The Charities Act 2011 (CA 2011) received Royal Assent on 14 December 2011. The Act comes into force at the end of the period of 3 months beginning with the day on which it is passed, meaning that the new Act will come into force on Wednesday 14 March 2012. The Act is a consolidating Act, but as a result of CA 2011, the Charities Act 1993 (CA 1993) will be repealed. For property lawyers, this will mean that there is a need to change statutory references in standard certificates and statements currently provided in contracts, transfers, leases and charges relating to charity land under sections 36 to 39 of CA 1993.
Land Registry is advising that there is no intention to change the Land Registration Rules 2003 (specifically rules 176 to 180 LRR 2003) at present. This is because of the transitional and saving provisions in Schedule 8 CA 2011. The Land Registry’s view is that any reference to a provision of CA 1993 in the Land Registration Rules 2003 will be taken to refer to the corresponding provisions in CA 2011 because of paragraph 3(1) of that Schedule, which states that: “A reference, express or implied, in any enactment, instrument or document to a provision repealed by this Act is, subject to its context, to be read as being or including a reference to the corresponding provision of this Act, in relation to times, circumstances or purposes in relation to which that provision has effect.”
What this means is that the continued use of out-of-date certificates and statements remains valid, and will not lead to difficulty with registrations at the Land Registry.