] It wasn't a good example since the Austen family happend to leave Steventon several years before Jane's father died. But you may still be right. The problem is that the next vicar(or rector) often couldn't afford to buy out their predecessor. I think the the reason for the system was just that. I have the impression that money was the main problem for most of them, even for the Austen's. And those who could often had more than one incumbency.

...is often very risky, and I have fallen into one of the pitfalls in this one. In the modern situation it isn't always the same house that changes hands, but the automobile makes it possible for the Rector or Vicar to not live next door to the church.

Still, it strikes me as rather unfair that a Vicar or Rector might go to considerable expense improving his home without compensation.