Rooms with a pew in Kirk’s property sale
THE Church of Scotland is selling off around £10million worth of property in a sale of old manses and places of worship.
Nearly 50 buildings in towns, cities, villages and rural areas around the country have gone on the market.
Many of the vacant properties will be eyed up by those hunting for family homes. Some churches boast ornate structures, high ceilings and commanding views, making them ripe for conversion.
Other former Kirk buildings could be turned into pubs or nightclubs. However, the church can put in place restrictive covenants banning ‘inappropriate’ use of its former properties – such as turning them into betting shops.
Several of the most desirable buildings are on sale for around the £500,000 mark. These include the Manse at Kirk Yetholm, Roxburghshire – described as an ‘impressive detached villa dating back to the late 1800s’ – for which offers in the region of £530,000 are invited.
The portfolio includes suburban flats, rural bungalows and land ‘development opportunities’. For those seeking a rural home, the five-bedroom former manse at Ardminish on Gigha would fit the bill. It is on the market for offers of around £265,000.
A two-bedroom flat in King’s Park, Glasgow, with an asking price of £118,000, was left to the church in the will of a parishioner. Fourteen of the properties are already under offer.
The sales are expected to help the church trim its debts. Documents prepared for the Kirk’s General Assembly in May showed the overall budget deficit in 2016 was £4.7million, up from £3.5million in 2015.
Most of this came from the budget for the church’s CrossReach social-care programmes, which had a deficit of around £3million.
The number of people who regularly attend church services in Scotland has fallen by more than half in the past 30 years.
A Church of Scotland spokesman said: ‘The church has a number of properties which are surplus to requirements and come on to the market throughout the year. The most common reason for this is when congregations link or unite and a manse is no longer needed.
‘Properties are also sold when they are not considered fit for purpose, either due to their age, state of repair or the running costs associated with them.
‘In recent years, the church has also been building new premises to better meet the needs of local communities,’
Details of the properties are available at church of scotland. org.uk
Property Mail – Page 68