Chancel Repair Liability

lindos90

Well Ive just found out that the cost quoted by our solicitor is not for the indemnity itself..its just the cost to do a search to see if we need one!

Then if we do there will be the premium (what ever figure they decide to pluck out of the air)....AND then a £50 on top of that for the solicitor to 'procuring and advise' on the indemnity :eek:

(no wonder they dont make 'commision' on selling imdenmities, if they charge £50 for ?)

God I hate the small print, just been wading through it, and now see that if they have a phone call with me, or write a letter, they may charge me an additional £200 per hour, on top of the fixed price they quoted me:eek::eek:. If I have to call them, I will talk very, very fast!!!

david29dpo

No more tea for my vicar when he calls again!

Bandit6

1echidna wrote: »

Sorry to be rude kiddo, but you need to enter the real world. Just as with costs identified by survey, if the vendor refuses to shoulder them, if you the buyer want the property you will have to pay.

Um hello, if the vendor refuses to shoulder them then they are just being short sighted, whether it be this Chancel nonsense or a survey. Refusing simply makes their property a less attractive proposition and in the real world the purchaser is going to renegotiate on the sale price of the property. That's why offers are made "subject to contract" and "subject to survey".

homehunter

This came up for the house we are buying. The solicitor said that when it comes up she always mentions the case where a person was found liable (the Wallbank one mentioned earlier) and therefore she does advise that an indemnity policy is purchased. as far as I know it is not needed for the purposes of the mortgage, we don't have to get it, it is entirely up to us - of course the solicitor has to outline our options to cover herself. She even said that someone is making good money out of this, but for the sake of a one-off payment of £57, we might as well sort it out. The seller's solicitor was quick to state in a letter that the seller would not be paying for a policy - I really don't see why they should, it's a small risk after all and why should they pay. (TBH our seller has been good so far, done lots of repairs and checks for us at her cost!)

Milliewilly

Woby_Tide wrote: »

If the buyer is prepared to walk away because they won't pay up to £150 to cover their own backs then theres probably every probability tehy won't reach exchange anyway

Conversley if the Seller is not prepared to stump up a measly £150 ish for a sucessor policy to ensure their house sale goes through what does it say about them?

I got the seller to pay for the policy on my house. I felt it was a potential problem on their part and they should therefore sort it out the same as any problems you would find on a Survey.

My house is now sold STC and the Chancel clause is covered for the new buyer without causing any extra delays.

ognum

I have just sold a house, when requested to fund the chancel indemnity I refused, it will not be me living there so I dont need indemnity the buyer does.
My solicitor simply told the purchaser they would have to buy it themselves which I assume they did.
If you are confident in the sale I would refuse, if you are not then agree to pay its a minor sum when moving house.

1echidna

Bandit6 wrote: »

Um hello, if the vendor refuses to shoulder them then they are just being short sighted, whether it be this Chancel nonsense or a survey. Refusing simply makes their property a less attractive proposition and in the real world the purchaser is going to renegotiate on the sale price of the property. That's why offers are made "subject to contract" and "subject to survey".

I don't know where you get the idea that the vendor is being short sighted. If the vendor has good reason to believe that the sale will go through he is doing the good MSE thing and saving himself money. The purchaser may wish to negotiate, but ultimately, if he wants the house, he has no leverage other than to withdraw from the purchase.

morg_monster

Don't think this link has popped up in this long thread anywhere but thought it might be pertinent
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/sep/28/glebe-farm-church-bill-sale
the ridiculous thing in this story though is that it seems (though isn't crystal clear) that they didn't originally have chancel repair liability on their farm, but accepted the role of lay rectors (and hence the liability) when they bought some land from the church! Then when the liability was invoked, they spent 18 years fighting it in the courts, spending £250,000 in the process, and finally lost last month, so still owe the church £230,000... (guess they should feel lucky that the church didn't add inflation which would make it more like £420,000 ...)

CJE

lindos90 wrote: »

Well Ive just found out that the cost quoted by our solicitor is not for the indemnity itself..its just the cost to do a search to see if we need one!

Then if we do there will be the premium (what ever figure they decide to pluck out of the air)....AND then a £50 on top of that for the solicitor to 'procuring and advise' on the indemnity :eek:

(no wonder they dont make 'commision' on selling imdenmities, if they charge £50 for ?)

God I hate the small print, just been wading through it, and now see that if they have a phone call with me, or write a letter, they may charge me an additional £200 per hour, on top of the fixed price they quoted me:eek::eek:. If I have to call them, I will talk very, very fast!!!

How did you find your solicitor (if you don't mind me asking)? There's a lot to be said for talking to them about the conveyancing process and fees before you instruct them.

It may be typical for solicitors in your area but £200 per hour sounds a bit steep to me!

Vanilla25

I have this problem with a house that i am purchasing at the moment.

In theory yes you would potentially only need insurance until 2013....However there is a chance that the Church may register the liability onto the property. If they do this obviously your Property will be liable for any repairs in the future...and therefore you WILL need to have sufficient cover. If you had to find insurance after liability was registered to your property it would be difficult to find an insurer to insure you and would be very expensive as your propery is now high risk.

You can get insurance for roughly £145 and this will cover your property forever and any future purchasers of the house. (So you protect yourself incase liability was registered) So when you came to sell this would be a comfort to other buyers. I dont think that £145 would be that much to pay out...and of course could be split with the sellers if they agreed.