PART 4

Miscellaneous and general

Property rights and obligations

Power for bishop to act where benefice vacant
45A
1
Where a benefice is vacant, the person determined in accordance with subsection (2) may do anything in relation to any land that the incumbent would be entitled to do in relation to that land if the benefice were full; but that person must for that purpose obtain such authority under the faculty jurisdiction as the incumbent would be required to obtain.
2
The person entitled to act under subsection (1) is—
a
the priest-in-charge appointed for the benefice, or
b
if none is appointed, the bishop of the diocese to which the benefice belongs, after receiving a request to act from the PCC or, if the land is situated in more than one parish, from each of the PCCs acting jointly.
3
The power conferred by subsection (1) includes, in a case where the incumbent is the sole trustee of the land concerned, the power to do anything which a trustee of the land is entitled to do.
4
A power exercisable by the bishop under subsection (1) is in addition to, and does not limit, the powers conferred by sections 1(7), 2(2), 5(4) and (5), 12(1)(b), 43(4) and 45(8).
S. 45A inserted (17.5.2024) by Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 2024 (No. 1), ss. 14(2), 22(4); S.I. 2024/631, art. 2