For someone who has never owned a building older than their grandparents. Read it before you call the agent.
Ten things to do first
- Visit with an architect before you offer. A half-day with a conservation architect and a structural engineer costs a few thousand euros and tells you whether the roof figure is 60,000 or 600,000.
- Meet the mayor, the vicar and the neighbours. In a French village the mairie decides how pleasant the next twenty years will be. Ask what the village hopes will happen to the building.
- Water first. Gutters, downpipes, drains, slipped slates, ventilation. Nine tenths of decay is water, and the first year’s budget goes there.
- Decide how to hold it. In your own name, through a company (an SCI in France), or through an association or charitable trust that can receive gifts and outlive you. Take advice in the country concerned.
- Know what it costs to own. Insurance from a specialist, property tax, an annual inspection, security against lead and bell theft.
- Ask what is inside. Get an inventory. Protected altarpieces, statues and bells stay with the building. Organs need playing.
- Ask about the graveyard. Who owns it, who mows it, who may visit, whether burials continue.
- Plan a use. Heritage open days, concerts, a mass on the patronal feast, a choir residency. A church that opens ten days a year has friends.
- Plan the exit. Decide now who gets it after you: a child, the commune, a trust. Put it in the will.
- Join a society. SPAB in Britain and Ireland; Vieilles Maisons Françaises and La Demeure Historique in France. All run courses and answer the phone.
Heritage status by country
This is a general guide and not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with a notaire, solicitor or accountant in the country concerned.
| Country | Classes | Who approves works | Help with money | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | Classé monument historique (national interest); inscrit (regional interest); unprotected but within 500 m of a monument | Classé: authorisation from the regional culture office (DRAC) before any restoration, with a qualified heritage architect. Inscrit: building permit with DRAC agreement. Near a monument: the Architecte des Bâtiments de France | DRAC grants, capped at 40% for inscrit buildings and often higher for classé; regional councils add more. French taxpayers can deduct some or all of the remaining cost | The State can order an owner of a classé building to carry out works. Protected objects inside cannot be removed |
| England and Wales | Grade I, II*, II | Listed building consent from the local council; Historic England (or Cadw) advises on Grade I and II* | Few grants for private owners; more if a charitable trust holds the building | Church sales carry covenants restricting use. Bats are legally protected and live in most church roofs |
| Scotland | Category A, B, C | Listed building consent from the council; Historic Environment Scotland advises | As England | Graveyards usually stay with the council, with public access through your land |
| Italy | Vincolo under the cultural heritage code | The regional Soprintendenza authorises all works | Tax deductions for restoration of protected buildings | The State has a right of first refusal on any sale of a protected building |
| Ireland | Protected Structure; National Monument | County council planning office; ask for a declaration listing what you may do without permission | State grant schemes for protected structures | National monuments are effectively unsellable and untouchable |
The three verdicts
Every church on the shortlist carries one of three verdicts.
- Preserve as found. The protection covers the interior and the fittings. You are a custodian and nothing else.
- Light use. The building must stay one open space, but concerts, exhibitions and occasional worship are welcome.
- Convertible. The authorities would accept a new use, within limits. We list few of these.
How we estimate repair costs
Every profile carries a rough cost of works and a yearly upkeep figure. They are estimates made from a desk. Treat them as a way to tell a 50,000 euro problem from a 500,000 euro one, and commission a survey before you offer.
- We measure from the listing. Floor area and height give an approximate roof and wall area.
- We apply published French rates. In 2026 natural slate costs about 90 to 140 euros a square metre supplied and laid on an ordinary house, plus about 40 to strip the old roof. Lime repointing runs at 30 to 65 euros a square metre. A complete renovation of a historic house is quoted at 1,500 to 2,000 euros a square metre and up.
- We raise them for churches. Scaffolding, height, heritage-approved materials and specialist trades roughly double house rates. Where we have no published rate, as with stained glass and painted decoration, the figure is our own assumption and is marked as one.
- We check against real projects. A typical church roof is reported at around 200,000 euros. The restoration of the small Saint-Roch chapel at Plounévez-Quintin in Brittany is estimated at over 200,000.
- Upkeep covers insurance, property tax, gutter clearance, a yearly inspection and a reserve for the next roof.
Scotland. For the Scottish churches we price in pounds and use one real document as the yardstick. In December 2025 a quantity surveyor priced the repairs to St Andrew’s at Tongue, a small Category A church on the north coast, from a conservation architect’s survey. Reslating 215 square metres came to £53,750 for the slate, which is £250 a square metre, and about £90,500 once scaffolding, lead and the rest were added, which is about £420 a square metre. Repainting a harled elevation in mineral paint came to about £4,400. We apply £250 to £420 a square metre to the other roofs and say so on each line. Where a profile has no survey behind it the figures are our assumptions. Source: Tongue condition survey and costs, on the Highland community choices site.
State grants for approved works run at around 20% for inscrit buildings and up to about 40% for classé ones. The State budget for monuments it does not own was cut by 29% for 2026.
Sources for the rates: Ootravaux, slate roofing; Habitatpresto, stone walls; Ma Propriété, restoring a listed château; Sud Radio on church repairs; Resonans, June 2026.
A glossary
- Désaffectation. The French legal act that removes a church from worship, by prefectoral order with the bishop’s consent.
- Classé, inscrit. The two grades of French monument historique.
- DRAC. The regional office of the French culture ministry. It approves works and awards grants.
- ABF. Architecte des Bâtiments de France, the State architect who rules on anything near a protected monument.
- Listed building consent. British permission to alter a listed building, inside or out.
- Faculty. The Church of England’s own permission system, which applies while a church is still in use.
- Vincolo. The Italian heritage restriction registered against a building.
- Soprintendenza. The regional Italian heritage authority.