Part III General

Special cases

86 Ecclesiastical property.

(1)

Without prejudice to the provisions of the M1Acquisition of Land Act 1981 with respect to notices served under that Act, where under any of the provisions of this Act a notice or copy of a notice is required to be served on an owner of land, and the land is ecclesiastical property, a similar notice or copy of a notice shall be served on the F1Diocesan Board of Finance for the diocese in which the land is situated.

(2)

F2Where any ecclesiastical property is vested in the incumbent of a benefice which is vacant—

(a)

F3... for the purposes of section 11, this subsection (other than paragraph (b)) and sections 62, 63 and 83(1) and any other provisions of this Act so far as they apply or have effect for the purposes of any of those provisions, F4it shall be treated as being vested in the F1Diocesan Board of Finance for the diocese in which the land is situated;

(b)

F5... F4it shall, for the purposes of a compulsory acquisition of the property under section 47, be treated as being vested in the Church Commissioners, and any notice to treat shall be served, or be deemed to have been served, accordingly.

F6(3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4)

In this section “ecclesiastical property” means land belonging to an ecclesiastical benefice F7of the Church of England, or being or forming part of a church subject to the jurisdiction of a bishop of any diocese F8of the Church of England or the site of such a church, or being or forming part of a burial ground subject to such jurisdiction . . . F9.