If you are considering buying a church at auction then don’t delay call our friendly, experienced church Surveyors today.  All our Surveyors are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Independent Surveyors and Valuers Association (ISVA) and will save you time and money when buying a church at auction.

Whether you are buying a church at auction to be used as a place of worship, meeting house or to convert into a house then a free phone call to Church Surveyors will not only help you make an informed decision but will save you time and money too.  Our Church Surveyors have many, many years of experience with church buildings of all Era's and can provide you with an example survey which not only is written in plain English but includes many high quality photos, including aerial view 360 photos, unique survey sketches, anticipated costs of building works and repairs all of which helps to enable you to make an informed best decision on a church building.

Our experienced, friendly church Surveyors can provide full structural surveys, church building reports and/or auction advice which will help you make an informed decision and ensure you have the best independent advice.

Caveat Emptor – Buyer Beware

When buying a church property at auction once your bid is accepted and agreed you then own the property and therefore any property problems become your problems.  An auctioneer will provide an auctioneer’s pack which will provide some information on the church building - if we carry out a structural survey on your behalf you will be able to make an informed decision as to the condition of the building and how much time and money will be required to enable you to safely use the church building either as a place of worship, meeting house or to convert for other uses such as residential use.

What should you bid at auction for a church?

Buildings have many values. As you may or may not be aware, buildings have many values, particularly at auction depending upon what the bidder wishes to use them for.  Often with auctions there can also be bidders that have different ideas of what to do with the property and land.

For example: Other bidders may have spoken to the planners and understand the full planning potential of the land and may be looking to maximise the value of the land on the open market for use, i.e. for housing, which is likely to have a have a far higher value than as a church/D1 User Class.

Our Independent Church Surveyors will give the best advice to ascertain what the church building is worth in the open market.  We carry out investigations on your behalf to ensure you are best informed as for example you may wish to use the church building as a place of worship but others may wish to convert the church property into offices, a school or dwelling which may value the property at a higher value and therefore bid higher at auction.

What is the church worth to you?

We have devised a system whereby church building purchasers generally fall into one of three categories:-

Category One

The church is located in an area that is good for you.  The capacity of the church is appropriate. Other features, such as size of classrooms, welfare facilities: toilets, etc, parking and grounds are all what you are looking for, then this will make the church extremely functional to you and you should be looking to place your highest bid.

Category Two

If you consider the location to be okay but not ideal and maybe feel that the capacity is too small or too large and that the balance of classrooms, welfare facilities, parking and grounds make this ideal.

Category Three

This is very much a purchaser who will buy the property if the price is right.  The church does not meet the criteria that you had set out an ideal world but it is good enough and can be adapted and at the right price could work acceptably.

When you are looking at categories you will also need to also need to anticipate how you wish to grow and develop the church.

Balance

We also feel that a factor with regard to buying a church is what we would term as balance, i.e. is the seating capacity appropriate with welfare, classrooms, parking and grounds, possibly on-site accommodation/security? 

We feel that all buyers and purchasers of property make some compromises but we do feel you need to start off by deciding what category of buyer you are: Category One, Category Two or Category Three?

Repair costs and other costs to consider

When buying a church at auction you will also need to consider that there are frequently large costs to repair the building and also to maintain the building.  Our church Surveyors can help with providing a full structural church building survey which will identify any building issues, give advice on how to resolve or repair property problems and give anticipated costs for works which will help you in your top bid amount decision.

Help and advice from friendly, experienced Church Surveyors

If you would like help and advice whether if you are planning on bidding for a church at auction call us today on

Free phone 0800 409 6824 

Example Surveys

Click on the adjacent link for an example of how we will help when buying a church at auction