Is your church empty from Monday to Friday?
Here’s how to safely share your church with others.
Many of our churches see property as a great opportunity for ministry in the local community. Your church has the potential to become a valued local venue, providing revenue to supplement tithes and offerings, or simply offered as a free service to a group in need.
This opportunity for mission is usually easy enough to roll out, however there are guidelines and safety checks that your church must consider. Prop Corp has developed Church Hire and Licence Agreements that cover most potential users. Please download the user guide and appropriate form(s) and call us for any queries.
Sharing your church property may also require additional insurance that can be arranged within 24 hours of notification to Prop Corp. Checking your RedBook to ensure it is up to date is essential when entering into a hire and licence agreements.
When entering into arrangements with other groups to use your church premises you should:
- Check that church property and equipment to be used is well maintained and free of defects. (e.g. flooring in good condition, power points, cables and electrical equipment in good repair.)
- Arrange for a written user agreement to be signed by the user. Our Church Hire and Licence Agreements can be downloaded and used for most user arrangements.
Longer term, more complex user arrangements are likely to require tailored licence or lease agreements requiring legal advice from our lawyers.
You can download our Guide to Church Users Agreements to help determine the correct agreement or contact us on (03) 9488 8800 to discuss your requirements.
- Notify the user in writing of their responsibilities under the agreement such as, cleaning, behaviour and reimbursement for damages caused by the user. You should also make it clear to the user in writing that they are responsible for looking after their own property used on your church property. For example, sound equipment and props owned by a dance group using your church hall is the responsibility of the dance group.
- Ask the user for a Certificate of Currency verifying their Public Liability insurance and keep a copy on file. The user’s cover should be for a minimum of $10,000,000.
- Make sure you understand the purpose for which the property is being hired. Do not hire the property to groups that do not meet your church’s standards or which could increase the risk of damage to the property.
- A person from the church should be responsible for opening and closing the area hired. If it is necessary to provide a key to the hirer only provide one that gives access to the area being hired. (This may mean engaging the services of a locksmith to secure hired areas of the building.)