Registering a building of worship or marriage
Registering a building of worship
If person who acts as 'minister', 'proprietor' or 'trustee' at a place of worship wishes it to register it as a building of worship, they must complete in duplicate two copies of a form, known as Form 76, for certifying a place of meeting for religious worship.
These are available from the Registrar, who can be contacted using the details to the right.
The copies of this form should be sent to the Register Office at Hackney Town Hall (see right for address) with a sketch of the floor plan identifying:
- which rooms will be used for worship
- an average weekly timetable of how the building will be used
- a cheque or postal order made payable to The London Borough of Hackney covering the statutory fee of £28.00.
Registering a place of marriage
If the minister / proprietor / trustee decide they wish the place of worship to become a place where marriages can take place, they need to complete Form 78 - ‘certificate and application for the registration of a place of religious worship for the solemnization of marriages’. This is available from the Registrars (see top-right corner of this page for contact details).
Form 78 requires the signatures of 20 separate householders who say that the building is their usual place of worship and that they desire it to be registered for the solemnization for marriages. A statutory fee of £28.00 payable via cheque or postal order should be made payable to the London Borough of Hackney.
What happens next?
- Once the above forms are received at the Register Office, the information is sent to the General Register Office (GRO) for authorisation.
- Once the GRO certify a building for worship, the Register Office are required to advertise the new place of worship in the local newspaper.
- We then send the applicant a certificate which states it is now a place for worship and/or marriage.
Places of Worship that are in disuse or are taken over by another minister / proprieter
If the place of worship is in disuse or another minister/proprietor takes over the place of worship, Form 77 (‘notice of disuse of a certified place of meeting for religious worship’) needs to be completed.
The process outlined above for registering a place of worship would then have to be conducted again. Re-registration is not required if the building is demolished and rebuilt.
More information / obtaining relevant forms
Please contact us using the details at the top-right corner of this page to request the required forms or for further information on this service.
Page updated: 2 Nov 2010
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