Charities Commission regulations for rabbit sanctuaries? Rescues Advice please...

Hi,

I'm soon to be running a rabbit rescue here at my home.

The only thing is i'm doing this as an affiliate of another sanctuary who will be paying for the veterinary care etc for the rescued bunnies. I do want to check, does anyone know what are the regulations with regards to running an animal sanctuary?

I have been told i need to have an independant outbuilding with electricity , which i do have. I also need space for 5 or more rabbits. The police and the rspca need to be informed.
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Is this likely to be the conditions of the charity or of the charitys commision. Is there anything else i haven't been made aware of. I would think the council would have to be made aware.

Can anyone give me any advice on what i should be checking or looking into. Also would i be better being an independant rescue and registering myself as a charity or is it better than i go through an existing rescue as an affliate?

Thanks for any help you can give me, very much appreciated. I couldn't get into the rabbit rescue section, not sure why so i posted here instead.

It is very complicated:roll:. If you inform the council then you will have to apply for planning permission and go through all that which took us 11 months and cost £300. Your private dwelling will be seen as 'residential' and your rescue will be seen as 'business'. Your planning permission will be for change of use and will have to go to council planning committee and your neighbours will be invited to comment!

You don't have to tell the police and RSPCA.

If you want charity statuship then you will have to have trustees and first register with the inland revenue. When your income exceeds a certain threshold you will then have to apply to the charity commission for you registered charity number. They will ask you all the questions they need to know about animals etc, outgoings, funding, rehoming policies etc etc. You will also be expected to have official documents like a constitution, records of meetings, accounts, asset register etc etc.

:roll::roll:

Hi, great that you want to help in a big way. Your set up sounds more like you will be a fosterer. If you are providing the bedding, attention, food but not paying for the vets bills you can class yourself as a fosterer. If you have members of the public coming onto your property its a good idea to get public liability insurance and do a risk assesment once a month of the areas people will visit to view rabbits.

Becoming a charity is something I have looked into, you need £5000 going through your books a year for them to even consider you. I personally am keeping as a rescue!!! If you do go down the charity root yes your outbuilding would become an asset owned by the charity so in theory if you were shut down everything that the 'charity' owned could be taken away!!

Makesure you use the correct words, are you a rescue or a sanctuary as they are 2 different things!!!! I have yet to find an insurer for the animals for a rescue but I think they will do sancturary insurance.

Good luck and this is where the hard work starts!!!!

Another thing is that if your 'outbuilding' becomes part of another charity then if anything happens to the charity or trustees everything could get a bit complicated. For example you might not be able to sell the house as it will be tied to the charity. You could 'rent' the outbuilding to the charity for a small fee maybe. You would also need insurance otherwise the charity would be liable if someone injured themselves whilst viewing a bunny at yours.

It is a minefield I'm afraid and all a big learning curve.:roll:

Thankyou for all the information, it's really helpful and i will run it by the guys who are organising this and working as an intermediary between myself and the charity. The setup is that i will be an affiliate under the existing animal charity. It is registered with the charities commision. This will be a rabbit sanctuary although i will be taking in wild rabbits to be re-released from the pet ambulance service. I'm just wanting to make sure my back is covered as this is being organised by someone else i do trust, but i'm not sure they have covered all the bases.

The charity which exists is doing everything by the book. They have been going for several years. I will be dealing with more than just rabbits also, rescued hedgehogs. I am wanting to get everything clarifyed before i jump in head first and fall down with anything.

Sounds like setting up a chairty myself and rabbit sanctuary or rescue is a long way off, so my only option to help is to go with the current registered charity. I do have my reservations. I wouldn't like to think that any of this property would be the charities if there was any problem as it is not my own. It is my step mums.

What would you say is the sensible option for myself.- I can run a private rescue i take it without much hassle? Do you have to get planning permission for any type of rescue, sanctuary? Thanks, sorry to ask so many questions, i just want to be prepared.

p.s what are the official definitions of charity or rescue?