How to give land or property to charity

With a Stewardship account you can give more than just cash to your favourite causes, including gifts of land and property. 

If you’re planning to sell a holiday home, buy-to-let or plot of land in England, Wales or Northern Ireland and give the proceeds to Stewardship, you could instead give us the property itself. In most cases, we would then request that you sell the property on our behalf.

How does it work?

The process for gifting the land to Stewardship is as follows:

1. We will ask to see the Heads of Terms for the sale of the property (where already agreed).
2. We will obtain a surveyor’s report covering the list of matters we’re required to consider under the Charities Act, including a valuation of the property and advice on the method of advertising.  The cost of this report will be deducted from your Giving Account.
3. Just prior to exchange of contracts, we will ask you to make your gift by a declaration of trust, by which you will make Stewardship the beneficial owner of the property but continue to hold the legal title.
4. At this point we ask that you contact the insurers of the property to note Stewardship as the beneficial owner of the property, albeit that that ownership should only last a very short time.
5. We will then issue a letter asking you to sell the property to the third party on our behalf at the price approved by our surveyor.
6. Once the sale has completed, the proceeds of sale, net of conveyancing expenses and estate agent fees, will be credited to your Giving Account.
7. We will provide you with a tax certificate for your tax return.

Maximising tax benefits on your gift

You do not have to pay any Capital Gains Tax on a charitable gift of land or property. In addition, you can deduct the market value of the property from your taxable income for the relevant tax year, achieving Income Tax relief at your marginal rate.  Simply insert the value of the property under ‘value of qualifying land and buildings gifted to charity’ in the ‘Charitable giving’ section of your tax return.  Please bear in mind that Income Tax relief is only available if all co-owners want to give their entire beneficial interest to Stewardship.

For more information on how these reliefs would apply to your gift of property, please check government advice or talk to your tax adviser.

Need more guidance? We’re here to help

If you would like to discuss a gift of property to Stewardship, please contact us.  

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