Results of Chancel Search

BobProperty

GabbaGabbaHey wrote:

Have a look at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/3023276.stm - "£350,000 blow for church couple"

Was that your doorbell I just heard? :-)

The property in question is a farm they inherited not some 2 bed terraced house. The basis of the assessment is that they are lay rectors with this liability attached to their 176 acre farm. The church's own figures are quote:
The Church Commissioners' records show that there are an estimated 5200 lay-rector liabilities in the Church of England
5200 is hardly a massive number compared to the population of England.
Second point, they've run up £250,000 worth of legal fees. When I approached a solicitor about taking a not so simple case to court they wanted the fees up front. (it wasn't £250k worth but you see what I'm getting at) No legal firm that wants to stay in business will have taken this case on without the security of knowing that they can get their fees back somehow. So you can be sure the farm is worth a lot more than £250,000. They own another farm in Wales, by the way, so plenty of equity there probably.
Third, I don't know if the appeal to the European Court of Human Rights is still ongoing, so the case may not be over yet anyway.

Woby_Tide

bs0u0128 wrote:

wudnt touch this with a bargepole personally!

ye gods...some people


it's also worth bearing in mind that if you look into all the legal jargon, a church can only claim against a property if they've a) registered against the property in question to have some liabilty and b) the church governers have to have exhausted absolutely every last avenue for funding before they can claim. if you are in a rural area or buying a house with 'Glebe' in the name insure yourself, otherwise think about it carefully and if you really think you need it.Also don't get the full search done where they do an absolute check on liability. If you do have liability you then can't get the indemnity policy/insurance because the risk fo rthe insurers is suddenly too much..funny that isn't it.....

GabbaGabbaHey

thescouselander wrote:

Also, their property was in close proximity to the church in question. [...] In my case, I bought on a modern development which is fairly densly built up and there isn't a church for miles.

Have you actually read the article I quoted? The very first sentence mentions that the church is "about 100 miles" from their home - not what I would regard as "close proximity".

I'm not suggesting that this sort of situation is especially commonplace, nor that the Wallbanks didn't bring a lot of the problem on themselves because of the huge legal fees involved, but it does happen.

matto

Baby_A wrote:

the property we are looking to buy is located within the historical boundary of a parish which continues to have a potential chancel repair liability.

I think you'll find this applies to every house in England.

thescouselander

GabbaGabbaHey wrote:

Have you actually read the article I quoted? The very first sentence mentions that the church is "about 100 miles" from their home - not what I would regard as "close proximity".

I'm not suggesting that this sort of situation is especially commonplace, nor that the Wallbanks didn't bring a lot of the problem on themselves because of the huge legal fees involved, but it does happen.

Yes, I have read the artical and it says the church is 100 miles from the Wallbanks home. In fact, the property that held the liability was not their home but a farm they inherited in Aston Cantlow, Warwickshire which was very near the church in question.

wm3af

Hiya,

can anyone tell me if this Chancel liability applies to flats, or would the liability pass to the landlord of the block?

we're buying a flat and not sure whether this applies to us or not.

thanks very much

Michelle