If a charity is selling a property there are various legal
formalities that it must comply with in order that that sale cannot
be challenged. The sale contract needs to confirm that it has
complied with the provisions of the Charities Act 2011 and the
trustees of the charity must have advertised the property (or
obtained advice that this is not needed) and obtained a valuation
to show that the terms of the disposition were the best reasonably
obtainable.
In a recent case, a charity contracted to sell a property, then
rescinded the contract when the buyer failed to complete and sought
a judgment that the contract had been validly rescinded and for the
balance of the deposit. The buyer argued that as the Charity had
not complied with the Charities Act formalities, the contract was
unenforceable. The court held that as the necessary Charities Act
declaration was contained in the draft transfer (which was annexed
to the contract) this was sufficient to satisfy the
