Repair of Benefice Buildings Measure 1972
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | measure 1972 No. 2 |
| Year | 1972 |
Repair of Benefice BuildingsMeasure 1972
A MEASURE passed by the General Synod of the Church of England to provide for the repair of parsonage houses by Parsonages Boards and for the repair of other buildings belonging to a benefice; to make other provision for repairs and other works and matters relating to church buildings and land; and for purposes connected therewith.
[10th February 1972]
Diocesan Parsonages Boards
1 Appointment or designation and constitution of Parsonages Boards.
(1) As soon as possible after the passing of this Measure every diocesan synod shall provide by scheme either—
( a ) for the appointment of a Board for the purposes of this Measure, which shall be known as the Parsonages Board for the diocese concerned; or
( b ) for designating the Diocesan Board of Finance as the Board for the purposes of this Measure;
and references in this Measure to ‘the Board’ shall be construed as referring to the Parsonages Board or, as the case may be, the Diocesan Board of Finance for the diocese concerned.
(2) Every such scheme shall provide for the appointment of fit persons to be surveyors for the purposes of this Measure (hereinafter referred to as ‘diocesan surveyors’) and for determining their remuneration and terms of service.
(3) If the scheme provides for the appointment of a Parsonages Board, it shall also provide for the appointment of a secretary of the Board, and for determining his remuneration and terms of service.
(4) All archdeacons of a diocese for which a Parsonages Board is appointed shall be ex officio members of the Board, and of the remaining members not less than one third shall be clergymen elected by the beneficed and, if the scheme so provides, the licensed clergy of the diocese, and not less than one third shall be lay persons; but subject as aforesaid the membership of the Board and the method of election or appointment and term of office of its members other than ex-officio members shall be prescribed by the scheme.
(5) A Parsonages Board shall be a body corporate, with perpetual succession and a common seal, and the purposes of the Board shall be the furtherance of the work of the Church of England by the exercise of their functions under this Measure, and they shall in the exercise of those functions have power to enter into contracts, hold property, borrow money, execute works (whether by entering into contracts or by the employment of direct labour) and have such other ancillary powers as may be provided by scheme of the diocesan synod.
(6) Subject to the preceding provisions of this section, the constitution and procedure of a Parsonages Board shall be prescribed by scheme of the diocesan synod, and provision may be made for the appointment of committees and the exercise of functions by them, and for the appointment of officers and other staff of a Parsonages Board and for determining their remuneration and terms of service.
(7) A Parsonages Board shall present an annual report and annual accounts to the diocesan synod, and within one month of such presentation the secretary of the synod shall send a copy of the report and accounts to the Commissioners together with a copy of any resolutions passed thereon by the synod.
(8) The Board shall comply with any such directions as may be given to them by resolution of the diocesan synod.
(9) If the Diocesan Board of Finance is designated by a scheme under subsection (1),—
( a ) the scheme shall provide for the delegation of the Board's functions under this Measure to a committee or committees of the Board constituted in accordance with the scheme, and regard shall be had in prescribing the membership of the committee or committees (which may include persons other than member, of the Board) to the need for adequate representation of the clergy and laity, and the scheme may contain provisions as to the procedure of any such committee;
( b ) the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Board or (if they are not a registered company) the constitution thereof shall be deemed to include the furtherance of the work of the Church of England by the exercise of functions under this Measure and such ancillary powers as are necessary for the exercise of those functions and to give effect to any provisions of the said scheme;
( c ) subsection (7) shall apply to the Board with the modification that the annual report and annual accounts there mentioned may be presented as a separate part of the Board's annual report and annual accounts.
Repair of Benefice Buildings
2 Meaning of repairs.
(1) In this Measure ‘repairs’, in relation to a parsonage house, means such works of repair and replacement as are needed—
( a ) to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the buildings of the parsonage house, including doors, windows, drains, gutters and external pipes; and
( b ) to keep in repair all walls, fences, gates, drives and drains of the parsonage house, other than those which some person other than the incumbent is wholly liable to repair;
( c ) to keep in repair and proper working order—
(i) the installations in the parsonage house for the supply of water, gas and electricity, and for sanitation, including basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences, and
(ii) the installations in the parsonage house for space heating or heating water, and
(iii) any fixtures fittings and appliances in the parsonage house (other than those mentioned in the preceding sub-paragraphs), if they belong to the benefice but not otherwise;
and includes works of interior decoration necessitated in consequence of such works as aforesaid.
(2) For the purposes of this Measure any report by a diocesan surveyor on the repairs required for any glebe buildings shall be based on the legal obligation of the incumbent to keep the buildings in repair.
(3) In determining for the purposes of this Measure the standard of repair appropriate to any building of a benefice, regard shall be had to the age, character and prospective life of the building, and, in particular, in the case of a building included in a list under section 32 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1962 , the special architectural or historic interest of the building.
3 Periodic inspections by diocesan surveyors.
(1) It shall be the duty of the Board to cause an inspection to be made by a diocesan surveyor of all the buildings of each benefice in the diocese within an initial period of five years from the commencement of this Measure, and for subsequent such inspections to be made periodically at intervals not exceeding, in the case of any benefice, five years from the last such inspection thereof.
(2) Where a new building of a benefice is provided and is not inspected within the initial period, the Board shall cause it to be inspected by a diocesan surveyor as soon as possible after it is provided and thereafter at intervals not exceeding five years.
4 Reports by diocesan surveyors.
(1) On every such inspection as aforesaid of the buildings of a benefice, the diocesan surveyor shall make a report to the Board—
( a ) stating what repairs are required, specifying them in detail and estimating their cost, and stating whether they should be executed immediately or otherwise;
( b ) specifying any repairs to a parsonage house which are in his opinion necessary by reason of damage caused or aggravated by any deliberate act of the incumbent or a previous incumbent or any default in his duties under section 13 of this Measure, and estimating the cost of executing those repairs or, in case of aggravation, the additional cost attributable to the act or default;
( c ) stating whether any improvements to a parsonage house appear to him expedient and, if an estimate appears to him practicable and useful, estimating their cost;
( d ) stating whether in his opinion a parsonage house should be replaced;
( e ) stating whether any outbuilding of a parsonage house or any glebe building appears to him to be superfluous and, if an estimate appears to him practicable and useful, estimating the cost of demolition;
( f ) commenting on the state of the interior decoration of any parsonage house and the state of fixtures and things in any building of the benefice which belong to the benefice;
( g ) advising on the respective amounts for which the buildings of the benefice should be insured under this Measure, and specifying any special risks to which they are liable.
(2) Where a diocesan surveyor reports that any outbuilding of a parsonage house or any glebe building appears to him to be superfluous, it shall not be necessary for him to specify what repairs to the building are required.
(3) On the first inspection of the buildings of a benefice under this Measure, the diocesan surveyor shall attach to his report a list of the fixtures and things in any such building which belong to the benefice, and a list of the trees of a parsonage house which in his opinion (after taking such expert advice, if any, as he thinks fit) ought to be preserved, and on subsequent inspections he shall make such additions to and amendments of the lists as may be necessary.
(4) The Board shall cause a copy of the report to be sent to the incumbent together with a notice stating his right to make representations and the date by which the representations must be made, which shall not be less than one month from the date on which the notice is sent.
(5) The Board shall consider any representations duly made by the incumbent and, if the incumbent so desires, give him an opportunity of meeting the Board or (at the discretion of the Board) a...
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