New owner for property at Minquiers

New owner for property at Minquiers

There are fewer than 20 of the huts – which are around the size of a garden chalet – on the reef, with most properties simply passing from one generation to the next.

The Minquiers, which is nine miles south of Jersey, is the most southerly point in the British Isles and is officially part of the parish of Grouville. It is protected by the Ramsar Convention for its importance as a seabird habitat, and is also home to grey seals and bottlenose dolphins.

The sale contract was passed in the Royal Court on Friday.

Advocate James Lawrence, part of the property team at Viberts, travelled to the reef to visit the site and check the boundaries along with senior conveyancer Michael Falle.

Mr Lawrence said: ‘This was certainly a piece of work which neither Michael or I will forget.

‘It’s not every day you take a boat to undertake a property site visit, but the process is ultimately the same as with any property – checking boundaries and the site generally. The actual transaction is interesting in itself too. Ordinarily, these beautiful huts are passed through families from one generation to the next, so the fact that one was subject to a transaction is rare.’

The Minquiers was the subject of a dispute with France in the 1950s over which jurisdiction owned it. The International Court of Justice ultimately ruled it was a British territory and part of Jersey.

Mr Falle added: ‘We were pleased that Viberts was chosen to deal with this unusual conveyancing matter, which is testament to the firm’s strong local reputation and its clear focus on the importance of Jersey’s tradition and history.’

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