Local communities should get priority when Church buildings put up for sale
3 April 2025
Multiple communities have reported to us that they are unhappy as Church of Scotland ‘often prioritises the highest bidder.’
Local communities should get priority when The Church of Scotland is selling its buildings.
We have received significant complaints from a range of community groups who feel the Church of Scotland national administrators have not been supportive when the local groups organise to buy church buildings as community facilities.
Some groups claim the church authorities often prioritise the buyers with the deepest pockets, even when the community has met the valuation price.
The communities have complained of a lack of communication from the Church headquarters, unhelpful advice, lack of clarity around the bidding process – all of which have left cash-strapped community organisations at a disadvantage when Church buildings are on the market. With falling congregations and the rising costs of maintaining old buildings, The Church of Scotland is selling hundreds of its buildings around the country.
Linsay Chalmers, Development Manager at Community Land Scotland, said, “For generations the local communities were usually the ones who supported their local church – their families often built the churches – and the communities paid for the maintenance of the churches often for hundreds of years.
“If the community has offered a fair price for the church building, and if the community is to get a clear benefit from getting the building, then it would only seem fair that the church authorities would cooperate with the community. We have heard a significant number of cases where local communities have gone through the hoops and raised the valuation and done the considerable form-filling etc and the church authorities have not been helpful. Given the local church is usually a big part of the community heritage, the community should get priority.”
Residents on Eigg mobilised to buy the picturesque St Columba Church and small glebe area which went up for sale in 2022. They have recently been told their disputed valuation for St Columba’s has been accepted and they are hopeful they will get the Church and glebe. However, they feel the path to success has been unnecessarily difficult.
Camille Dressler is a trustee of Solas Eige, the community group leading the effort to purchase. She doesn’t want to go into specifics at this stage in the process, but she feels the Church authorities were slow and unresponsive.
“At first we received a very positive response to the idea of the community on Eigg seeking to purchase the church”, she said.
“However, when we started corresponding with the Church’s legal services, communication became very poor. We offered to lease the church whilst we pursued the acquisition, but it turned out to be too difficult.
“As a group of volunteers on Eigg, we did our best to inform the church of what we were doing at every step of the way. But most of the time we got no response or the response was very slow as it had to go through the minister and not directly to us. The system appeared impenetrable and unnecessarily complicated.”
Ms Dressler said the relationship with the local minister was good and that he had helped as much as he could. “For the sake of other communities buying from the Church of Scotland, there should be a template that is available so that both sides know clearly what is expected and what is required. Otherwise it is a frustrating and exhausting process,” she added.
A community trust in Arisaig failed in its bid when the village church was put up for sale by the Church of Scotland. Given the minimum asking price of £135,000, the Arisaig group asked church headquarters for some extra time to go raise the cash.
Anne Widdop is Treasurer of Arisaig Community Trust. “We tried to get a wee bit of extra time”, Anne said. “We worked tirelessly for many months and completed a community consultation, had a full feasibility study, architectural drawings and a business plan. We were in the process of raising the significant asking price for the Church. “But Church headquarters in Edinburgh were having none of it: ‘If you want to bid, then bid when it goes to the open market’ was the message from Edinburgh. We basically had a few weeks’ notice which was really challenging for us.”
Then, just a few days before bids closed, an anonymous, wealthy donor offered Arisaig Community Trust a £100,000 donation towards the cost of the church. Along with gift aid and some other donors, they secured the £135K asking price.
“We were absolutely delighted when we were offered the money by the donor”, Anne Widdop continued. “We thought we could now bid for the church building for the community. We had drawn up plans to convert the church into 2 additional affordable lets for locals and have a multi-purpose community facility – which the community was keen to use. But in the end our offer was turned down anyway, and we were informed the Church went for the highest bidder.”
“A local family originally built the Church over 200 years ago and it contains important commemorative plaques. Generations of people from this community have maintained the church and paid for its upkeep. We weren’t looking for special favours, and we expected to pay the valuation. However, it feels only fair that the community be given a proper chance when the church is up for sale. It is a massive blow to the community that the Church couldn't see past a few hundred pounds and have now denied future generations the opportunity to marry or have their funeral in a well-loved, grade B, listed building"
Many community groups are reluctant to speak publicly about their frustrations as they feel it might damage future relations with Church authorities.
A representative of another Scottish community group which had tried to buy an old local church, said, “We found communication was difficult and the information we were given changed. The correspondences were slow. I’m sure, like everywhere, church headquarters is tightly resourced, but their communications with the communities needs to improve.
“The outcome of these decisions need to be right for local communities as well as for the Church.”
The Church’s strategic decisions on building sales have also frustrated some local church congregations. The Braemar Kirk in Aberdeenshire was recently bought by a millionaire couple who run a luxury boutique hotel.The local kirk session had preferred a bid from another buyer who would have allowed Sunday services to continue at the Braemar Kirk building. However, the Church headquarters went for the highest bidder, which will leave the Braemar area without a church.
One local parishioner, who didn’t want to be identified said, “This place means a lot to the local people and a lot of people are very unhappy that it just appears to have gone to the highest bidder irrespective of the congregation’s wishes.
“A lot of people here have great memories of weddings and christenings and Christmas in the church. Now it has gone to the highest bidder when it could have continued as a facility for the congregation. It is very disappointing.”
Bruce Luffman, an Elder and Treasurer for the parish’s Kirk Session, and member of the Crathie Kirk at the other end of the Parish, emphasised there are no easy decisions. “The Church of Scotland is selling around 400 properties and – like many churches and organisations – they have financial challenges. It is also important to emphasise that the money raised by these sales is ultimately used to benefit the local parish buildings.
"At the same time, we were disappointed that the Church authority in Edinburgh didn't go with the local preference which would have enabled the sale of Braemar Kirk and, at the same time, would have maintained regular services in the building."
Linsay Chalmers at Community Land Scotland, said, “ We totally understand that The Church of Scotland is strapped for cash and it hopes to maximise its income from sale of buildings. “But these buildings are significant community assets, maintained for many generations by these communities.
“The other prime consideration should be what will benefit the community most. Inevitably the community group will develop it for the good of the community. The highest bidder might not be so interested in the community benefit.
"People expect that the Church of Scotland will be easy to work with, especially when the community has raised the funds to build and look after their church. However, this is rarely the case and we have started telling communities to treat the Church of Scotland like any other private seller such as a hedge fund or developer."
“We are concerned that the Church of Scotland is looking at short-term financial returns and not considering the damage it may do to its own legacy or the impact upon the culture and heritage of the many communities around Scotland who have a close relationship to their kirks and other Church buildings.”
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