Registering and certifying a building to hold marriages

If you want to get a building certified to enable marriages to take place you’ll need to complete the two steps below.

Applying for certification as a place of worship

Firstly you’ll need to apply for the building to be certified as a place of worship, if this hasn’t already been done.

The minister, proprietor or trustee of the building will need to apply to the Superintendent Registrar and provide:

• two copies of the completed application form to certify a place of worship (form 76)
• a floor plan showing which rooms will be used for worship
• an average weekly timetable of how the building will be used (this is to satisfy the GRO that the building is mainly for religious worship)
• the statutory registration fee

Registering to hold marriages

Secondly you’ll need to provide:    

• two copies of the completed application form for the registration of marriages (form 78). This form must be signed by 20 separate householders who regard the building as their usual place of worship and countersigned by the minister, proprietor or trustee of the building.
• the statutory registration fee, which covers the cost of the legal requirement of public notice in a local newspaper and the London Gazette

If you’re applying for a building to be certified as a place of worship and registered for marriages at the same time, then you can submit all the information together. The forms for registration of the building for marriages must not be dated prior to the form for certification as a place of worship.

After registering a building

Once we’ve received your information we’ll send it to the General Register Office to be authorised.

Once a building has been certified for worship it will be recorded in the list of places certified for religious worship held by the GRO, and one of the completed forms will be returned to you.

When a building is registered for marriages, the Superintendent Registrar will send a certificate of registration to the person who countersigned the application. Public notice of the registration must also be given in a local newspaper and the London Gazette.

Buildings no longer in use as a place of worship

If a building stops being used as a place of worship we must legally inform the GRO. You’ll need to complete a notice of disuse (form 77) which can be signed by any person who can represent the congregation.

If a building is demolished and rebuilt on the same foundations within a year, and will be used by the same congregation, then the certification and registration will not be affected.