Chancel repairs applicable - Do we buy this property

drummer_666

bouicca21 wrote: »

As one of the few (only?) people on this forum who knows how to do a chancel repair search properly, I can assure you that this is almost certainly a scam.

Yes, I agree. It is a scam. Well nearly always.

I have been advised that you don't need the insurance UNLESS the house you are buying is in the country with no other houses around.

If you are buying in a town, there are going to be so many other thousands of houses within the area, so the repairs would be absoutely tiny per house. Therefore the churches most likely wouldn't even bother trying to get the money, because it would cost them more to take people to court to pay, then the money they would receive from each home owner

bouicca21

An initial search carried out properly is cheap. If the search has to go to the next level (i.e. identifying a plot of land specified on an old tithe map on a modern map) then it will be expensive. But frankly a good local solicitor should know if the second level search is needed. If they are using one of these modern fly by night chancel repair search companies, theyprobably don't know enough about the area and the subject. There are parts of the country where there chancel repair liability is quirte common (Staffs, I think is one of them) and the solicitors will commission a proper search. For most of the country liability was extinguished long ago.

maninthestreet

Have read of this before proceeding further with this house purchase:

http://radiac.net/diary/id/1301/

bouicca21

That article is mainly of rubbish. For an authoritative statement see
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/chancel-repairs.htm

The owners of the premises in Aston Cantlow knew they had a liability as it was written into their deeds, the name of their farm Glebe Farm,. was also a bit of a giveaway. But, but, but, not all former glebe lands are liable, in fact very few are. Nor are the maps in question medieval ones drawn by monks; they are mid nineteenth century tithe maps.

kingstreet

AIUI you insure against the possibility of there being a liability. If you carry out a detailed search and establish there is a liability, it then becomes uninsurable.

You may simply be following a prudent purchaser who took the insurance, just in case, based on no search or a "possibility" search. I don't think your point;-

there is a successor chancel repairs indemnity insurance costing £15 applies to the property we are buying. Hence we would be liable to pay for any repairs towards the local chucrhe Chancel

is necessarily the logical, or accurate, conclusion to your discovery.

I suggest you discuss what exactly you've found in your deeds pack with your solicitor before making any decision.