A wrangle over the ownership of a community hall could land a group of West Sussex Girl Guides with an annual rent bill of £3,000.

Confusion has arisen over Lancing Guide Hall in Penhill Road during negotiations for a new lease.

For years it was assumed the hall was owned by Lancing District Guide Association.

But now it appears it could be the property of West Sussex County Council and, if that proves to be the case, the guides could have to foot the bill.

Anyone with a historical connection with guiding is being urged to trawl through their old files to see if they can find any clues to solve the mystery.

Guide district commissioner Sherrie Durrant said: "Questions were first raised when the lease came up for renewal and two different stories emerged, one from local guiders and the other from West Sussex County Council.

"It had always been believed Lancing district guides owned the hall but leased the land from the council.

"However, now the council is saying ownership was transferred to it over 20 years ago with the guides retaining use of the building.

"Our difficulty is that a lot of the paperwork from that time has unfortunately been lost or destroyed so nobody really knows."

The guide district is now facing an annual rent bill of £3,000.

Ms Durrant said: "It has been a bit of a shock and means we will have to look at ways of raising the money.

"We would like to make some improvements to the building and put in a disabled toilet but we may have to rethink those plans.

"We think we can get grants for some of the rent but the rest will have to be raised through fund-raising, which would have been used for other things."

A plaque outside the guide hall states the building was given to the Girl Guides Association in April 1923 by Charles Mason, a prominent figure in Lancing history.

Other buildings on the same site as the guide hall include the guides' camp store, Penhill Arts Centre, Lancing Youth Centre and the local Scout headquarters.

A council spokeswoman said: "The council does in fact own the guide hut. We are in the process of negotiating the grant of a concessionary rent."

Anyone who was involved with the management of the hall in the Seventies is asked to call Sherrie Durrant on 01903 761839.