Timeframe for Leaving the Property
The process for departing your clergy home is outlined below. If these timescales may prove problematic for you, we encourage you to contact your Archdeacon in the first instance, to discuss whether alternative arrangements are feasible.
- Within the first month after writing to the bishop, the clergy person should agree the date they will be leaving their property with their Archdeacon.
- Please then contact Savills as soon as you can, to begin discussions about your move and ensure your needs are heard.
- You will need to complete the Notification of Departure form sent to you by the Clergy Appointments Assistant (CAA) with the agreed exit date, last service date and resignation date. The HR department will advise the CAA when the dates have been agreed.
By way of reminder, our policy requires clergy to have taken any annual leave prior to their last Sunday in office; for their last Sunday to be no more than one month before they cease to hold their current office; and to exit the property within the month before they cease to hold their current office.
For clergy moving into retirement section 14 (1) (h) of The Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Regulations 2009 applies, permitting the cleric to remain in the property for a period of up to one month from the date on which the office holder ceases to hold the office.
Utilities
Upon leaving the property, you will need to notify your gas and electricity company of your move out date, provide meter readings and pay all outstanding accounts with the service providers up to and including your last day in the property.
In the event that the leaving occupant allows, either by default of payment or specific instruction, the disconnection of services, they will be liable to pay the costs associated with reconnecting or resuming those services.
The telephone should not normally be disconnected, but transferred instead to the PCC unless a different arrangement is agreed with Savills.
If the property has a smart thermostat installed at the Diocese’s expense, we ask that the leaving occupant takes the necessary steps to remove it from their account, so that it can be reset to ensure subsequent occupants can use it.
If the volume of oil in an oil tank is significant, reimbursement for the value may be negotiated with the WDBF if the house is to be let, or in other circumstances with the PCC, which may then wish to pass it over the new occupant as a gift.
Key Handover
It is the responsibility of the leaving occupant to deliver all keys, alarm fobs and remote control devices to Savills, a church warden or the Diocese on the day the property is vacated. The costs of replacing the locks or devices where such keys or devices are missing will be the responsibility of the leaving occupant.
Cleanliness, Making Good, Inventory
The expectation is for the property to be left in as sound and clean a condition as at the beginning of their occupancy, reasonable wear and tear excepted. (Occupants licensed after August 2024 onwards will be able to access a third-party inventory, documenting the condition of the property when they moved in.)
For example:
- The occupant must make good or pay for the repair of any damage caused by hanging pictures or any such items to the walls using nails, screws, or adhesive material, prior to departure.
- The occupant must clean the property to the standard they would expect to receive it in, and leave the garden under control to make it possible for the next occupant to maintain it.
- Walls and wall tiles must be returned to a neutral colour
- The occupant must remove all rubbish from the property. This includes garden waste such as broken fencing, plant pots, soil bags, and derelict structures. Where rubbish or items are left at the property, Savills will arrange for their disposal and then send an invoice to the clergy person for reimbursement.
By way of reminder, any alterations made to a property should have been approved beforehand via our ‘request for works outside of policy’ application process. When vacating a property there may be a requirement to make good any alterations. If any improvement works have been carried out without approval the default position is that the value of the improvement is to be written down to £1 when vacating the property.
If the inspection after vacation reveals the house to be in an unacceptable condition (i.e. well beyond reasonable wear and tear), the Archdeacon may authorise either:-
- A deduction of the cost of remedial works from the resettlement grant the Diocese offers for the next post, or
- If a move to another Diocese is involved, a bill for the cost to the outgoing occupants; in addition, the Diocese of Winchester will notify the new employing diocese of the facts of the situation.
Removals
The cost of removal and the resettlement grant are not available if clergy choose to move whilst in post. In situations where clergy are required to move for better performance of their role, the Archdeacon will consider whether assistance to facilitate this is appropriate and seek approval for the necessary funding.
Where clergy are moving to a post outside the Diocese of Winchester they will need to discuss the costs of the move with their receiving diocese or new employer.
Clergy are responsible for all removal costs on retirement.