Property Trust and Ownership

Who owns church property?

All property is owned by the Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust (WA). This includes facilities such as churches, halls, manses, commercial property and childcare centres.

Every trust has a beneficiary, in this case that beneficiary is the Uniting Church who gains the benefit of the property to use for God’s mission. The Church is not a corporate entity. It is a voluntary association of individuals meeting together for worship and a variety of other related purposes. 

As trustee, the trust holds the property for the beneficiaries, who are the members of the church. The beneficial owners are responsible for care and upkeep of the property; but when buying or selling properties or entering into contracts, the Synod, congregation or Presbytery will need to engage with the Property Trust.

What happens to the sale proceeds from property?

When a congregation property is sold, with the net proceeds of sale, 5% goes to the UAICC (Congress) Property Development fund, 9% to the Synod Property Services Fund, and the remainder goes to the Missional Property Fund. The Missional Property Fund is available to all congregations to provide funds to improve, develop, purchase, or lease property directly linked to enhancing the mission of the church. Further information is available in the Missional Property Fund page.

For more information on Property please contact the Property Services team – they are here to help.

Contact Us