If that visit to church on Christmas Day was the last for another year, don’t feel guilty: the church may be undergoing a conversion of its own.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) says about 2,000 churches have become homes in the past five years. The rate of conversion, mostly by specialist developers, is escalating as cash-strapped ecclesiastical authorities flog redundant properties.

“Exposed beams, vaulted ceilings and unusually shaped or stained-glass windows wouldn’t be there in a new-build home. These elements dictate the shape and help create really outstanding developments,” says Jonathan Flint of Midlands builder Chase Homes.

His firm has just converted a church and grounds in the centre of Leamington Spa into 18 flats and houses, selling from £385,000 with Connells.

Housing association London & Quadrant is converting Springfield Methodist Church on Wandsworth Road, south London, into 28 affordable homes. The 1902 church had an 800-person capacity but was never close to full, so part of the deal is that L&Q must build a 150-seat church nearby.

“For amateurs and professionals alike, churches represent a challenge,” says Bob Chapman, heritage expert at property consultancy King Sturge. “Most of them are listed, so they need sensitive and expensive work. The features have been designed to be in one large room, so adapting them to fit smaller rooms can be difficult. Most also have no lavatories, so don’t have drains leading to them, and some don’t even have electricity.”

It is even more difficult if the conversion involves buying or building on part of a graveyard, where church authorities must deconsecrate the ground. Owners of newly converted homes will usually be obliged to allow visits by relatives to the graves of loved ones if the remains have not been relocated.

“All this makes a conversion expensive and lengthy,” says Chapman. “Unlike a barn, it’s difficult for someone such as a self-builder who hasn’t had much practical experience. It tends to be specialist developers who do the conversions, and the public are clearly willing to pay substantial sums for good examples.”

A survey for Propertyfinder.com last year revealed churches to be a favourite type of conversion, easily beating barns. But while a high-quality church conversion looks unique, a cheap, badly designed one can backfire.

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“Too often developers shoe-horn flats into a church to maximise return and end up creating uninspiring homes,” says Propertyfinder.com’s Nicholas Leeming. A cheap, high-density conversion will not feature galleried landings or keep vaulted roofs, as they take up too much space. “Barns are more likely to be turned into a single house and attract top marks for good layout,” he says.

Peter Stadnyk and his wife, Lesley Shorrocks, run a marketing firm in Plymouth and found a derelict church and chapel of rest in one of the city’s military hospitals in 1999.

“We hadn’t done a conversion of any kind before, but we were drawn by the sense of history and the chance to combine a period property with something contemporary. We brought in architects and added a first floor to the chapel of rest. Work carried on for six months, and we spent about £200,000 on the conversion,” says Stadnyk.

The result is Abbey Lodge, a four-bed, four-bathroom house with large open rooms and modern facilities such as underfloor heating, all within the outer walls of the 1864 church where famous mariners, including Sir Francis Chichester and several sea lords, have lain in state.

“People ask whether it’s spooky, but it’s not at all. We use the chapel as a dramatic entrance hall and we’ve had spectacular parties in the house,” says Stadnyk, who is selling Abbey Lodge for £750,000 through Bettisons.

Lincolnshire builder Stuart Reynolds took a different approach when he converted a church in Tattershall. “I wanted to keep the originality of a church appearance but create a lot of interesting rooms within, so I designed everything, down to the light fittings,” he says.

It took more than two years. Outside, it looks like a modest 1876 church; the inside retains stained-glass windows, a font, original doors, flagstones and galleried areas, then Reynolds’s own tastes take over. There is an indoor garden room with a pool for koi carp, a home cinema, a spiral staircase and a high-tech lounge with remote-control sound and heating systems.

“There’s just so much you can do with a church, more than with any other type of old property,” says Reynolds, who hopes to buy an acre of adjacent land to create a lake.

How do you go about creating a home from a place of worship? First, find a property. Each denomination has a different procedure for identifying and disposing of buildings, but the Church of England is typical: if a decline in attendance at a church has occurred, its congregation may merge with one at a nearby church. Church elders may suggest to the diocese that one building is surplus, and recommend first to the bishop, then to the governing church commissioners, that it be sold. After public consultation, a decision is made, although selling off to housebuilders is not always the preferred option.

“About a couple of dozen churches or more go each year. We try to find alternative religious uses before selling them,” say the church commissioners.

Typical churches on sale include St Bartholomew’s at Layston in Hertfordshire, a Grade II*-listed, 13th-century chancel and nave that local planners have indicated may be eligible for conversion into a home. There is also St Barnabas in Peterborough, an 1899 property in a predominately residential area north of the city centre.

Last month, the Church of England had 14 properties on sale, from £60,000 to £200,000; the Church of Scotland had 12, from £58,000. Most church authorities auction off their properties, although some with residential planning permission are marketed by estate agents.

“You need to identify any estate agent selling churches and keep your ears to the ground in a locality,” says Chapman.

“Getting hold of one is only the start. The real hard work is in the conversion — but the results can often be absolutely superb.”

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