indemnity policy for chancel repair liability

JuniorSherlock

Can I just add my tuppence worth here? We received a letter stating exactly the same and even going so far as to say that our mortgage may be refused if we don't take out this liability. It too, told us not to contact the parish church or we risk invalidating any insurance policy.
I got in touch with our mortgage lenders who had never heard of chancel liability or ChancelCheck and said that if it was to affect our mortgage then our solicitor should have been in touch with them to ascertain this definitely before contacting us about it. But as they have never heard of it, it isn't an issue with them.

I then went against advice and contacted the parish church. The rector was lovely and said she is fed up with this company scaremongering people. She said it only applies if the church was a rectory, it only applies to the area covered by the rectory and only if that rectory is still standing. However as it is they have absolutely no interest in pursuing any chancel liability claims and if people simply contacted them, they would be reassured by most churches, however many people take the advice of the insurance company and don't contact the parish directly.

I'm sure the solicitors get a commission out of this as they are the ones who send this in with all the searches. If I find out I've been charged for this useless piece of information I'll be putting in an official complaint.

If this was a serious matter then the solicitor should contact your mortgage company about it. They should not be sending you useless reports that frighten you into paying up.

DVardysShadow

JuniorSherlock wrote: »

Can I just add my tuppence worth here? We received a letter stating exactly the same and even going so far as to say that our mortgage may be refused if we don't take out this liability. It too, told us not to contact the parish church or we risk invalidating any insurance policy.
I got in touch with our mortgage lenders who had never heard of chancel liability or ChancelCheck and said that if it was to affect our mortgage then our solicitor should have been in touch with them to ascertain this definitely before contacting us about it. But as they have never heard of it, it isn't an issue with them.

I then went against advice and contacted the parish church. The rector was lovely and said she is fed up with this company scaremongering people. She said it only applies if the church was a rectory, it only applies to the area covered by the rectory and only if that rectory is still standing. However as it is they have absolutely no interest in pursuing any chancel liability claims and if people simply contacted them, they would be reassured by most churches, however many people take the advice of the insurance company and don't contact the parish directly.

I'm sure the solicitors get a commission out of this as they are the ones who send this in with all the searches. If I find out I've been charged for this useless piece of information I'll be putting in an official complaint.

If this was a serious matter then the solicitor should contact your mortgage company about it. They should not be sending you useless reports that frighten you into paying up.

Although I can see where you are coming from, you have been seriously misguided but have managed to ignore the one sound piece of advice.

Your lender is seriously ignorant [or their call centre is] if they know nothing about chancel liability. It is sound advice as previously discussed on this thread NOT to make enquiries about chancel liability, because it disqualifies you from obtaining the insurance and invalidates it if you have it or get it anyway.

Your rector may indeed be the Vicar of Dibley. But if she is Rector, then the parish is presumably rectoried, whether the rectory still stands or not. And whether the rectory is a pile of ruins or not is barely relevant to chancel liability.

Honestly, if you get your conveyancing advice from the Rector, you might as well go to the Police for confession. Have no doubts about this, your lovely rector can be moved at the drop of a hat, her assurances to you count for nothing, particularly if the next rector throws out baby Jesus meek and mild with the bathwater.

I think Richard Webster will be on here telling you ha does not charge commission. Of course other solicitors might charge. And of course, you are held over a barrel. But the pointy is that you are held over a barrel with a very real possibility which can happen and has happened. Of course you might get away with it. Not everyone will. So your advice has to be tempered with the fact that it is far from risk free.

whois

JuniorSherlock wrote: »

Can I just add my tuppence worth here? We received a letter stating exactly the same and even going so far as to say that our mortgage may be refused if we don't take out this liability. It too, told us not to contact the parish church or we risk invalidating any insurance policy.
I got in touch with our mortgage lenders who had never heard of chancel liability or ChancelCheck and said that if it was to affect our mortgage then our solicitor should have been in touch with them to ascertain this definitely before contacting us about it. But as they have never heard of it, it isn't an issue with them.

I then went against advice and contacted the parish church. The rector was lovely and said she is fed up with this company scaremongering people. She said it only applies if the church was a rectory, it only applies to the area covered by the rectory and only if that rectory is still standing. However as it is they have absolutely no interest in pursuing any chancel liability claims and if people simply contacted them, they would be reassured by most churches, however many people take the advice of the insurance company and don't contact the parish directly.

I'm sure the solicitors get a commission out of this as they are the ones who send this in with all the searches. If I find out I've been charged for this useless piece of information I'll be putting in an official complaint.

If this was a serious matter then the solicitor should contact your mortgage company about it. They should not be sending you useless reports that frighten you into paying up.

Can lovely rector give a certificate that your property is not liable or cease to be liable for Chancel repair?

If I could get this kind of certificate, I will be willing to donate double the amount of chancel insurance to church. That will stop a legal scam, give me peace of mind and chruch will get some money for future chancel repair.:D

Richard_Webster

Can lovely rector give a certificate that your property is not liable or cease to be liable for Chancel repair?

In the days when I did Chancel Check type searches i did one on a property in a village in Somerset which showed potential liability and the seller's solicitors sent me a copy of a deed of renunciation of rights signed on behalf of the local PCC! So you can occasionally get something like this.

I don't the searches any more because I can get insurance cheaper than the cost of the searches. (Before anyone contacts me I can only get it for my clients and their buyers - you have to see what your solicitor can organise.)

jcbl

The rectory isn't the issue, it's the church chancel that the rector was obliged to keep in repair with income from rectorial lands. If the property is on those lands, the liability is attached to the freehold of the lands.

We are being obliged by lender to take policy which almost certainly relates to repairing a chancel dismantled in the 1840s - but again the schrodinger metaphor applies - investigate too keenly and that's one expensive dead kitty

timmyt

insure the risk, it costs peanuts and so move on with the house purchase.

Cookie1988

If i was you i would not pay the indemnity insurance. The firm i work at it is unheard of that the seller pays for the indemnity. It's an old age law that from what i know of, has only been used a few times in britain and therefore the chances of you being liable are little to nothing. If the seller feels they want insurance then it is up to them to pay for it.

DVardysShadow

Cookie1988 wrote: »

If i was you i would not pay the indemnity insurance. The firm i work at it is unheard of that the seller pays for the indemnity. It's an old age law that from what i know of, has only been used a few times in britain and therefore the chances of you being liable are little to nothing. If the seller feels they want insurance then it is up to them to pay for it.

What firm is that you work at? Because until you say what firm it is, the strength of your argument is the reputation of anonymous.