Property
We deal with land isses that arise as part of the conversion process.
We will identify the school type land owner
- community school: local authority or
- voluntary aided/controlled school: local authority, a third
party (diocese, charitable trust) or a mixture of both or - foundation school: a third party, the governing body or a
mixture of both or - trust school: the trust
We will identify whether the land is public or private
If the land has been acquired or enhanced at public expense,
it may be public. Land held by a local authority will remain with the authority and a lease will be granted to the academy trust. The DfE has produced a model lease, which should be broadly followed.
Public land may be held by the governing body. Land held by
a school's foundation can also be public if it has been acquired or enhanced at public expense. In these cases, the secretary of state has said that the freehold title should be transferred to the academy trust, which could be by direction of the secretary of state.
If the secretary of state does not make a direction, the land may revert to the local authority and a lease will be granted to the
academy trust. This is often the case where a voluntary aided school has acquired additional playing field land.
If the land has not been acquired or enhanced at public
expense and constitutes private land, the secretary of state has no power to make such a direction, and the academy trust must agree a lease with the foundation (or other party) that owns the land.
Usually land will be held by the local authority, will remain with the authority and a lease will be granted to the academy trust.
We will prepare a report on title
This is sent to the DfE. Issues concerning the land transfer or leases will need to be dealt with at this time.
We will negotiate/agree the transfer/model lease
A model lease is used where local authorities own the school site. But there is no bar on foundations or other third parties adopting the model lease in relation to private land used for the purposes of the proposed academy.
The model lease grants to the academy a 125-year term. This
can be ended early if the academy's funding agreement is terminated, for example.
The academy will not pay rent but it will be responsible for
repairing the building and for insuring the buildings. The repair obligation is limited, so that the academy is responsible only for: damage it causes to the property; and any deterioration of the property from the date of the lease.
An academy will need to take care in relation to deterioration: it may be difficult in 10 or 20 years to show that disrepair existed at the date of the lease. It may be possible to attach a schedule of
condition to the lease or put in place other evidence of the state of repair at the time of the lease.
