Purchase of land with development potential by a UK charity

 

A UK resident company which is registered as a UK charity with the Charity Commission has an opportunity to purchase land from a third party with the benefit of existing agricultural tenancies producing a modest rental income. The land has potential for future commercial or residential development (reflected in the purchase price) subject to planning permission for such development being obtained from the relevant local authority. The charity does not wish to undertake the development directly. Therefore a possible strategy would be to hold the land for a period and obtain outline planning permission for development; and then to sell the land with the benefit of that planning permission to a third party developer. The charity...