The anticipated second tranche of reforms to the Charities Act 2011 (brought in by the Charities Act 2022) came into force on the 14th June 2023. TMCP are currently updating our guidance to Managing Trustees. The Sales page and Checklists have been updated as a priority and we are working through the rest of our guidance. Our full revised guidance will be available over the next few weeks, and we will update Managing Trustees through the website as and when this can be accessed.
During this transitional period please contact us directly by email or through the contact page on our website and we will help ensure that Managing Trustees and their advisers are working to the requirements under the new system. We will also provide assistance when responding to emails we have already received from you.
The Charities Act 2022 makes changes to the requirements which charity trustees must comply with when seeking advice on the disposal of property. Specifically, charity trustees are now required to obtain a Designated Adviser Report (DAR) dealing with the points set out in The Charities (Dispositions of Land: Designated Advisers and Reports) Regulations 2023 (2023 Regulations), rather than the nine paragraphs of the Charities (Qualified Surveyors’ Reports) Regulations 1992 (1992 Regulations). The qualifications that advisers (now called “designated advisers”) need in order to provide such advice to charity trustees have also widened slightly beyond the previous requirement to be a Member or Fellow of RICS.
In addition to minor amendments across our guidance to refer to DARs, designated advisers and the Charities Act 2011 (as amended), we will be relaunching the specific guidance on disposal reports: a DAR Focus Note, DAR (Preparing) Focus Note and Designated Adviser Instruction Letter. We are also replacing the Template QSR with a Template DAR so that Managing Trustees continue to have a template form to help them obtain the specific advice they need under charity law and as Methodist Managing Trustees.
Just so that you are aware in the meantime, there are transitional arrangements set out in the 2023 Regulations for disposal reports commissioned before 14th June 2023. In cases where the disposition does not complete until after 14th June 2023, the original requirements under the 1992 Regulations as regards the contents of those reports continue to apply. This means if you instructed your surveyor to prepare a QSR before 14th June and send a pre-14th June report to TMCP for approval, we are obliged to review the report against the old requirements. We have left the QSR Template live on the website at the moment (pending an overhaul) because if your designated adviser produces a report that addresses the points set out in that template, it will also fulfil the requirements under the Charities Act 2011 as now amended.
We would also like to draw your attention to our article on the changes to Permanent Endowments brought about by the implementation of the relevant parts of the Charities Act 2022. Guidance is also being drafted for Managing Trustees for this aspect of their stewardship of charitable assets and will be available shortly.,
If you have any queries in relation to the guidance in this document please contact TMCP Legal for further assistance.