Is chancel repair liability insurance really compulsory??!?

miss_undastood

I don't trust my solicitor anymore. Whenever we talk about this we get a different response.

One time it is compulsory, next it is part of the t&cs (Barclays have told me it isn't but have told her it is) the next we are told that CRL isn't going away post 12 October, next it is being phased out gradually in different areas and Northampton isn't one of those areas and then they deny all knowledge of the land registry act 2002.

So here I am, stuck in a battle with my solicitor. Complete on 1st Nov. I have told her I won't allow her to purchase it as the law has changed and it is not on my deeds that a liability is registered.

We are in stalemate as neither of us will budge and she said with conflicting arguments where do I stand.

I could cry.

She won't allow me to sign a disclaimer. But is mis selling the insurance. Never will I use his bunch of cowboy solicitors again who were recommended to me by a friend

I feel conned and misled by the one person I should trust in the whole house buying purchase. Is there anything I can do.

I don't really want to fork out nearly £300 for something I honestly believe I don't want I appreciate it isn't a huge sum of money in the scheme of things but it is £300 towards new furniture etc.

Please please can someone help

malcolmffc

Could buy it to keep the solicitor happy and then cancel for a refund after you complete?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Well the Wikipedia entry is somewhat confusing.....

Subsequent to this case, it became best practice[2] for new purchasers to be advised to request a check as to whether the local parish (one of the 15,000 ecclesiastical parishes into which all of England and Wales is split) included an older rector's church, not evolved from a chapel but now with a vicar, and if so to take out chancel liability insurance.[2][3]

Unless such a check was made, homeowners who had lived in their property since before 2003 were unlikely to be aware of their liability or to have insurance, as chancel repair liability would not have been registered on their title and may not have been researched by their conveyancers on moving in. If it was not noticed by solicitors and the church enforced the liability across the affected land, action against the solicitors may be time-barred after six years.[11]

Through provisions made under the power of the Land Registration Act 2002, the onus was put on Parochial Church Councils[3] to identify all affected land and register their interest before 13 October 2013.

That was the date on which the Land Registration Act 2002 (Transitional Provisions) (No. 2) Order 2003 ceased to have effect. This means that chancel repair liability is no longer an "overriding interest" protected under section 29 of the Land Registration Act 2002.

The assumption has been made [12] that since that date, new owners of land are only bound by chancel repair liability where it was already entered on the Title Register database kept by the Land Registry.

Doubts about this have been expressed by the Law Society of England and Wales in its 2006 Submission to HM Government (see footnote 18 on page 9). (The reason is that it is unclear that a Parochial Church Council's right to claim all or part of the cost of repairs to the chancel from a lay rector is actually an interest in the lay rector's land, and no change has been made to the Chancel Repairs Act 1932 to give a lay rector a defence to a claim under the Act based on non-registration). Only interests in land require registration at the Land Registry.

Some Parochial Church Councils have therefore followed the process in order to secure a valuable asset. However, others may have concluded that registering the right to claim chancel repair was likely to damage the church's mission or reputation in the local community, and have taken no action.[13]

An online petition to the Prime Minister requesting legislation to remove this liability resulted in the following response in 2008:

Chancel Repair Liability has existed for several centuries and the Government has no plans to abolish it or to introduce a scheme for its redemption. The Government has, however, acted to make the existence of the liability much simpler to discover.

From October 2013, chancel repair liability will only bind buyers of registered land if it is referred to on the land register. By that time, virtually all freehold land in England and Wales will be registered.

The Government believes that this approach strikes a fair balance between the landowners subject to the liability and its owners who are, in England, generally Parochial Church Councils and, in Wales, the Representative Body of the Church in Wales.

The Government acknowledges that the existence of a liability for chancel repair will, like any other legal obligation, affect the value of the property in question, but in many cases this effect can be mitigated by relatively inexpensive insurance.

It is for the parties involved in a transaction to decide whether or not to take out insurance.

If I'm reading that right, then it seems the registration, or lack thereof, of Chancel Repair Liability is not necessarily the final word on the subject and that legal challenges may still take place.

In which case, your solicitor may be correct, or have grounds for refusing to be a party to you proceeding without it.

It's £300..... Seriously cheap insurance given the unlikely but possibly catastrophic financial consequences of being wrong.

bouicca21

Run a check for liability yourself. See here:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/chancel-repairs.htm

G_M

This may help:

Property acquired after 12 October 2013:
Properties acquired after this date will not be subject to chancel repair
liability, as long as the liability has not been

noted on the Land Registry title to the property and as
long as the buyer is a bona fide purchase for
value.

http://www.trowers.com/uploads/Files/Publications/2013/Bulletins/How_the_chancel_repair_liability_changes_will_affect_you.pdf

If a mortgage lender, rightly or wrongly, insists on insurance, the solicitor (who works for them as well as for the buyer) must do as they instruct.

If the lender does not insist, then it is up to the buyer to decide, and instruct the solicitor as he wishes.

miss_undastood

My issue with this is that they told me I didn't need it and then told the solicitor I did.

I work for a subsidiary of Barclays so decided to email the CEO for some guidance. It is not right that two different areas are giving different answers.

I fear I may have to back down and pay to save losing my dream house

Lord_Baltimore

There is, imo, sufficient uncertainty about CRL to warrant insuring against it as a safety precaution. If you don't want to do this, you might ask your seller to fund the insurance.

If that fails it is your call but bear in mind that your solicitor may simply be trying to protect your interests. CRL could be substantial and the suggestion is that plenty of effort has been put in to register properties for CRL over the past couple of years.

I'm sure insurance is available for less than £300; ask your solicitor.

miss_undastood

Thanks. My husband has now found cover online for £15 covering us and all future purchasers.

It is a new build so I doubt the developer would pay for the insurance, but £15 is much easier to stomach. I will find the link for anyone else who is interested

X

G_M

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

The suggestion is that plenty of effort has been put in to register properties for CRL over the past couple of years.

.

Well. Either the OP's property has had CRL liability registered against it, which will show upon the Title (in which case yes, insure!) or it hasn't (in which case, no need)
Assuming Completion is after October 13th.

In fact, apart from the much publicised 2003 case of Aston Cantlow PCC v Mr and Mrs Wallbank there have been (I think)no cases of liability. But since that case, panic (and a bonanza for the insurance companies) has prevailed.

ValHaller

miss_undastood wrote: »

Thanks. My husband has now found cover online for £15 covering us and all future purchasers.

It is a new build so I doubt the developer would pay for the insurance, but £15 is much easier to stomach. I will find the link for anyone else who is interested

X

If you buy the property, CRL cannot be registered against it after completion. So no point in protecting future purchasers.

G_M wrote: »

Well. Either the OP's property has had CRL liability registered against it, which will show upon the Title (in which case yes, insure!) or it hasn't (in which case, no need)

My realisation of tonight is that because it is still open season for registration of CRL for another 25 years on any house which has not been sold since this month, there is a residual risk of registration in the period between title searches and completion. I think OP's insurance quote of £15 is about right for that level of risk

Lord_Baltimore

As I understand it too, the liability is associated with the land on which a property stands so even new builds could be affected.

Yes, it has been an insurance bonanza but insurance can be done cheaply for peace of mind if nothing else (cost can be as low as £8).