Burials Can a loved one be buried on my land?

There are many sources of information and some conflicting advice on whether you can bury a person on your land.? This topic arose when I had to value a residential property with two formal burials of relatives in the garden.? In order to avoid confusion I have taken extracts from each of the organisations who provide guidance.? If you need any further information please look directly at their websites. ?

?Citizens Advice Bureau

…Burials can also take place on private land, or in a woodland site.

Although there is no law preventing burials on private land (including a garden) anyone wishing to do this should contact their local authority, who may issue a certificate confirming that the burial is lawful.

Environment Agency Policy

Water quality policy on protecting controlled waters – funeral practices and the environment. 27/6/05

Home burials

This part of the policy relates to burials in the ground with the potential to impact surface or ground water.? Advice on alternative funeral practices that can minimise environmental harm, and on home burials, can be obtained from a number of sources, including the Natural Death Centre.

?Some so called “notifiable diseases” are automatically reported to the local authority, which will decide if they should become involved, although this rarely affects home burials.

People who want advice on home burials may wish to consult with the local council’s Environmental Health Department, who should be able to provide advice. Our advice to local authorities is that we would like to see the following conditions met:

????? No burials should take place within 30 metres of any spring or standing or running water and should be at least 10 metres from any ‘dry’ ditch or field drain.

???? The burial plot should be at least 50 metres away from any well, borehole or spring that supplies water for any use. Our Groundwater and Contaminated Land Team can provide advice on sensitive Groundwater Zones.

If these conditions can not be met, we would like to undertake an individual assessment, although a refusal is unlikely.

?When preparing the grave, it is recommended that the person responsible should ensure that:

????? There is least one metre of subsoil below the body,

????? There is at least one metre of soil to cover the body.

???? The grave does not contain any standing water when it is first dug, and is not dug in very sandy soil.

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Explanatory Note - Water quality policy on protecting controlled waters

Funeral practices and the environment.

For private burials, no planning permission is required for "a limited number of unmarked and unfenced graves". Although the Institution of Burial and Cremation Authorities recommends that people considering private burial should consult the Environment Agency and their local council's Environmental Health Department about possible pollution of the environment and public nuisance, if our guidance is followed this is not necessary. There is no law preventing people from burying in their own garden, but they must obtain beforehand a burial authorisation form from the Registrar of Deaths or Coroner. After the burial, they return part of the form with details of the date and location of burial. The burial must also be recorded in a land burial register (which includes a site plan) which is kept by the land owner. This should generally be kept with the deeds of the property.

The policy aims to provide both our staff and the public with clear guidance on these matters. It aims to protect water quality and wildlife, although additional guidance on issues concerning other river users such as boaters and anglers users is included.

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Ministry of Justice

Application for a licence for the removal of buried human remains in England & Wales.

The current law relating to the removal of individual buried human remains is contained in Section 25 of the Burial Act 1857 which states that it is not lawful to remove any body or the remains of any body, which have been interred in any place of burial, without a licence from the Secretary of State or, in certain circumstances, the Church of England.

… any person who wishes to exhume buried remains will need to apply to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for an appropriate licence.

The MoJ receives over 1000 licence applications a year. Each will be considered on its merits, but applications made for private family reasons on behalf of the next of kin will, subject to any other necessary consents, normally be considered sympathetically.

The consents of all the next of kin of the deceased are normally required. The next of kin for the purposes of an exhumation licence application are broadly those as set out below:

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Order of kinship is as follows:

????????? 1.?????? Spouse or civil partner (see the Civil Partnerships Act 2004)

????????? 2. ????? All children and both parents

????????? 3. ????? All brothers and sisters

????????? 4. ????? All grandchildren and grandparents

The following will not be regarded as next of kin:

1. ????? Divorced spouse

2. ????? Unmarried partner

It may not be possible to issue a licence unless all the required consents of the next of kin/grave owner have been provided.

The Good Funeral Guide

Where land is owned outright, with no mortgage or loan, it is legal to bury a person on that land, subject to a few restrictions:

• ?Check there is no covenant on the land that could prohibit a burial.
• ?Ensure there are no byelaws preventing the burial.
• ?Be prepared for the value of your property to be negatively affected by the presence of a grave.
• ?If the proposed location of the grave is overlooked by neighbouring properties, be prepared for objections from your neighbours.
• ?Be aware that a subsequent owner may apply for an exhumation licence and have the body moved.
• You are advised to make sure that the body will not pose a health hazard by polluting water supplies. So, according to the Environment Agency:? the site should be more than 30m from any spring or any other body of water and 10m from any dry ditch or field drain. The site should be at least 50m from any well, borehole or spring.
• Stay clear of water, gas and electrical services.
• In England & Wales the landowner must make and protect a land burial register but not in Scotland. Damage to, alteration or destruction of such a register is an offence.

?Planning permission is not required for one or two burials on private land, although more than ‘a few’ burials could legally deem the land to be a cemetery, and thus require involvement of the local authority and the planning department.

?It is the view of John Bradfield (the leading expert on UK burial law) that “you may hear of various distances of graves from ditches, ponds, wells and so on. Those distances are used for oil storage tanks so have nothing to do with burials. The Environment Agency has stated that there is no evidence of any problems with burials in any places.”

?Once a body is buried, it cannot be disturbed or dug up and moved without permission*.

?If the body is in non-consecrated ground and you want to re-bury it in non-consecrated ground, you need a Ministry of Justice licence.

?If you or a client require a valuation of residential, business, forestry or agricultural property for business, taxation or estate planning purposes please feel free to call Skinner Holden Property Advisors to discuss your requirements.

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07827 394720

?Iain Skinner 2024