Chancel Liability

hellobirdie_xo

Hi :j

I was wondering if someone could help me out - we're in the process of buying our first home, and the searches came through today.
Chancel liability was one of the searches done and returned the following:

We hereby Certify that, based upon historical parish and tithe district boundaries, third party data and the relevant documentation found at the National Archives, the property is within a tithe district or Parish that has no record of risk of chancel repair liability.

Even though it says that there's no risk, it still goes on to try and sell chancel repair liability insurance - i'm not being stupid in thinking that it's not even something we need to consider am I?

Thanks

vw100

Although there has been some news about abolishing Chancel repair, however under some rules householders can still be held liable for Chancel Repair. There was a case whereby a householder went to court to defend a 100k roof repair to the church, he/she lost the case and had to pay 100k and sell their house to pay the legal fees for the case! So to be on the safe side it is worth buying the insurance policy which should be no more than approx £100 -£150.00 including solicitor fees. I suspect most solicitors will encourage the policy is taken out to protect their own backs as well. In the bigger picture of things the upfront cost of the policy is negligible for a major purchase such as your home. I know what I will do in this case.

I know in a populated area the chances of a huge chancel repair bill is very low considering the number of households, but even so it best to be on the safe side in my opinion. At least it will be one less thing to worry about.

If you are still unsure consult your solicitor for his/her views.

bouicca21

If it's not on TNA indexes and there is nothing on the actual deeds, then there is no need for insurance.