1.1554209-2644476156
(FILES) Singer Katy Perry arrives at the 2015 Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala benefit in honor of the museum’s latest exhibit “China: Through the Looking Glass” in this May 4, 2015, file photo in New York. Perry has amassed millions of fans around the world, but her failure to win over two elderly nuns is creating an unholy battle. The pop singer wants to turn into her home a former convent -- a sprawling hillside Italianate complex valued at $15 million situated near the hip Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake -- from the archdiocese. But two nuns are having none of it. In the latest legal salvo, the two sisters challenged the authority of the archdiocese to sell the property. The motion dated Monday accused the archdiocese of unilaterally changing the by bylaws of the convent, known as the California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. AFP PHOTO/TIMOTHY A. CLARY/FILES Image Credit: AFP

A judge has asked attorneys for a group of nuns to work with attorneys for the Los Angeles Archdiocese to resolve the terms of a proposed sale of their hilltop convent to Katy Perry.

The dispute centres on who is authorised to sell the convent. The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary say the building is theirs, and they’ve sold it to a local restaurateur who has already moved in.

The archdiocese claims it is responsible for selling the property, and plans a $14.5 million (Dh53 million) deal with another buyer. The defendants in the suit say that buyer is Perry.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the case will return to court July 30, at which time the archdiocese will argue to end the sale.