Indemnity insurance in case my parish church gets short of funds !!

losgiganteskid

Selling house and the other sides solicitors are asking me to pay for an insurance indemnity to safeguard my purchaser in case my local church should get short of funds and ask all householders in the parish to cough up for some dosh - I DON'T THINK SO !! - Amen.

clutton_2

are you sure this is not Chancel insurance indemnity ? if so, talk to your solicitor to get a proper explanation - some folks have ended up with thousands of pounds of bills because they did not pay for a cheap insurance policy !

diddlydum

Sounds like Chancel Repair insurance to me, and it's something that the buyer's conveyancer should have asked for, otherwise they wouldn't have been doing their job properly.

What Chancel Repair liability is is that if the church burns down or has extensive damage, houses in the parish can be held liable for the full cost, which has run into tens of thousands of pounds. The insurance will pay out if that's the case, but obviously it doesn't affect you as vendor.

It's up to you whether you want to pay for it or not, if you say no the buyer is not likely to force the issue (in my experience few did).

Running_Horse

We paid the £60, had a grumble about bloody religion, then sold the house.

It's not fair, but life's not fair.

Woby_Tide

clutton wrote: »

some folks

2 folks isn't it?

Woby_Tide

diddlydum wrote: »

What Chancel Repair liability is is that if the church burns down or has extensive damage, houses in the parish can be held liable for the full cost, which has run into tens of thousands of pounds. The insurance will pay out if that's the case, but obviously it doesn't affect you as vendor.

and again, thats not how it works either, it isn't a get out of costs card for a church

clutton_2

woby - if you know how it does work - why not tell us - rather than posting daft comments ?

losgiganteskid

I've been doing some squinting on the internet about this Chancel indemnity and its very interesting. Evidently if the chancel of your parish church falls into disrepair house dwellers in the parish can be called upon to pay up for repairs. The usual premium for indemnity is circa £110 for me as a seller (that covers the new buyer and all other subsequent purchasers) or a £60 premium covers the new purchaser whilst he remains the owner of the property.

Seems like I will bat this one back to my purchasers to pay.

In any event reading on the web, seems to indicate that this ancient piece of law is set to be abolished in 2013.

Looking at it in reverse I wonder if my local church will cough up for the cost of redecorating and upkeeping my down stair privy !! - i'll give the vicar a call and let you know what he says !! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

iolanthe07

This topic keeps cropping up. The only people who may be liable for chancel repairs are 'Lay Rectors', and you are very unlikely to be one. There was one celebrated case a couple of years ago that went to the House of Lords, but insurance companies have jumped on the bandwagon and exploited people's fears and uncertainties and made themselves a nice little earner out of it.

Churches are required under the Charity Acts to approach Lay Rectors before they can get any help from English Heritage, so it is not altogether the church's fault and they are highly embarrassed about having to do it, since the whole thing is a ridiculous anomaly. Most people pay up the £60 or whatever indemnity just to be sure, but it really isn't necessary in 99.999% of cases.

skodaboy_2

This is a "hot potato" in the property field at the moment. In my experience of these (I'm a property lawyer), the buyers solicitors ask for insurance from the sellers solicitors, but the sellers solicitor usually responds with "if you want it, get it yourself". I'd suggest to your solicitor that he/she throws this back to the buyer. I doubt that it would be a deal breaker for the buyer (as the buyer has already paid out quite a lot by this stage) and he/she'll will absorb the cost themselves.

losgiganteskid

skodaboy wrote: »

This is a "hot potato" in the property field at the moment. In my experience of these (I'm a property lawyer), the buyers solicitors ask for insurance from the sellers solicitors, but the sellers solicitor usually responds with "if you want it, get it yourself". I'd suggest to your solicitor that he/she throws this back to the buyer. I doubt that it would be a deal breaker for the buyer (as the buyer has already paid out quite a lot by this stage) and he/she'll will absorb the cost themselves.

That's exactly what I intend doing - "bat it back"