Places of Worship (Enfranchisement) Act 1920

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1920 c. 56


Places of Worship (Enfranchisement) Act, 1920.

(10 & 11 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 56.

An Act to authorise the Enfranchisement of the Sites of Places of Worship held under Lease.

[3rd December 1920]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

S-1 Right of trustees holding leasehold interest in place of worship to acquire freehold.

1 Right of trustees holding leasehold interest in place of worship to acquire freehold.

(1) Where premises held under a lease to which this Act applies are held upon trust to be used for the purposes of a place of worship, whether in conjunction with other purposes or not, and the premises are being used in accordance with the terms of the trust, the trustees, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary (not being an agreement against the enlargement of the leasehold interest into a freehold contained in a lease granted or made before the passing of this Act), shall have the right as incident to their leasehold interest to enlarge that interest into a fee simple, and for that purpose to acquire the freehold and all intermediate reversions:

Provided that—

(a ) if the premises exceed two acres in extent, the trustees shall not be entitled to exercise the right in respect of more than two acres thereof; and

(b ) this Act shall not apply where the premises are used or are proposed to be used for the purposes of a place of worship in contravention of any covenant contained in the lease under which the premises are held or in any lease superior thereto; and

(c ) this Act shall not apply where the premises form part of land which has been acquired by or is vested in any municipal, local or rating authority or in the owners thereof for the purposes of a railway, dock, canal or navigation under any Act of Parliament Provisional Order or Order having the force of an Act of Parliament and the freehold reversion in the premises is held or retained by such owners for those purposes.

(2) The leases to which this Act applies are leases (including underleases and agreements for leases or underleases), whether granted or made before or after the passing of this Act, for lives or a life or for a term of years where the term as originally created was a term of not less than twenty-one years, whether determinable on a life or lives or not.

S-2 Procedure for acquisition of reversionary interests.

2 Procedure for acquisition of reversionary interests.

2. For the purpose of acquiring such reversionary interests as aforesaid, the Lands Clauses Acts shall apply as if the trustees had been authorised to acquire the premises by a special Act incorporating the Lands Clauses Acts and sections seventy-seven to eighty-five of the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, subject, however, to the modifications set out in the Schedule to this Act, and to the following modifications:—

a ) All questions of disputed compensation shall be settled by a single arbitrator, who shall be appointed, and whose remuneration shall be fixed, in default of agreement, by the judge of the county court, and the arbitrator shall be deemed to be an arbitrator within the meaning of the Lands Clauses Acts, and the provisions of those Acts with respect to arbitration shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, apply accordingly
b ) The consideration payable in respect of any intermediate reversion may, at the option of the person entitled to that reversion, be an annual rentcharge for a term corresponding to the unexpired residue of the term of the reversion
c ) In determining the amount of any compensation the value of any buildings erected, or improvements made by the trustees, shall be excluded
d ) No allowance shall be made on account of the acquisition being compulsory
e ) In determining the amount of compensation in any case where the rent reserved under the lease is less than the full annual value of the land, the compensation, so far as it is payable in respect of the interest of the lessor expectant on the expiration of the term of the lease shall not be ascertained on the basis of the rent so reserved, but, subject always to the foregoing provisions of this section, on the estimated full value of the land...

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