How to manage a village hall

Most village halls are run by volunteer trustees who joined to help the community, not to manage a building with legal duties. But that is what the role involves: you are trustees of a charity, you control premises the public uses, and you hire them out to people you may never meet. This guide sets out what that means in practice, and the jobs that need to happen on a regular cycle so nothing quietly lapses.

You are trustees of a charity

Most village halls are charities, and their trustees carry the legal responsibility for running them, usually as the management committee. The duties are set out in the Charity Commission's guide The Essential Trustee, which is worth every new trustee reading once.

The reporting rules depend on the hall's annual income. These apply in England and Wales:

Keep the hall's governing document somewhere every trustee can find it. It sets out what the charity is for, how trustees are appointed and how decisions are made, and the answer to most committee disputes is in it. Many halls' land and buildings are held by a separate custodian trustee, such as the parish council or the Official Custodian for Charities, while the committee runs the hall day to day. Know which applies to yours.

The jobs, and how often

This is the part that slips when committees change. Every one of these has a date attached, and the record of it being done matters as much as doing it.

The fire safety intervals are common practice rather than fixed in law, and your own fire risk assessment takes precedence. The guide to test frequencies covers each one in more detail.

Safety duties

Fire safety

The trustees are normally the responsible person under the Fire Safety Order. That means a suitable fire risk assessment, kept up to date, and the routine checks above, logged. See fire safety records explained.

Martyn's Law

If 200 or more people may be present at the same time, including on your busiest day, the hall is likely in scope from Spring 2027. Most halls that are in scope fall into the standard tier, which means four written procedures and making sure the people who work there know them. Start with the free scope check and the guide to Martyn's Law for village halls. Not sure whether it applies to you? Here's the plain answer.

Electrics, gas and water

An electrical installation condition report every five years is the standard most insurers expect. Portable appliance testing is not legally required every year, but equipment must be kept safe, so test on a risk basis: kettles and urns used by hirers more often than a fixed projector. Any gas boiler or appliances should be serviced annually by a Gas Safe engineer. Halls with water systems that could harbour legionella, such as showers and stored hot water, need a risk assessment for it.

Asbestos

If the building was put up before 2000, there is a duty to manage any asbestos in it. That means knowing whether it is present, where, and in what condition, and telling anyone who might disturb it, such as a contractor drilling a wall. Most trustees do not know this duty exists.

First aid and accidents

Keep a stocked first aid kit, a named person who checks it, and an accident book. Records of accidents involving people's details should be kept securely, not in an open book on the kitchen counter.

Insurance

Review the policy every year, not just the premium. The covers a hall normally needs:

• Buildings and contents, for the full rebuild cost, not the market value
• Public liability, for claims from people using the hall
• Employer's liability, which is a legal requirement if you employ anyone, including a paid caretaker or cleaner
• Trustee indemnity, worth considering for the committee

Which of these the law actually requires, and which your lease, funders and hirers require instead, is set out in village hall insurance: what the committee must have.

Tell your insurer what the hall is actually used for. A policy written for a quiet community room may not cover regular discos or a weekly bar. Commercial hirers, such as fitness instructors running paid classes, should hold their own public liability insurance, and the hire agreement should require it.

Alcohol, music and entertainment

This is where halls most often get it wrong, usually by worrying about the wrong thing.

Music, plays, dance and films usually need no licence. In a village hall that is not licensed to sell alcohol, live and recorded music between 8am and 11pm for an audience of up to 500 needs no licence, provided the organiser has the hall's consent. Plays and dance in the same hours and audience size need no licence either, and not-for-profit film screenings can be exempt too.

Selling alcohol always needs authorisation. Either the hall holds a premises licence, or the person running the event gives a Temporary Event Notice to the council in advance. Selling includes a ticket price that includes a drink. Community halls can apply for their premises licence to make the management committee responsible for alcohol sales instead of a named designated premises supervisor.

Anything after 11pm, or for more than 500 people, needs a licence or a notice. Your council's licensing team will tell you which applies, and they are usually helpful with halls.

Hiring the hall out

Most of a hall's risk is concentrated in the hires: people unfamiliar with the building, often with no trustee on site. A written hire agreement for every booking should cover the hirer's responsibilities, maximum numbers, insurance, alcohol and music, and what happens in an emergency.

• Show every hirer the emergency procedures before their booking goes ahead: the exits, the assembly point, where the fire alarm is, and who to call. Record that they were shown
• Groups working with children should have their own safeguarding policy and insurance, and the hall should see both before agreeing a regular booking
• Food: hirers serving food are responsible for doing so safely. If the committee itself runs regular catering, it may need to register as a food business with the council

What the agreement itself should say, clause by clause, is in village hall hire agreement: what to put in it.

Money

Charitable halls are usually entitled to 80% mandatory relief on business rates, and councils can choose to top this up, sometimes to the full amount. If your hall is paying rates, ask the council. Keep a reserves policy that covers a year of running costs and the next big repair, and review hire charges every year so they keep pace with energy and insurance costs.

Keeping it all in one place

The most common way a hall gets into difficulty is not that nobody did the check. It is that the person who did it stepped down, and the knowledge left with them. A safety logbook in one trustee's car, the insurance documents on another's laptop and the fire risk assessment in a filing cabinet nobody has the key to are all functionally lost.

Keep every record in one place the whole committee can reach, with a named person responsible for each job, and hand the list over properly at each AGM. The full list of records a hall should keep is a good starting point. The Venue Record is being built for exactly this job, with reminders before each check is due; see how it works.

Where to get help

Most counties have a rural community council, part of the ACRE network, with an adviser for village halls who can supply model documents, including governing documents and hire agreements, and answer questions. Your council's licensing team handles alcohol and entertainment. The Charity Commission publishes guidance for trustees, and your insurer can often advise on what they expect to see.

Common questions