To use a building as a place of worship or as a place of worship that holds marriage ceremonies you need to apply to us.
Registering a place of worship
To register a building as a place of worship, a minister, proprietor or trustee of the building needs to complete the Certifying a place of meeting for religious worship form.
As well as the completed application form you will also need:
- a sketch of the floor plan of the building identifying which rooms will be used for worship and the purpose of the other rooms
- an estimated weekly timetable of how the building will be used
- a payment of the statutory fee of £29, upon receipt of your application we will send you a link to make payment via card
Two copies of the form and any other relevant documents need to be brought to or posted to:
Register Office
Town Hall
Pinstone Street
Sheffield
S1 2HH
Registering a place of worship for marriage ceremonies
If you want to register a place of worship for marriage ceremonies you will have to complete the Certificate and application for the registration of a place of religious worship for the solemnisation of marriages form.
This has to be signed by at least 20 separate householders who acknowledge that the building is their usual place of worship and they would like it to be registered for the solemnisation of marriages. This must be countersigned by a proprietor or trustee.
You will also need to make a payment of £123 by card, cash or a cheque. You can make this payment in person or over the phone.
Two copies of the form need to be brought to or posted to:
Register Office
Town Hall
Pinstone Street
Sheffield
S1 2HH
Once we have your application form it will be sent to the Registrar General for authorisation. They will advertise the registration in a local paper and the London Gazette and the proprietor or trustee who countersigned the householders’ certificates will be sent a certificate of the registration.
Unused places of worship
If a certified place of worship is no longer in use by its congregation, you will need to complete a Notice of disuse form and bring it to or post it to:
Register Office
Town Hall
Pinstone Street
Sheffield
S1 2HH
The form should be signed by a person connected with the place of worship. When the Registrar General is satisfied that the place of worship has ceased to be used by its congregation, the record will be cancelled, public notice of this will be given and it will be deleted from the list of certified places.
You will also need to do this if the place of worship is being transferred to another congregation. The new congregation will then need to apply to register as a place of worship.
When a certified place of worship is demolished and a building of the same denomination is erected on the original foundations, re-certification is not normally necessary providing the new building is finished within a year of the demolition.