Section 1
1 The Parsonages Measure 1938 (1 & 2 Geo.6. No. 3) shall be amended as follows.
2 In section 1—
(a) after subsection (3A) there shall be inserted the following subsection—
“(3AA) The consent of the Church Commissioners shall not be required under subsection (3)(ii) above to the exercise of the power conferred by subsection (1)(ii) where the exercise of the power consists only of pulling down the residence house and outbuildings or any of them or any part thereof.”;
(b) in subsection (6), for the definition of “connected person” there shall be substituted the following definition—
““connected person” means the incumbent, the bishop, any member, officer, agent or employee of the parochial church council of any parish within the benefice in question or of the diocesan board of finance concerned or the spouse or any child, parent, grandparent, brother or sister of any such person;”.
3 In section 2(1)(ii), for the words “under the preceding paragraph or any house acquired by way of exchange under the provisions of this Measure” there shall be substituted the words “or acquired as property of the benefice under any powers conferred by or under this Measure or any other enactment”.
4 In section 7 there shall be added at the end the words “within the period specified in the notice”.
5 In section 9 after subsection (2B) there shall be inserted the following subsection—
“(2C) Where any transaction under this Measure affecting property does not contain a statement under subsection (2A) or (2B) above then in favour of a person who (whether under the transaction or afterwards) in good faith acquires an interest in the property for money or money’s worth the disposition effected by the transaction shall be valid whether or not any consent of the Commissioners or the Board which was required to the transaction has been given.”.
6 In section 11(1) for the words “of this Measure” there shall be substituted the words “conferred by this Measure or any other enactment”.
7 In section 12 for the words “the parish within which that benefice is situate” there shall be substituted the words “any parish within that benefice”.
Section 6
1 The Repair of Benefice Buildings Measure 1972 (1972 No. 2) shall be amended as follows.
2 In section 1(2) there shall be added at the end the words—
“Provided that no person appointed as a surveyor after the coming into force of section 6 of the Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 2005 shall be considered to be a fit person for the purposes of this subsection unless that person is registered under the Architects Act 1997 or is a corporate member of the Chartered Institute of Building or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors or a member of such other body as the Commissioners may determine and appearing to them to be suitably qualified.”.
3 In section 14(1) after the word “Board”, in the first place where it occurs, there shall be inserted the words “is satisfied that a parsonage house may be sold or exchanged without the consent of the Commissioners under the Parsonages Measure 1938 or” and for the words “sale, exchange or demolition” in each place where they occur there shall be substituted the words “sale or exchange”.
4 In section 14(1)(b) the words “in a case where the parsonage house is to be sold or exchanged,” shall be omitted.
5 In section 14(2) for the words “sale, exchange or demolition” there shall be substituted the words “sale or exchange”.
6 In section 15(4) for the words “shall not constitute a charge on the Parsonages Fund established under section 17 hereof” there shall be substituted the words “shall be met by any fund or funds capable of being used for the purposes in question” and the proviso shall be omitted.
7 In section 16 there shall be added at the end the following subsection—
“(4) The Board shall in respect of any building in the diocese (other than a parsonage house or other residence of an incumbent in the diocese) used as a residence by any person declared by the bishop to be engaged in the cure of souls within the diocese have power to defray on behalf of the Diocesan Board of Finance for the diocese the cost of any such payments as are referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (1) above and the costs, charges and expenses of any sale.”.
8 (1) For section 17 there shall be substituted the following section—
All expenditure of the Board, except expenditure defrayed out of a specific trust fund, shall be defrayed out of any fund or funds capable of being applied for the purposes in question.”.
(2) On the date of the coming into force of this paragraph every Parsonages Fund for a diocese shall be dissolved and all moneys held in the Fund shall be paid into any fund or funds which may be used for the purposes of defraying the cost of the provision, improvement or repair of parsonage houses.
9 Section 18 shall cease to have effect.
10 In section 19(3) and (6) for the words “the Parsonages Fund”, in each place, there shall be substituted the words “any fund or funds capable of being applied for the purposes of the provision, improvement or repair of parsonage houses”.
11 In section 21—
(a) in subsection (3) the words after “to do so” to the end shall be omitted; and
(b) at the end there shall be added the following subsection—
“(5) Any notice under this section shall inform the incumbent or the person or representative as the case may be, of the right to make representations and the date by which the representations must be made, which shall be not less than one month from the date on which the notice is sent, and section 4(5) above shall apply to the consideration of any representations duly made and the Board shall then decide whether or not to proceed with the notice.”.