Tell me the cons of living next to a church....

[Twirl]

Thinking about buying a house next to a church..... what negatives can you think of?

possible difficulty on parking on a Sunday morning? (we live near a church, and attend a different one which finishes slightly earlier - sometimes have to park round the corner)

The house has off street parking but I am concerned about being blocked in/out. Do you hear much noise from weddings/funerals/christenings etc?

None that would bother me - unless it has regular all-night or late night services in which case you might get noise at odd times.

Noise - how far does it travel? Do campanologists practice at odd times which would annoy you? Does it have a clock that chimes, and if so does it keep going through the night? Do they have early morning services?

Busyness: Is it a pretty church which attracts bridezillas frequent out of area weddings? Is there enough parking nearby?

Graveyard: does it attract oddballs/teenagers who just hang around there? (Anyone in your family have acute zombie fears?)

Sound of church bells, parking problems at weddings, christenings, funerals and every Sunday.

More serious is the risk that you end up being liable for Chancel Repair Liability. You need to insure against it. One couple I read about lost their house because the Church demanded they pay for the huge repair bill for the church. It bankrupted them.

Edith, you have made me laugh. Definitely not a cute church (but not ugly, just modern) so don't think I would need to worry about bridezillas, and no graveyard onsite either, so that rules both those probs out. I definitely need to check out all the noise potentials though.

we are just round the corner, not right next to the church, don't hear anything. Might hear singing if walking past the church when a service or wedding is on, but is very muffled not loud.

only other potenetial problem I can think of, is is there a church hall that is used for external events - birthday parties, bingo, quiz nights etc? that may generate a bit of noise when people are leaving in the evening?

other than that I think next to a church would be a pleasant place to be

Parking is an issue for us, but not just Sunday mornings. There are a lot of events at the church down the road from us throughout the week. Today, for instance, I had to park up the road after my grocery shop because of a funeral. Was all grumbly angry and then realised they were actually having a much worse day :(

We do have a drive way but we don't use it as it's hard to get into but people park across it all the time (not just church goers). I do wonder if we started using it if they would stop? Is there a white line in front of your dropped curb? I would be really surprised if people blocked you in then.

Otherwise we don't have any problems. The congration all seem very nice.

I think you will need to go on a Sunday morning and see what the vibe is and what the parking is like (ie, if the drive is blocked.)

MoreBeta, that is scary! Hmmm, need to check that out.

Need to consider that most churches these days are not just for sundays. Obviously weddings and funerals are on other days but can be used for meetings, conferences etc during the week and at evenings. Also if the church hall is also on the site you will probably have playgroups, fitness groups, afterschool groups, guides/scouts etc.

Also chuch hall may be booked for parties etc in the evenings?

I live near a church which chimes every hour and if the windows in my house are open you can hear it. I find it comforting rather than disturbing but might disturb others.

Is say parking could be a problem but doubt there would be much noise from actual services.

Thanks so much for all these thoughts, you have really got me thinking. I definitely need to go and speak to the vicar I think.

Love living near a church - love the church bells ringing for midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

There is traffic from church but we are also near a football pitch & pub & have never been blocked in yet.

As to the other issue, land has to be registered by Oct 2013 so you could check that out.

Bells... people loitering outside chatting after services... being kept awake by midnight mass (depending on type of church?) at Christmas...

Yes, you might get a lot of extra traffic during weddings and funerals - I found that to be the biggest nuisance, but it was a small, country church so didn't happen very often. We didn't hear much noise from the actual services, but we were the other side of the church yard, I think that was more of a problem for the houses directly opposite the church.

Bell ringing practice, I quite enjoyed listening to that, but I can see that some people might not, especially if you're trying to get young children to sleep.

Also, as Edith mentioned, zombies might be an issue - but if you've been around MN for a while you will probably already have a comprehensive plan to deal with them. (Sorry, I know it's a serious question but I couldn't resist)

yes, i thought of chancel liability.
it's in your deeds though, so pls ask your solicitor to check them before you sign.
other than that, check for bell-ringers' practice times.

That said, we used to live next to a church in a village and we would do it again.

My mum lives next to a church and parking can be a PITA. The church bells chime every 15 minutes, which we don't really notice, but the bells on a Sunday morning do my head in when I'm trying to have a lie in while mum looks after the kids!

DH lived next to a church when we met.

Busy, parking on wedding days, Sundays etc a possible issue, however its the BELLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday mornings (we were young and child free and wanted lie ins) were not great.

However, now with DC? It wouldn't bother me as there is absolutely no chance of me still being in bed when they ring!

We live next to a church. The only issue TBH is the school attached as it's a bloody nightmare trying to cross the road at certain times of day thanks to all the parents who must live locally do why can't they bloody walk or use the nearby car park?! who park on the no parking zones.

The church itself is no bother - the only real noise is from funerals (the bell tolls for a few minutes). We have our own parking space around the corner and don't get blocked in, although some of the congregation have used our neighbour's spaces on occasion and the parents use ours during the day when picking/dropping off (don't actually mind this as I'd rather it was this than road parking) and that could be annoying if you were a SAHM/popping in and out a lot.

Seeline, you are absolutely right. A quick google has revealed that many activities take place at this church.
RedHelenB what do you mean by land needing to be registered by October 2013?

Hi Twirl,
I live next door to a church and to be honest in the two years I've lived there I haven't been disrupted at all.
The church hall holds birthday parties/ choir practice etc and where as we can't hear what happens in the hall, we are aware of people coming and going. This doesn't have any affect on us though as the church hall has to be vacated by 10pm so it's not late enough to disturb. You might want to check what the rules are for "your" church hall.
Sometimes on a Sunday morning you can hear the organ for the choir but it is lovely and quite relaxing.

And I strongly second MoreBeta's suggestion about insuring against Chancel Repair Liability. Our solicitor suggested this too. We took out a 25 year policy for the not very high sum of £57. Not £57 a year. £57 for 25 years.

HTH

If you decide to buy it and you can't find out about the chancel repair liability beforehand then it will show up as part of the search.

If it's a modern church there probably won't be bells but there may be a band as part of the service.

The best thing might be to actually go to a Sunday service and see what the parking/noise level is like and also find out what other stuff goes on in the week.

Thankyou RetiredDJ, that is reassuring to know it won't break the bank to get insurance.

hambleshandbag - a lie-in instead of being at church?

naughty!