HL Deb 05 April 1922 vol 50 cc31-2

Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.

Moved, That the House do now itself into Committee.—(Viscount Knuts-ford.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.

House in Committee accordingly.

[The EARL of DONOUGIIMORE in the Chair.]

Clause 1:

Freehold and other reversions required for other charitable purposes excepted.

1. The following paragraph is hereby inserted and shall be deemed always to have been inserted at the end of subsection (1) of section one of the Places of Worship (Enfranchisement) Act, 1920 (which confers powers on trustees of leasehold premises used for the purposes of a place of worship to acquire the freehold and all intermediate reversions) namely:— and, (d) where the freehold or other reversion is vested in any institution or person for charitable purposes and it is certified by the Charity Commissioners or Board of Education that, when the reversion falls into possession, the land or any part thereof is likely to be required for those charitable purposes or any of them, then this Act shall not apply to the premises to which the certificate relates.

VISCOUNT KNUTSFORD

The Amendments that I am moving to this Bill are entirely drafting, and have been agreed to by all those who promoted and were responsible for the Act in the other House. I am very much indebted, if I may say so, to the noble Lord, Lord Swaythling, for a suggestion he made which has been embodied in an Amendment and quite carries out the spirit of the original Acts. I beg, therefore, to move the Amendments which stand on the Paper in my name.

Amendments moved— Clause 1, page 1, lines 6 to 8, leave out ("the following paragraph is hereby inserted and shall be deemed always to have been inserted at the end of") Clause 1, page 1, Line 12, after ("reversions") insert ("shall have effect as if the following paragraph had been inserted at the end thereof") Clause 1, page 1, Lines 14 and 15, leave out ("is vested in any institution or person") and insert ("belongs to any governing body constituted") Clause 1, page 1,Line 16, after ("purpose") insert ("and the lease under which the premises are held was granted by that body") Clause 1, page 1, line 20, leave out ("for those charitable purposes or any of them") and insert ("for occupation and use by that body for the purposes thereof")

Clause 1, page 1, line 22, at end insert the following new subsections:

("(2) This section does not apply where the sale of the reversion has been completed before the sixteenth day of March nineteen hundred and twenty-two.

(3) Where the sale is completed on or after that date and before the passing of this Act, the governing body constituted for charitable purposes on whom the notice to treat was served may, if a certificate is granted under this section within three months from the passing of this Act, at any time within one month from the grant of such certificate, pay to the trustees or tender to them the amount of the compensation or purchase money received by such body and the costs or expenses, so far as ascertained, of the trustees attributable to the notice to treat or thereafter properly incurred by them in completing the purchase, and thereupon the notice to treat and all proceedings taken thereon, including the conveyance, shall become void, and the trustees shall return to the said governing body the conveyance (to be cancelled) and all other documents belonging to such body.

(4) Where the notice to treat is served either before or after the date aforesaid but the sale is not completed before a certificate is granted under this section, the notice to treat and all proceedings taken thereon shall become void; and the governing body aforesaid, on whom the notice to treat was served, shall but only if the notice was served on or before the date aforesaid, pay to the trustees the costs or expenses of such notice and any costs or expenses thereafter properly incurred by them, and the trustees shall return to such body all documents belonging to them.

(5) If any dispute arises as to costs or expenses the sine shall, subject to the payment of the prescribed fee, be taxed by the registrar of the county court.

(5) In this section the expression governing body constituted for charitable purposes' has the same meaning as in section thirty-seven of the Finance (1909–1910) Act, 1910.)"—(viscount Knutsford.)

On Question, Amendments agreed to.

Clause 1, as amended, agreed to.

Remaining clause agreed to.