How do you go about selling a grave

Faith177

Hi All

Hoping someone could point me in the right direction

My grandparents purchased plot in the City of London cemetery many many years ago

They moved to Nottingham a while back and when my Grandad recently passed away my aunt brought a double plot closer to their new home

We were wondering if she is able to see the double plot in London and how we would go about this?

Mojisola

Have you asked the CoL cemetery staff about this?

Faith177

I've tried calling keep leaving messages no one has come back to us.

I'll keep trying though

Mojisola

Faith177 wrote: »

My grandparents purchased plot in the City of London cemetery many many years ago

A plot isn't bought in perpetuary so there may be nothing to sell.

"​When you buy a grave you purchase the exclusive Rights of Burial in that grave for a set period of time. Should you not renew your lease options, then the exclusive rights of burial will eventually run out. Every 5 years during the duration of the lease the registered owner will be written to and offered the option to extend the length of lease."

Faith177

Mojisola wrote: »

A plot isn't bought in perpetuary so there may be nothing to sell.

"​When you buy a grave you purchase the exclusive Rights of Burial in that grave for a set period of time. Should you not renew your lease options, then the exclusive rights of burial will eventually run out. Every 5 years during the duration of the lease the registered owner will be written to and offered the option to extend the length of lease."

They have never been written to about a lease and they haven't had to pay anything since the initial purchase with their funeral plan

Malthusian

If this was all some time ago as you say, then the letter reminding them that the lease is expiring may have been sent to their old address, or binned and been long forgotten.

What does their original paperwork say about the length of the lease?

SevenOfNine

It's possible they may have purchased the burial rights when they were for 90 years, nowadays they're only 30 with the right to extend (for an additional fee) as Mojisola has indicated (makes more money for the local authority). In which case you won't have had a reminder yet & as said before, check the address either way.

You won't be selling the grave but you can, (obviously for a fee), pay the local authority to transfer ownership of the burial rights to someone else (ours charge about £50), whether you would be allowed to actually charge that person additional monies is another matter. There may be small print preventing this, but possibly nothing to stop you doing this 'under the counter' - on your head be that though!

I wonder if space is tight in that cemetery, perhaps the council might be prepared to buy it back?

Faith177

SevenOfNine wrote: »

It's possible they may have purchased the burial rights when they were for 90 years, nowadays they're only 30 with the right to extend as Mojisola has indicated (makes more money for the local authority). In which case you won't have had a reminder yet & as said before, check the address either way.

You won't be selling the grave but you can, (obviously for a fee), pay the local authority to transfer ownership of the burial rights to someone else (ours charge about £50), whether you would be allowed to actually charge that person additional monies is another matter. There may be small print preventing this, but possibly nothing to stop you doing this 'under the counter' - on your head be that though!

I wonder if space is tight in that cemetery, perhaps the council might be prepared to buy it back?

Think this was probably the case as it was ages ago they brought them but I will double check when I go up there next week

Yep all details have been updated my Grandad worked for the Post Office and had a real bee in his bonnet about letting everyone know about the address change. There is a letter confirming they have updated their records sent to my Grandparents new address :rotfl:

missbiggles1

Any answers on here?

https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/cemetery-and-crematorium/visitor-information/Pages/Frequently-asked-questions---Burial.aspx

SevenOfNine

Good link missb & I stand corrected, we've only purchased with 30 year right to burial, not older grave ownership so that will be helpful for OP. Where I live the price it doesn't even include the right to erect a headstone, so interesting that some others do.

ohreally

Mojisola wrote: »

A plot isn't bought in perpetuary so there may be nothing to sell.

"​When you buy a grave you purchase the exclusive Rights of Burial in that grave for a set period of time. Should you not renew your lease options, then the exclusive rights of burial will eventually run out. Every 5 years during the duration of the lease the registered owner will be written to and offered the option to extend the length of lease."

That's interesting has I have a lair and decided to look on the councils website...

Lairs are provided forever

, I wonder if "forever" has a limited time definition.