(5) Where any trustees or the majority of any set of trustees have power to transfer or create any legal estate, that estate shall be transferred or created by them in the names and on behalf of the persons . . . F1 in whom the legal estate is vested.

(6) This section applies (save as otherwise provided) whether the trust was created before or after the commencement of this Act, but does not apply to land to which the M1 Universities and College Estates Act, 1925, applies.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words repealed by Charities Act 1960 (c. 58), Sch. 7 Pt. I

F2 S. 29(4) repealed by Charities Act 1960 (c. 58), Sch. 7 Pt. II

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 29(1) applied by Chequers Estate Act 1917 (c. 55), Sch. clauses 8A, 15A as now inserted by Chequers Estate Act 1958 (c. 60), Sch. paras. 10, 14

C2 S. 29(1) excluded (1. 1. 1993) by Charities Act 1992 (c. 41), ss. 33(6), 35(5); S.I. 1992/1900, art. 4(1), Sch.3.

S. 29(1) excluded (1.8.1993) by 1993 c. 10, ss. 37(6), 39(5), 99(1)

C3 Functions of Board of Education now exercisable by Secretary of State for Education and Science: Education Act 1944 (c. 31), s. 2(1) and S.I. 1964/490

Marginal Citations

M1 1925 c. 24.