Charities Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his explanation, and I understand that the purpose of the amendment is to make clear that the commission’s power to revest the title to leasehold charity property is not limited by the need to obtain the consent of the lessor. This need is a feature, in any event, of the automatic vesting provisions in the new Section 75D of the Charities Act 1993, as inserted by Clause 42 of the Bill. There is, however, no such limitation at present in the 1993 Act. The commission already has the power to revest the title to leasehold charity property without the consent of the lessor. So the legal effect of the amendment is effectively negligible, with the potential to create uncertainty. This is because the amendment might be taken to imply that, in the future, a revesting order has to be contained in a scheme, which is not the position at present. It is not really necessary and could confuse the situation. I understand why the noble Lord has tabled it, but he has partly answered the point in his own contribution. I hope that he will feel able to withdraw the amendment.