Charities

Charities

Charitable trusts

Under sections 1, 2 and 10 of the Charities Act 2011 (CA 2011), 'charity' means any institution (including a trust or undertaking) which exists for charitable purposes only and is for the public benefit.

CA 2011, s 3(1) lists twelve specific charitable purposes, with a single further ‘catch-all’ purpose which preserves the charitable status of any other purpose which was recognised in law as being charitable prior to the enactment of Charities Act 2006.

A charity must exist for an exclusively charitable purpose. However, if a trust is established for a variety of purposes, some of which are charitable but others are not, the trust may still be charitable if the non-charitable purpose(s) can fairly be characterised as merely incidental or ancillary to a principal charitable purpose.

All charities must have purposes that are of identifiable benefit to the public, or a section of the public.

Disposals

Most charities disposing of land in England and Wales, must comply with the statutory regime of CA 2011. If they do not, the transaction may be invalid, and the trustees may be personally

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