The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into the Public Safety Charitable Trust following a court ruling which effectively challenged the charity’s ability to continue claiming charitable rate relief on hundreds of mainly empty buildings it is leasing around the country.

The Commission had begun investigating the charity in October 2011 after concerns were raised about its use of business rate relief, but has now escalated this to a statutory inquiry because of concerns about risks to the charity’s assets in light of the High Court judgment.

The Commission said: “The purpose of the inquiry is to examine regulatory concerns including whether the charity trustees have properly discharged their trustee duties when making decisions to enter tenancy agreements and occupy those properties to further their charitable purposes, and whether any benefit to the landlord or other parties is incidental to that.  

“We are also aware that there are further court proceedings involving the charity as a result of the court judgment.”

The Commission has already reissued warnings to the sector about the risks of entering tenancy agreements that take advantage of empty property rate relief.

 

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