Church Property

Running_Horse

BornAtTheRightTime wrote: »

IF you find that happens, just get a house sign made up "The Old Vicarage". That should deter most people.

The one that recently sold in my old village had a covenant that it could not be called the old vicarage, parsonage, or any other name implying a religious connection or past. From the wording it sounded like the church authorities would vigorously enforce the rule. There were also various other stipulations about it never being a pub, restaurant, or other commercial premises.

datostar

iolanthe07 wrote: »

It is common policy to let vicarages because vacancies can last for years due to lack of money and shortage of vicars. They tend to be draughty and large, if old, and built on the cheap with low cost fittings if new. Also, many of them are located next door to the church, so expect a lot of unwelcome callers at all hours of the day and night, who will not believe you when you tell them that you are not a vicar.

An R.C. Parish Priest near me had a notice on the Presybtery door - 'If you need money for drink, the Benefits Office is at ...............'

iolanthe07

It's not just the C of E church who is rich.


The church is asset rich, but cash poor, and cannot really sell many of its assets to raise cash. There is not a huge market for redundant medieval churches. Ignorant people talk about the Church of England sitting on vast wealth, but this is a myth. Its investment portfolio of around £4 billion is to all intents and purposes a pension fund which, like many others, is in severe difficulty as its future obligations will far outweigh its likely income. Still, the myth persists because people want to believe it.

Catbells

clutton wrote: »

the bells... the bells..... i once lived next to an active bell-ringing church ... drove me mad........

I don't think the church next door has bells as its in a residential area. From comments on here I could start a thread with stories of the 'knocks at the door in the night' I am about to receive. Maybe I won't be as light hearted about it all once it starts.:eek:

Arthritic_Toe

iolanthe07 wrote: »

It's not just the C of E church who is rich.


The church is asset rich, but cash poor, and cannot really sell many of its assets to raise cash. There is not a huge market for redundant medieval churches. Ignorant people talk about the Church of England sitting on vast wealth, but this is a myth. Its investment portfolio of around £4 billion is to all intents and purposes a pension fund which, like many others, is in severe difficulty as its future obligations will far outweigh its likely income. Still, the myth persists because people want to believe it.

Sorry, but that is just completely wrong. They are sitting on huge stocks of non-church property and land. A huge chunk of its investment portfolio is in both private and commercial property. They own private houses, shops, offices and vast swathes of agricultural land, any amount of which could be sold if they chose to.

Ignorant people

might want to check out the C of E website to see who is ignorant here.

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/churchcommissioners/assets/

LydiaJ

Arthritic_Toe wrote: »

Sorry, but that is just completely wrong. They are sitting on huge stocks of non-church property and land. A huge chunk of its investment portfolio is in both private and commercial property. They own private houses, shops, offices and vast swathes of agricultural land, any amount of which could be sold if they chose to.

might want to check out the C of E website to see who is ignorant here.

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/churchcommissioners/assets/

iolanthe07 has already stated that the C of E has assets of some £4bn, and the site to which you have linked agrees, so I don't see why you are accusing him of being ignorant.

iolanthe07 has also said that the C of E's assets essentially constitute its pension fund, which has an otherwise unfunded liability to provide defined benefit pensions for thousands of clergy.

iolanthe07 has further pointed out that there isn't much market for redundant churches. It is also relevant that churches that are not redundant consume a lot of money in upkeep - especially the large number of listed ones.

It doesn't help that local people (especially in rural parishes) frequently object to any alterations being made to church buildings to make them more flexible so that they can be used throughout the week rather than just on Sundays. Those who object are usually not those who use the church regularly - just people who expect there to be a pretty church available, complete with traditional pews, whenever they happen to want to have a wedding or funeral (or maybe at Christmas).

heretolearn_2

'There is not a huge market for redundant medieval churches.'

I'd disagree with that. Many of my clients are 'new' independent churches and they'd chew off one of their own legs to get hold of a property like that. Out of all our clients, only 1 is in an old church building. The rest are in offices/shops/warehouses etc that they've managed to get re-zoned. Not ideal.

Mum_of_3_3

The old vicarage in Wells, Somerset has just been auctioned, not sure how much it went for, but if I had the money I would've definitely gone to the auction, my family would had a whale of a time living there. Lovely big property in a fantastic location. Apparently it was too expensive for the vicar to run.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-16318716.html

M_o_3

PasturesNew

There was a vicar-like bloke on Homes Under the Hammer I think ... one of the property programmes. He'd been there to buy a house for his retirement because when he left his job he was given £72k towards his future housing needs.

Now ... shortage of vicar types are there... how do you get to be one then?

As I recall, they get paid a lot - and where I used to live the job seemed to be mostly about riding round the village on your bike, popping in to have tea with locals.

iolanthe07

They are sitting on huge stocks of non-church property and land.

Again, the idea that the church is a huge land owner is way out of date. The Church of England barely makes it into the top 100 these days as it has sold a lot of land and property to keep going. There is very little glebe land left. Part of its portfolio does consist of shopping centres etc, but that is included in the £4 billion of assets it needs to fund the pensions of some 10,000 clergy plus around 5,000 clergy widows. By and large new independent churches want new buildings, not medieval piles that cost a fortune to heat and maintain and are completely unsuitable for their style of worship.