Chancel Repair Liability

Gorgeestwo

Doozergirl wrote: »

Yes. £186,986 + VAT with an additional £220,000 in legal fees!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/dec/08/church-of-england

I'm not sure if it's being revoked - I was under the impression that churches aren't able to 'opt in' after that point? Perhaps there has been another ruling that I've missed.

:eek: thinking maybe we will buy higher insurance than the house is worth, knowing our luck we would move in and get a massive bill from the church for something needing doing.

Doozergirl

Gorgeestwo wrote: »

:eek: thinking maybe we will buy higher insurance than the house is worth, knowing our luck we would move in and get a massive bill from the church for something needing doing.

The price of the policy relates to the price you pay for your house. The cover doesn't relate to the value of your house because the money you might be asked to pay would'nt relate to the price of your house, it would relate to the cost of repairs to the 'chancel'. Check what is covered - you shouldn't need to pay any more.

Gorgeestwo

Doozergirl wrote: »

The price of the policy relates to the price you pay for your house. The cover doesn't relate to the value of your house because the money you might be asked to pay would'nt relate to the price of your house, it would relate to the cost of repairs to the 'chancel'. Check what is covered - you shouldn't need to pay any more.

Thankyou
I'm so new to all this, when we bought the house we are in now as FTB it was all so easy, this time is becoming a massive learning curve!

Geenie

lemonslap wrote: »

More than the house is worth :eek::eek:

This case has gone on for years, and the original claim by the church was for about £6,000 to repair something! The Wallbanks knew about the Chancel Repair Liability when the property was bought in the 60's I believe, but didn't take any insurance out to cover. The money being mentioned now is a result of nearly 20 years of legal wrangling and court cases.

lemonslap

Geenie wrote: »

This case has gone on for years, and the original claim by the church was for about £6,000 to repair something! The Wallbanks knew about the Chancel Repair Liability when the property was bought in the 60's I believe, but didn't take any insurance out to cover. The money being mentioned now is a result of nearly 20 years of legal wrangling and court cases.

thank you for clearing that up, my solicitor has asked the vendors to pay for the insurance but I won't argue over £50

Richard_Webster

If the property is in an area where there are some properties with the liability then as far as I can see if you are getting a mortgage on the property, you must have a policy to protect the lender. If you were buying cash you could take the small risk.

The policies are quite easy for solicitors to arrange (and, no, we don't get any commission) and some firms such as mine now have block policies where we can insure our clients or their buyers for less than the cost of a basic search - so we insure in all cases and don't bother about the search! When asking for conveyancing quotes worth asking if they do the basic Chancel Check search or take out cheap insurance as an alternative.

Also as Doozergirl has pointed out in October 2013 the right is not abolished. It continues to apply to properties that were subject to it before, but if it has not been registered against the Land Registry title a buyer after 13th October 2013 takes free from all liability.

theartfullodger

It would be unkind to suggest one can so often rely on a Christian to behave in a manner our Lord might find un-Christian...

Cheers!

Lodger

Cissi

Stupid question, but would this be enforceable even if you don't belong to the Church of England? The house we're buying has such a liability and the vendors refused to pay the insurance premium of £100. We instructed our solicitor that we didn't want to wrangle over that sum so are paying for it ourselves.

So, just out of interest: DH is a Catholic (I'm Lutheran) and he's laughing the whole thing off saying that there is NO WAY that anyone could claim that he has any liability to the Church of England, "they can shoot him first" - I'm guessing that this probably wouldn't have muc legal weight though

theartfullodger

Please let us know where & when the shooting will be...

Oh yes, CoE will come after you ... remember what is says in the Bible ?? "And there shalt be a great profit/prophet throughout the land..."

'tis odd that the CoE is headed by someone with so much money, but she doesn't seem to take responsibility for these matters (pause for 3 seconds, await flames & censorship....)

Cheers & Best wishes to all, including those who don't agree with me...


Lodger

g_attrill

Cissi wrote: »

Stupid question, but would this be enforceable even if you don't belong to the Church of England? The house we're buying has such a liability and the vendors refused to pay the insurance premium of £100. We instructed our solicitor that we didn't want to wrangle over that sum so are paying for it ourselves.

So, just out of interest: DH is a Catholic (I'm Lutheran) and he's laughing the whole thing off saying that there is NO WAY that anyone could claim that he has any liability to the Church of England, "they can shoot him first" - I'm guessing that this probably wouldn't have muc legal weight though

The liability is on whoever owns the land - basically it was previously rectory property and the rector would have been partly liable, when the land was sold the liability stayed with the land. I think it became best known when a couple with a very nice house had to sell up when the local church roof needed replacing and the church forced them to pay the amount owed. Obviously the liability for future costs would have reduced the value further!