The Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 became law on 24 July 1996 and will come into force on a day yet to be appointed by the Lord Chancellor.

The anticipated commencement date is 1 January 1997.Pt I of the Act applies only to land-owning trusts and makes the following major changes:-- the divided regimes of settled land and trusts for sale will be abolished and replaced by a single regime for trusts of land;-- property already within the Settled Land Act regime will remain.

The exception is land held on charitable ecclesiastical or public trusts, and which is not subject to the Universities and College Estates Act 1925;-- under a trust of land, the trustees will have wide-ranging new powers intended to bring the powers of land-owning trustees into line with modern conditions and to replicate (in modern form and in appropriate circumstances) the powers previously available to trustees for sale and to Settled Land Act trustees and the tenant for life.Pt II of the Act is not restricted to land-owning trusts and makes one fundamental change; that beneficiaries of a trust are given the right (in limited circumstances) to dismiss one or more of the trustees and to appoint a trustee or trustees of their own choosing in their place.Abolition of settled landNo settlement created after the commencement of the Act can be a settlement for the purposes of the Settled Land Act 1925 and will, by virtue of s.1 of the new Act, necessarily be a trust of land.All existing Settled Land Act trusts will remain governed by that Act, except land held on charitable, ecclesiastical or public trusts, which will be held on a trust of land from commencement of the Act even if before then it was deemed to be settled land.Varying a Settled Land Act settlement will not take it out of that regime unless an election to this effect is made.

If the settlement ceases to hold any land or chattels, it will fall outside the Settled Land Act but the proceeds of such a sale can be reinvested and will then be held on a trust of land.Characteristics of the trust of landTrustees have beneficial owner powers unless modified by the settlement.

These powers have to be used to enable the trustees to carry out one or more of their functions and the trustees will, under general trust law, have to act prudently and in the proper interests of the trust and of the beneficiary.A power to postpone sale applies in all cases.

Where the power is reversed, trustees of land are given an express power to purchase land for investment, for occupation by a beneficiary or 'for any other reason'.S.9 of the Act gives trustees the power to delegate any of their functions as trustees 'which relate to the land' to a beneficiary or beneficiaries of full age.

Persons dealing with the beneficiaries are entitled to assume the delegation is properly made unless they have knowledge to the contrary.

They can enshrine this protection by making a statutory declaration.The equivalent protection against revocation lies in the Powers of Attorney Act 1971, since the delegation is made by power of attorney.

The s.9 power is a new category of trustee power of attorney, quite distinct from a power under s.25 of the Trustee Act 1925.

It is not limited to 12 months' duration or the notice provisions of s.25.

Under s.9, trustees cannot delegate their power to give receipts for capital money.The s.9 delegation has to be given by all the trustees jointly and, unless expressed to be irrevocab le and to be given by way of security, it can be revoked by any of them.The death or retirement from trusteeship of any of the trustees who made the delegation will not revoke it, but the appointment of a new trustee will.Trustees are jointly and severally liable for any act or default of the beneficiary if they do not 'exercise reasonable care in deciding to delegate' the function to the beneficiary.Consents and consultationS.10 entitles a purchaser to be satisfied by two consents to the exercise of trustee powers.

S.11 re-enacts requirements of the Law of Property Act 1925.Trustees should, where practicable, consult the beneficiaries when exercising their trustee functions in relation to land held in trust.

Its operation can be expressly excluded from new trusts and incorporated in some existing trusts.The right to occupy trust landThe power given to the trustees by s.9, to delegate some or all of their functions to a beneficiary or beneficiaries, is complemented by s.12.

This gives a beneficiary the right to occupy the trust land if the purposes of the trust include making the land available for their occupation or 'the land is held by the trustees so as to be so available'.The power to pay compensation to other beneficiaries raises taxation issues.

However, the right to occupy is subject to regulation by the trustees in accordance with s.13.The doctrine of conversion is abolished, together with the rule that where the entirety of land held on trust for sale is sold, the trustees (in the absence of an express power) no longer have power to buy land.Trustees of land will have power to buy land in England or Wales and will retain that power, even if they are holding only the proceeds of sale of land.Trustees of land will be entitled to convey land to beneficiaries who are absolutely entitled to it (s.6(2)), whether or not the beneficiaries have requested this, and will have power to partition it, subject to conditions (s.7).The court is given power to make orders in relation to the exercise of the trustees' powers and to declare the nature or extent of a person's interest in the trust (s.14).

Purchaser protection is dealt with both in s.9 and s.16 and, with certain exceptions, the position of personal representatives is equated to that of trustees (s.18).Pt II of the Act is not restricted to land-owning trusts and makes one fundamental change as follows.Appointment and retirement of trusteesBeneficiaries are given a power to direct the retirement of one or more of the present trustees and the appointment of another or others.'Reasonable arrangements' have to be made for the protection of any of the rights of the trustees in connection with the trust.The beneficiaries' power only arises where there is no person nominated for the purpose of appointing new trustees and the beneficiaries are of full age and capacity and (taken together) absolutely entitled to the trust property.

It will apply to new trusts unless expressly excluded by the terms of the trust.

Settlors of existing trusts can execute a deed declaring that the right shall not apply, but in all other circumstances it applies generally.A beneficiary who has joined in a direction to a trustee to retire can change his or her mind at any time before the trustee acts on it.Beneficiaries are given a similar power to remove a trustee who is mentally incapable of acting as a trustee.Sched 3 makes a number of minor and consequential amendments, including an amendment to s.36 of the Trustee Act intended to remove a long-standing trap in re lation to the discharge of trustees.