# General Cemetery Act 2025, Paragraph 8


For section 43 substitute—
“Grant of burial rights and rights to erect memorials, and agreements for maintenance of graves and memorials
XLIII. (1) The Company may grant, on such terms and subject to such conditions as they think proper—
(a) to any person—
(i) the exclusive right of burial in any grave space or grave, or the right to construct a walled grave or vault together with the exclusive right of burial therein; or
(ii) the right to one or more burials in any grave space or grave which is not subject to any exclusive right of burial;
(b) to the owner of a right described in paragraph (a)(i) or (ii) (or to any person ‘P’ who satisfies them that P is a relative of a person buried in the grave or vault, or is acting at the request of such a relative, and that it is impractical for P, or P’s relative, to trace the owner of the right so described), the right to place and maintain, or to put any additional inscription on, a tombstone or other memorial on the grave space, grave or vault in respect of which the right so described subsists;
(c) to any person, the right to place and maintain a memorial in the cemetery otherwise than on a grave space, grave or vault in respect of which a right described in paragraph (a)(i) has been granted, but—
(i) in the case of a memorial to be placed in a chapel provided under section XXII, only at the request of persons appearing to the Company to be representative of the Church of England or any other particular denomination or religious body at whose request the chapel was provided; and
(ii) in the case of any other memorial being an additional inscription on an existing memorial, only with the consent of the owner of the right to place and maintain such existing memorial.
(2) The Company may from time to time extend the period of any grant under subsection (1) (subject, if they think fit, to any modification of its terms or conditions) for up to 75 years from the date on which the extension is granted.
(3) The Company may, at the expiration of the period of any grant under paragraphs (b) or (c) of subsection (1), or of any extension of such period—
(a) move to another place in the cemetery; or
(b) remove from the cemetery, for preservation elsewhere or for disposal,
any tombstone or other memorial which has not been removed from the cemetery by the owner of the right to place and maintain it in the cemetery.
(4) No body shall be buried in or over any grave in which an exclusive right of burial for the time being subsists except by, or with the consent in writing of, the owner of the right.
(5) Subsection (4) shall not extend to the body, or remains, of—
(a) the person who immediately before their death was the owner of the right; or
(b) any other person specified in the deed of grant or in an indorsement thereon made at the request of the owner for the time being of the right by the officer appointed for that purpose by the Company.
(6) The Company shall also have power to agree with any person, on such terms and subject to such conditions as they think proper, to maintain any grave, vault, tombstone or other memorial in the cemetery for a period not exceeding 100 years from the date of the agreement.”

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2025/2/schedule/1/paragraph/8 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/general-cemetery-act-2025/schedule-1/paragraph-8
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.